SS ''Principe Umberto'' was an Italian passenger and refrigerated cargo ship built in 1908 for

Navigazione Generale Italiana Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) was an Italian shipping company. History The company formed in 1881 by the merger of '' I & V. Florio'' of Palermo and '' Raffaele Rubattino'' of Genoa. At the time of the merger, the two companies both operat ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, ''Principe Umberto'' served as an

armed merchant cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

. While transporting troops in the Adriatic in June 1916, the ship was sunk by

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

U-boat with the loss of 1,926 men. It was the worst naval disaster of World War I in terms of human lives lost.

Career

''Principe Umberto'' was built in 1908 by the '' Cantieri Navali del Tirreno'' in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for it ...

for the

a company that sailed to Mediterranean and Black Sea ports, as well as passenger service to North and South America. She was long ( pp) with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy * Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy ** Laser beam * Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized g ...

of . She was powered by two

quadruple expansion A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cylinder. This pus ...

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

s that moved her at up to . ''Principe Umberto''s routes and early activities are not known, but during

, the ship was employed as an

to transport men and

materiel Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the spec ...

in support of Italy.Sieche, p. 22. On 8 June 1916, ''Principe Umberto'' and another transport, the ''Ravenna'', were carrying the 55th

Infantry Regiment Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mari ...

(col. Ernesto Piano) back from Albania to Italy, under the escort of the Italian scout cruiser ''Libia'' and four ''

Regia Marina The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' changed its name to ''Marina Militare'' (" ...

'' destroyers.Rider, p. 459. The

U-boat , under the command of Friedrich Schlosser, launched a torpedo attack that successfully hit the Italian ship. ''Principe Umberto'' went down quickly with the loss of 1,926 men (1,750 according to other sources). The wreck was discovered in May 2022 off the coast of

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

near Cape of Gjuhez using an underwater robot by the

Swiss-Italian The Swiss people (german: die Schweizer, french: les Suisses, it, gli Svizzeri, rm, ils Svizzers) are the citizens of Switzerland or people of Swiss ancestry. The number of Swiss nationals has grown from 1.7 million in 1815 to 8.7 millio ...

engineer Guido Gay.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Principe Umberto World War I passenger ships of Italy World War I naval ships of Italy World War I shipwrecks in the Adriatic Sea Ships sunk by Austro-Hungarian submarines Maritime incidents in 1916 1909 ships Ships built in Palermo Ships built by Cantieri Navali del Tirreno e Riuniti

Career

See also

References

Bibliography