The SS REX: The Ocean Liner That Changed Naval Combat Forever!

three US Air Force bombers are roaring through the skies searching for their target they're looking for a celebrated vessel it's Paramount to their country but they find it rain squalls obscure visibility but then like an apparition the ship appears the bombers line up on their target but then they fly past and the crews simply wave the radio man establishes contact with the ship and it Captain invites the air Crews to lunch on board this strange interaction didn't happen in time it happened in 1938 a year before the second world war erupted and plunged the globe into chaos the target ship was the SS Rex a luxury Italian liner winner of the blue ribbon for the fastest Atlantic Crossing and the toast of European ship building she was a playground for the Rich and Famous but a few short years later in 1944 the SS Rex would become an actual Target of War be hunted down and mercilessly destroyed ladies and gentlemen I'm your friend Mike Brady from ocean liner designs this is the true story of the SS Rex the luxury liner hunted in both peace time and [Music] War SS Rex was an absolute technological Marvel when she first debuted in 1931 she was the result of a strong Push by the Italian Merchant Marine and government to establish the nation as a serious player the transatlantic routes to America see back then the service from Europe to the US was extremely profitable and hundreds of thousands took the trip each week but was also a Showcase of national strength and achievement ocean liners became a symbol of their home nation's strength they were owned by private companies which built and operated them but they were also heavily subsidized and paid for by the government to serve as a floating billboard for that Nation for years Britain and Germany had dominated the headlines aside from from the occasional American interjection those Nations had always had the biggest and fastest ocean liners and Italy set out to change that it was the Italian line that Rose to the challenge with government backing and ordered the construction of two impressive ships Rex and the con de savoir at 885 ft or 270 M long and around 55,000 gross registered tons they couldn't take the title for the largest ships in the world although they were extremely impressive where they would shine was in their luxury and especially in their speed the ships used all the modern technology powerful steam turbines driving four propellers a bulbous bow to reduce drag through the water and fine Hull lines to maximize the effect the result was a pair of very fast ships and Rex was the fastest she set to Sea in 1931 and at first failed to capture the prize for the fastest ship on the Atlantic run but then in in 1933 she did it breaking the record and winning Italian line the coveted blue ribbon for the first time in history Rex was fast sure but she was also absolutely gorgeous inside passengers adored her rich and luxurious Interiors the designers knew exactly what they were doing the ship had been dubbed the Riviera afloat to capitalize on this her outdoor swimming pools even had sand and colorful umbrellas thousands traveled on wrecks in comfort and style but around her and for the World At Large things were changing in a big way the housian days of Carefree sailings at Sea were about to end because there was a war coming now I know that this is a ship focused Channel but we have to talk about airplanes for a minute for years after the first world war an uneasy peace had remained Germany and its allies had been defeated sure but then a shock political reversal happened and the Nazis came to power they secretly funneled money into military projects so did the Japanese government across the world nations were entering into an arms race at the same time that wild and tested new technology began to be introduced all the time one of these was the airplane sure it had proved its worth as a military platform in the first world war serving in fighter and bomber roles but its capabilities at Sea were never properly tested by the 1930s airplanes were very different to how they had looked during the first world war there weren't wooden canvas anymore bombers were almost all metal with two or three or four powerful engines and massive payloads of bombs it might seem crazy to us now but none of that technology had been tested or adequately deployed in combat the 1930s would teach the world's Nations a lot of important lessons and at the heart of one of these lessons would be the SS Rex you might be surprised to learn that the US Air Force as we know it today was not initially intended to be its own independent branch of the military between the years 1920 and 1941 the United States St Army aircore simply existed as an aerial branch of the US Army at a time before Aviation was considered by itself a crucial aspect of warfare but there were some that felt even early on that the aircore would become a fixture of Modern Combat and deserve its own branch of the military the Navy was particularly unimpressed they thought the aircore should stay out of Maritime business and aircraft would have little impact attacking ships there were a lot of