SS Rex: Mussolini’s Doomed Mega Liner

[Music] in the late 1920s benito mussolini saw an opportunity for decades italian shipping companies filled their liners with italian immigrants moving to the united states but what if italy was able to create passenger liners that didn't take people away from italy but instead attracted wealthy tourists from around the world mussolini was a master of propaganda he knew a prestigious liner could color the world's perception of his fascist italy and bring him one step closer to his empire his ambitions would create the greatest italian minor ever built and burn his nation to the ground [Music] so [Music] as the transatlantic passenger trade rebounded from the devastation of world war one great britain was firmly on top with the fleet of liners that survived the war bolstered by a large influx of tonnage requisitioned from germany as the continent struggled to rebuild there was little threat of competition for the speed record held by cunard lions mauritania launched in 1906 but soon other countries began to regain a foothold on the atlantic by the mid-1920s the italian shipping company navigation general italiana or ngi for short ordered a pair of moderately sized liners the 32 000 ton ss roma and ms augustus from the ancelo shipyard in genoa the two ships proved successful and inspired the line to begin planning a larger more ambitious vessel just a few years earlier italy's political instability opened the door to the national fascist party led by benito mussolini after a chaotic but bloodless march on rome by a fascist mob king victor emmanuel iii fearing a civil war and secretly admiring mussolini appointed him prime minister in 1922. over the next few years through political maneuvering violence and intimidation italy's democracy was gradually dismantled by the end of the decade benito mussolini had transformed italy into a fascist totalitarian state he instilled three key messages into the public consciousness believe obey fight this message was compelling and inspired fascist movements all over the world being a former journalist he was a master of image and propaganda and italy's moderately successful shipping lines presented an opportunity up until the immigration act of 1924 which barred most european immigrants from the united states these companies primarily made their money transporting italian migrants to a new life but while the immigration trade was reduced to a trickle tourism was booming american travelers favored british french and german liners and typically began their visit in northern europe italy with its rich history and culture was an attractive tourist destination but by the time travelers made their way down south they were winding down their trip and it was felt that they had already spent most of their money if italy could begin to capture a larger share of the tourism market and lure tourists to the country the economic boost could be huge at the same time mussolini's new government wanted to prove to the world the validity of fascism a prestigious new liner would achieve these goals perfectly funding was soon granted for ngi's new viner project to be built at the onsaldo shipyard in genoa and a contract was signed on december 2nd 1929. a similar-sized project at the rival lloyd zabaldo line was also funded to be built at the kantiri ryoniti del adriatico shipyard entry stay these two liners would be large ultra luxurious and fast they would garner positive press from mussolini's regime and invite the world to his new fascist empire [Music] despite some modest economic gains in the 1920s the great depression presented a major setback for mussolini's government italy's three major shipping lines ngi loy zabato and the kuselage line were in healthy competition with one another but is the economic situation worsened and shipping lines all over europe were consolidated it was decided that the three companies would merge in 1932 to form what was known internationally as the italian line this move would pool resources consolidate shipping routes and most importantly put italian shipping in a stronger position to compete with the other european powers the two new liners formerly conceived as rivals would now be sisters while by this point mussolini's power was virtually unchallenged he still answered to the king the larger these two ships originally intended for ngi was planned to be named after marconi but in a rare show of deference the name rex italian for king was selected for the new liner and approved by mussolini the royals were delighted the design for rex was both modern and highly conventional while a smaller ship to be named conte de savoya was significantly more modern inside and out both liners took heavy inspiration from germany's bremen and europa as they were to be direct competitors rex's exteriors sported a more traditional rectilinear form with her saloon deck projecting outwards like on previous liners the quantity savoya on the other hand took a more streamlined approach with flush sides and slightly more curvature in her lines the wrecks would feature a highly modern bulbous bow like the one found on esses bremen with a hole that was modeled after the shape of a trout in order to maximize her hydrodynamics she would be powered by four steam turbo gearboxes that could produce 163 000 shaft horsepower and generate a surface speed of 26 knots with a top speed of up to 29 knots she was 880 feet long with a beam of 96.8 feet and came in at 51 062 tons her original design could accommodate four classes which consisted of 378 passengers in first class 378 in special class a unique class positioned just below first 410 in tourist class and 860 in third class she would also carry 880 crew while the conte de savoya was slightly smaller and