''Savoia'' was a 5,490 ton refrigerated cargo ship which was built in 1922. She was captured by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

in 1941 and renamed ''Empire Arun''. In 1947 she was sold and renamed ''Granlake''. Further name changes were ''Dryad'' in 1949, ''Shiranesan Maru'' in 1951 and ''Dainichi Maru'' in 1962. She was scrapped in 1968.

History

Pre-war

''Savoia'' was built by Stabilimento Tecnico,

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

. She was yard number 736, launched on 25 May 1922 and completed on 1 December 1922. She was built for Navigazione Liberia Triestina (NLT), Trieste and served with them until 1937 when she was transferred to

Lloyd Triestino Lloyd Triestino was a major shipping company, created in 1919 when the city of Trieste became part of Italy in the settlement after the First World War. It ran passenger services on ocean liners around the world. Seriously harmed by Second World W ...

, Trieste on the demise of NLT.

Wartime

On 14 February 1941, ''Savoia'' was captured by at

Kismayu Kismayo ( so, Kismaayo, Maay: ''Kismanyy'', ar, كيسمايو, ; it, Chisimaio) is a port city in the southern Lower Juba (Jubbada Hoose) province of Somalia. It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region. The city is situa ...

Italian Somaliland Italian Somalia ( it, Somalia Italiana; ar, الصومال الإيطالي, Al-Sumal Al-Italiy; so, Dhulka Talyaaniga ee Soomaalida), was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia. Ruled in the 19th centur ...

. She had been bound for

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. ''Savoia'' was taken as a

war prize A prize of war is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle, typically at sea. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 19th centuries. Basis in inte ...

, renamed ''Empire Arun'' and passed to the Ministry of War Transport under the management of the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co. ''Empire Arun'' was a member of a number of convoys during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. ;OS 17 Convoy OS 17 sailed from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on 18 January 1942 and arrived at

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

on 7 February. ''Empire Arun'' was carrying general cargo and was bound for Freetown,

St Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

and

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. ;SL 141 Convoy SL 141 sailed from Freetown on 23 November 1943 and arrived at Liverpool on 17 December. ''Empire Arun'' was carrying a refrigerated and general cargo bound for

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. ;SC 156 Convoy SC 156 sailed from

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

on 29 March 1944 and arrived at Liverpool on 13 April. ''Empire Arun'' was carrying a general cargo bound for Liverpool. ;SC 162 Convoy SC 162 sailed from Halifax on 2 December 1944 and arrived at Liverpool on 17 December. ''Empire Arun'' was carrying a cargo of steel and general cargo bound for Manchester.

Postwar

In 1947, ''Empire Arun'' was sold to Ormos Shipping Co,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and renamed ''Granlake''. She was sold to Goulandris Bros, London later that year. ''Granlake'' was sold to the Compagnia Maritime del Este,

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

in 1949 and renamed ''Dryad'', operating under the management of Goulandris Bros (Hellas) Ltd. in 1951, ''Dryad'' was sold to Hikari Kisen KK,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and renamed ''Shiranesan Maru''. She was sold to Mitsi Kinkai Kisen KK, Tokyo in 1953 and then to Hokuyo Suisan KK, Tokyo in 1955. At this point she was in use as a

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

cannery. In 1962, she was sold to Nichiro Gyogyo KK, Tokyo, who renamed her ''Dainichi Maru'' and used her as a

shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...

cannery. In 1969, ''Dainichi Maru'' was sold for scrap, arriving at Utsumi-Machi on 9 August 1969.

Official Number and code letters

Official Numbers were a forerunner to

IMO Numbers IMO or Imo may refer to: Biology and medicine * Irish Medical Organisation, the main organization for doctors in the Republic of Ireland * Intelligent Medical Objects, a privately held company specializing in medical vocabularies * Isomaltooligosa ...

. ''Savoia'' had the Italian

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

625 until 1932 and the Italian

115 from 1933-42. ''Empire Arun'' had the UK

159353 from 1942-47. ''Savoia'' used the

Code Letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

PGYH until 1933 and ICHB from 1934. ''Empire Arun'' used the Code Letters BCXG from 1942-47.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savoia 1922 ships Ships built in Trieste World War II merchant ships of Italy Steamships of Italy Empire ships Ministry of War Transport ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of Panama Steamships of Panama Merchant ships of Japan Steamships of Japan Maritime incidents in February 1941