debates about this and one man set out on a mission to prove the naysay is wrong in 1921 the flamboyant fighter pilot Brigadier General Billy Mitchell sought to make this into a reality planning out several aerial bombing exercises to display the capabilities of the Airborne Fleet in a wartime setting Mitchell reasoned that the Navy was wasting its time and money building dreadn style battleships and that many bomber aircraft could be built for the price of a single Battleship and then easily sink that same ship Mitchell went directly against the Navy using his Fleet of bombers to sync decommission battleships in tests that demonstrated their superiority over their Maritime counterparts this didn't make him any friends the Navy was incensed because the tests cut the Navy out and flew in the face of terms of Engagement which limited the size of bombs that were even able to be used the president himself Harding was Furious because Mitchell's tests made the Navy look bad at a politically delicate time things got so hostile that Mitchell's temporary rank of Brigadier General was not renewed and he was bumped back down to the permanent rank of Colonel because of his insubordination in the end Mitchell would go on to make a name for himself as a free thinker accusing senior Army and Navy figures of treasonous disregard for safety in the crash of the US Airship shenandoa he was Court marshal for this and resigned in 1926 although he would continue to preach about the power of aircraft for years to come missing their biggest Advocate the aircore pressed on with their test and demonstrations but then they hit a serious snag in 1931 they attempted to test syncing of the Old World War I cargo ship the USS Mount shter but then in front of news cameramen military officials and reporters the mount shter could not be located by the bombers 3 Days Later another attack was launched but the aircraft only scored a few hits and the mount chaster didn't sink it was a p disaster the Navy publicly mocked the effort and the airt was deeply embarrassed the airor went back to the drawing board they needed the chance to show the world that bombers could reliably track down and engage fast moving enemy ships years later they would get their chance without Navy input they would intercept one of the world's fastest ships as she approached the US the target was the SS Rex in May 1938 Rex departed from her home Port of Genova Italy for the regular express service to New York City with hundreds on board it was spring and the Atlantic still had a chill but the days at Sea were happy and relaxed but a few hundred miles across the ocean on the US East Coast preparations were being made Rex would be given a warm reception by the United States Air see under the command of Major General Frank M Andrews 187 combat planes and over 2,000 Airmen were called up to participate in a Monumental military exercise to once and for all convinced the nation of the might of the air core and its legitimacy as an independent military body stationed at 19 different airfields throughout the Northeast were a variety of combat aircraft meant to take place in these exercises but the real spectacle was the brand shiny new Boeing B17 Flying Fortress these monstrous 4 engine longrange heavy bombers were the pride of the aircore and though they were still in their testing phases at the time the Army had high hopes for these aircraft Not only would the exercise illustrate the strength of the aircore as an independent entity but it would be fantastic to put these powerful new planes through their Paces the point of the exercise was to simulate the defense of New England by the B7 Force against an attacking aircraft carrier Fleet however since no vessels were supplied to play the role of enemy forces one was needed to be selected Lieutenant Harris Hull a reporter for the Washington Post who was a reservist on temporary duty at the time suggested the possibility of using an ocean liner as a Target flying far out to sea to intercept the ship at a distance far beyond what had ever been attempted before the goal of course was not to damage or sink the ship simply to fly and low hovering just above that Smoke Stack level demonstrating that the bombers were capable of tracking ships even when they were far out to sea there was he learned an ocean liner steaming roughly a th000 nautical miles offshore headed into New York Hull reason that this would present the perfect opportunity to flex the muscles of the brand new bombers for all the world to see the exercise was meant to be a fill day for the Press not just from the ground either a radio crew from the National Broadcasting Company would be broadcasting the feat from aboard the lead aircraft Major General W Godard would fly co-pilot with a special camera to photograph the exact moment the planes Roar over the vessel taking off from Mitchell field at 8:45 a.m. on May 12th 1938 the three B17 bombers set out on a course for the SS Rex initially they were met with horrific weather which made the task of searching for the the liner almost impossible if the rain hail and downdrafts weren't bad enough headwinds pushed back against the bombers slowing their speed by 11 1/2 