slower the real difference between the two ships came in how they were decorated rex's interiors were an over-the-top traditional italian baroque style with grand marble intricate art lush tapestry and lavish woodwork covering nearly every surface savoya on the other hand took a more restrained modern approach the smaller ship was designed with an open feel and was one of the first major liners to use floor-to-ceiling glazing in her first class lounge in order to allow a maximum amount of light into the space another major innovation found on the cunta de savoya and not the wrecks was a gyro stabilizing system designed to reduce rolling many considered the cunta de savoya to be the more beautiful and innovative of the two ships both liners would take keen advantage of the more favorable weather available on the more southern new york to gibraltar route wrecks would feature two open-air swimming pools with actual sand that would make passengers feel like they were actually on the italian riviera rex was also one of the last liners to support a clipper stern this shape while outdated at the time was selected to give the greatest possible aft deck space while allowing her to fit in the dry dock in genoa to further entice tourists rex was also designed to function as a cruise ship and featured air conditioning and luxurious cabins with private verandas in order to maximize the liner's appeal to wealthy travelers rex was launched on august 1st 1931. the event was attended by king vittorio emmanuel iii and queen elena who is also the ship's godmother along with a crowd of around a hundred thousand spectators the massive new liner was launched to massive fanfare the friction of her weight actually set her slipway on fire you can see the smoke rising in the videos and pictures of the event mussolini's italy had the great liners they were looking for now it was time to present them to the world their debut would not go smoothly [Music] rex's maiden voyage was a disaster not quite titanic level but still not great the voyage was scheduled to depart genoa for new york on september 27 1932. mussolini attended the event and had lunch on board thousands gathered to watch the great liner depart after a brief stop in france she continued to gibraltar to begin her voyage to new york but as she neared the spanish coast her light suddenly flickered off and her power was immediately reduced to almost nothing two of her turbo generators suffered a catastrophic failure and she limped into gibraltar just after 3am over the next three days passengers were given almost no explanation tenders were offered to ferry them back and forth between the shore meanwhile down below engineers struggled to rectify the problem by the third day as frustration among passengers was near a breaking point the vulcania finally arrived from genoa with spare generator parts by that point almost half of her passengers elected to ditch the wrecks to make the trip to germany where they would take the europa to new york a deeply embarrassing blow for the italian line finally on the morning of october 2nd the liner was given permission to resume her journey though she was not in full working condition her electricity was not at full power putting her elevators out of service and providing only barely adequate lighting there was also a series of plumbing failures that made the delayed voyage even more uncomfortable she finally arrived days late in new york where she underwent a full month of repair work later that year the cunta de savoya's maiden voyage suffered a dramatic set of similar issues when her power failed at six in the evening mid-ocean 900 miles away from the ambrose light ship the failure occurred when a valve that brought in seawater to cool her turbo generators ruptured ripping a hole in her plating that threatened to flood her electrical plant her captain reacted quickly he brought the ship broadside to the wind and shifted her ballast producing a list that brought the hole in her plating near the surface then a seaman was lowered over the side to fix a wooden patch over the damage the work was difficult and dangerous with the man working above and below the water for over two hours passengers gathered to watch the work and when the man was raised back on deck he was met with ferocious applause and he was awarded 800 for his bravery while both ships got off to a rocky start they soon earned the reputation italy had hoped for they were wildly popular and along with the bremen and europa and the new vessels from the french line they dominated the middle years between the wars finally in august 1933 only a year after her disastrous maiden voyage rex erased the embarrassing memory when she completed the voyage from gibraltar to new york in four days and 13 hours finally capturing the blue ribbon away from britain's mauritania the first and only italian vessel to ever win the prize mussolini had the liners and the praise he wanted but the success was short-lived as new rivals would emerge from britain and france and the world would soon teeter on the brink of war [Music] rex's hold on the blue ribbon slipped away in 1935 when the revolutionary normandy easily beat her speed record crossing the atlantic in a blistering four days three hours and two minutes despite losing her prestigious title rex remained a popular liner throughout the 1930s though the success of normandy and cunard's groundbreaking queen mary along with growing international unease over mussolini's aggressive fascist policies ate into the liner's passenger numbers late in the decade during these years rex enjoyed a relatively uneventful career though two major incidents stand out on one westbound crossing a first-class passenger came to the ship's surgeon with red splotches all over