the 'Duilio'

This 24,281-grt steam ship was built at Cantieri Navali Ansaldo Duilio di Sestri Ponente in Genoa. She was the sister ship of Giulio Cesare (22,576 grt), built at Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson in Wallsend, England. Although the construction of the two ships was decided before the outbreak of WW1, the war meant that both ships were not in service until after the war. The Duilio was laid in 1914 at Kiel and not completed until 1923.

The Duilio was 193.7 meters long, 23.3 meters wide and had two funnels, two masts and four propellers. Four steam turbines contributed 24,000 hp and enabled a speed of 19 knots. The hull of the Duilio was divided into 17 watertight compartments, which far exceeded the standard established in 1914 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea of at least 12. She was the first Italian steamship to possess devices for damping  rolling motion. Passenger quarters were for 280 passengers in first class, 670 in second class and 600 in third class.

On 29 October 1923 the Duilio sailed on her maiden voyage to New York from Naples as per the poster above. On 24 July 1928 began her last voyage on this route. Thereafter, it was used in South America service from Genoa to Buenos Aires . In 1932, the largest Italian shipping companies - the Navigazione Generale Italiana (based in Genoa), the Cosulich Società Triestina di Navigazione (headquartered in Trieste) and Lloyd Sabaudo (headquartered in Turin) were nationalized by Benito Mussolini and the Società Italia fleet Riuniti formed. The fleets of these shipping companies were merged and the Duilio came under new ownership. As of 1933, the Duilio was put into the South Africa service together with the Giulio Cesare.

In 1942 Duilio was temporarily chartered to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and then laid up in Trieste. There she was sunk on 10 July 1944 during an allied bombing raid. The wreck was raised and scrapped in Trieste in 1948.