mph turbulence through the planes around in the air causing air sickness for the hapless NBC crew on board the time was approaching for the live broadcast to begin but with the wreck still nowhere in sight and the weather refusing to cooperate the air crew began to get nervous they'd given themselves some margin for error when plotting their course but with setback due to the weather they now only had time for one shot they no longer had the luxury of time to attempt to circle the vessel their approach had to be dead on and the ship needed to be visible and even worse an expected position report on Rex never arrived the crew realized that if the weather didn't clear up quickly the whole mission would need to be aborted they had been in the air already for nearly 4 hours the very real possibility of another thwarted attempt began to set in embarrassment seemed near and suddenly the planes broke through the clouds into clear skies and then incredibly right below them there was the SS Rex they had done it the air crew exploded with cries of there she is there she is and the three bombers descended and shot past wrecks at Smoke Stack level while hundreds of passengers crowded on Deck to Marvel at the spectacle some Americans on board even began singing the Star Spangled Banner as the planes flew overhead the ship's Captain made contact with the air crew over the radio exchanging pleasantries and then inviting all members down to come for lunch The Intercept was broadcast live by NBC on a coast to coast hookup and godard's photograph of the 3 b7s hovering weightlessly above the proud ocean liner would be found on the front pages of newspapers across the country SS Rex was again Front Page News the Navy was of course less than thrilled by the stunt top Navy brass in insisted the exercise quote was in violation of the Navy's prerogative of controlling the sea approaches as a result an attempt was made to prevent all aircore aircraft from operating Beyond a 100 mile line from the US Coast now this order was seen as flimsy at best it was only intermittently enforced there in fact reports that this order was never even put into writing because no aircore officer ever laid eyes on an official copy in fact just a month after the SS Rex was intercepted the air cor successfully carried out another similar interception of the ocean line of the queen of Bermuda some 300 nautical miles offshore with no apparent infraction though the Navy protested the Air Corp had made their point and there was no more denying the capabilities of these powerful B17 bombers and aerial combat as a whole as we now know the Air Force would later become its own independent military branch owing in part to the spectacle of the interception of the SS Rex but sadly Billy Mitchell the Maverick pilot who had championed the aircraft so much did not get to see the Triumph he died in 1936 of a heart attack aged just 56 of course Mitchell would go on to be proved totally right battleships and large warships were incredibly vulnerable to Air Attack dozens of prized warships were lost in the second world war from All Nations ships that represented national pride the Prince of Wales bismar the Amato all of of them were badly damaged or sunk by aircraft with almost no recourse and another ship hunted down was the SS Rex in 1938 she had been part of the effort to prove that aircraft in Wartime could be devastating to an enemy Fleet and then in the second world war she went through the real thing Rex and Conte de savoir were taken off civilian service in 1940 and mothor for years then 4 years later in 1944 Rex's day of Destiny finally arrived she was spotted from the air and two waves of 24 Bristol bow fighter aircraft attacked they hit the ship with dozens of rockets and shells until finally scorched and smoldering she rolled over and came to rest in the shallow Harbor it was a sad end to a glorious ship she was broken up in situ and relegated to the history books today air power controls the sky totally and ships are very much still at risk of aerial attack but the sad story of the SS Rex is a curious reminder of a time when technology was unproven and it took a few dreamers and Daredevils to foree the Future and prove the Right Way Forward ladies and gentlemen it's your friend Mike Brady from ocean liner designs thank you so much for watching this video If you enjoyed it please leave a comment below don't forget to subscribe to the channel because we get new videos out weekly if you want to support my work and get really cool perks like behind the scenes and Early Access please visit my patreon in the link in the description below or sign up as a YouTube member come and join the crew as always stay safe stay happy I'll see you again next time

Channel: Oceanliner Designs

Views: 206,134

Keywords: great ocean liners, maritime history, ocean liners, famous oceanliners, ships documentary, history of ships, engineering, history, ships, documentary, origins explained, world history project, animated history, open educational resources, titanic, shipwreck, sinking, boats, ocean, disaster, tragedy

Id: P_6AkSYrRkI

Length: 15min 36sec (936 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 22 2023