her back she was given an ointment and jokingly warned to lay off the caviar but on the following day a number of other first class passengers came down with suspiciously similar symptoms it was soon discovered that the ship's first-class accommodations had somehow become infested with fleas following that voyage the rex was quietly withdrawn from service and fully fumigated lucky for the italian line the incident managed to stay out of the press the next incident was one that foreshadowed the liners eventual fate it took place on may 12 1938 when on a highly publicized training mission three united states army air corps yb17 bombers intercepted rex 620 miles out to sea in order to demonstrate the abilities of u.s air power the demonstration was not disclosed to the ship's officers beforehand and caused quite a bit of anger from the italian line who didn't appreciate their liner being used for pretend target practice while rex was garnering positive press and admiration mussolini's other endeavors were less successful he responded to the economic chaos of the global depression by launching military campaigns in libya spain and most disastrously in ethiopia in 1935 where his occupation led to a humanitarian crisis that left as many as eight percent of the country's population dead international condemnation for this action led mussolini to turn to adolf hitler for support the two dictators signed the pact of steel on may 22nd 1939 this alliance pledged that the two nations would come to each other's aid in the event of a war only a few months later when germany invaded poland the pac compelled italy to join the war but mussolini hesitated he had absolutely no faith that his nation was equipped to fight in a conflict of this magnitude he put up a pretense of supporting hitler but in private he spoke of potentially joining the british and french coalition but by june 1940 when it became clear that france would fall to the germans mussolini ever the opportunist declared war on britain and france following the outbreak of war in 1939 rex and cunta de savoya initially continued to offer cruises in the mediterranean they were two of the last commercial ships to operate in europe but by spring 1940 both ships were withdrawn from service and transported to italian ports for safe keeping rex was initially laid up in our homeport of genoa but after a series of bombing raids the ship was moved to the relatively safer trieste then when it became known that the germans planned to sink her at venice to block the allies from entering the vital port she was moved a final time to pula where she would remain for some time the tides of war almost never flowed in mussolini's favor his fear that italian forces were ill-equipped to handle such a large-scale conflict came to pass and italy suffered a series of devastating defeats by july 1943 the italian people suffering from widespread shortages and an allied invasion in sicily were done with mussolini and he was removed from power by the king mussolini was imprisoned but hitler orchestrated a raid to set him free and install him as a leader of the puppet state the nazis established in northern italy this was short-lived mussolini was a broken man by this point in 1945 as fascism fell all over europe mussolini was intercepted by communist forces while he was trying to flee to switzerland he was executed and his body was paraded through milan and abused by the crowd furious with the man who led their country to ruin rex and cunta de savoya would also not survive the war on september 11 1943 in the confusion that followed the italian armistice cunta de savoya was mistakenly set on fire by the germans she was refloated in 1945 with plans to restore her but those plans never came to fruition and her hole was finally scrapped in 1950. rex would suffer an even more dramatic fate on the 8th of september 1944 she was spotted by the royal air force over the next several hours she was hit with approximately 123 bombs turning the liner into a floating inferno she eventually capsized and sank in the shallow waters the following day initially there was hope that she could be salvaged but her wreck lay in waters that were allocated to yugoslavia and recovery efforts were blocked starting in 1947 and throughout the 1950s she was gradually scavenged for scrap iron the greatest liner ever to come out of italy was reduced to nothing more than a half submerged iron mine mussolini's ambition helped give birth to one of the greatest liners to ever sail the atlantic she was large beautiful and impressively fast a true source of italian pride but mussolini's ruthless pursuit of power and political miscalculations led his nation to ruin rex could have sailed for decades but instead she became a casualty of the war that claimed 75 million lives and burned italy to the ground alright that's the story of the rex and the conte de savoya i'm probably mispronouncing pretty much everything in this video and i deeply apologize but which one is your favorite the rex or the conte de savoya let me know in the comments down below thank you so much for watching i hope that if you enjoy you'll take a minute to hit that like button and if you aren't already please subscribe for more ocean liner history and uh until next time be nice to people bye guys [Music] so you

Channel: Big Old Boats

Views: 308,132

Keywords: ss rex, italian line, ss conte di savoia, navigazione generale italiana, benito mussolini, mussolini, world war 2, ocean liner, ocean liner history, transatlantic liners, great ocean liners, rex ship, conte di savoia ship, ss rex wreck, conte di savoia wreck, ss rex sinking, italian shipping, italian history

Id: MyRkgTO1ziY

Length: 19min 40sec (1180 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 21 2021