Rex
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 4:56 pm
Builder: Societa Anonima Ansaldo, Sestri Ponente, Genoa, Italy.
Completed : September 1932.
Gross tonnage: 51,062.
Dimensions: 880ft x 97ft. Depth 61ft.
Engines: Twelve steam turbines, single-reduc¬tion geared.
Screws: Quadruple.
Watertight bulkheads: Fourteen.
Decks: Six.
Normal speed : 28 knots. (Attained a speed of 28.90 knots on her trials.)
Officers and crew: 810.
Passenger accommodation: 378 first, 378 second, 410 tourist and 866 third class.
Maiden voyage: Genoa—New York on September 27,1932.
The keel was laid down for the Navigazione Generale Italians and was to be named Guglielmo Marconi. Passed on to Italian Line ownership when the NGI and the Lloyd Sabaudo merged on January 2, 1932, to form the Italian Line.
Em¬ployed in the Genoa—New York run year-round. The Rex's maiden voyage was marred by trouble with her turbo dynamos which caused her to put in at Gibraltar for repairs that lasted three days. Many of her passengers left for other means of transportation during the incident and the Rex steamed into New York harbour an embarrassed ship.
In August 1933 she more than made up for the mishap on her maiden voyage by making the run from Tarifa Point to Ambrose Lighthouse in 4 days, 13 hours and 58 minutes at a speed of 28.92 knots and won the Blue Riband from the North German Lloyd's Bremen.
In March 1937 she ex¬perienced one of her worst passages when she was caught in a gale between the Azores and Cape Vincent. One crew member was killed when an immense wave struck causing the ship to list 20 degrees and injuring several passengers. The Rex had an upper deck 619ft long.
Laid up at Bari, Italy, in October 1939.
On September 8, 1944, she was attacked by British Beaufighters who scored 123 hits on the Rex and sank her in low water where she lay on her port side just outside of Capo d'Istria, Trieste, Italy. Refloated in 1947 with the hope of salvaging the remaining hulk, the Rex lay in a part of the harbour now belonging to Yugoslavia and to the discretion of the Slavs it was decided to sell her for scrap.
Broken up at Trieste in July 1947 whereby work commenced on July 30. The Rex was the only Italian liner ever to win the Blue Riband and was along with her running mate the Conte de Savoia one of the best looking ships ever to wear the colours of the Italian Line.
Italy SG360, Cuba SG403.
North Atlantic Passenger Liners since 1900 by N T Cairis