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HISTORY
SS Conte di Savoia ("Count of
Savoy") was an Italian ocean liner built in 1932 at the Cantieri
Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Trieste.
Conte di Savoia was originally ordered for the Lloyd Sabaudo
line, however, after a merger with the Navigazione Generale
Italiana, the ship was completed for the newly formed Italia
Flotte Riunite. The new Italia Line also controlled the Rex, a
similar though slightly larger ship completed just two months
before Conte di Savoia. The Conte di Savoia was more modern in
decoration and appearance than the Rex, and was considered to be
an exceptionally beautiful ship. She was the first liner fitted
with gyroscopic stabilizers.
In November 1932 she made her maiden voyage to New York. The
voyage almost became a disaster when an outlet valve jammed and
blew a large hole below the waterline. The ship completed her
maiden voyage thanks to crew member Gennaro Amatruda who plugged
a leak in a broken valve-port saving the ship from possible
disaster. The Conte di Savoia never held the Blue Riband for
fastest Atlantic crossing, although on one attempt she did
average just 0.2 knots (0.4 km/h) slower than the Blue Riband
holder Rex.
Conte di Savoia had one unusual feature designed to increase
passenger numbers. Three huge anti-rolling gyroscopes were
fitted low down in a forward hold. These rotated at high
revolutions and were designed to eliminate rolling - a
persistent problem on the rough North Atlantic crossing that
affected all shipping lines. In practice they reduced the
rolling by slowing down the rolling period, however, they also
caused the vessel to "hang" annoyingly when the vessel was on
the extreme limit of her rolls. For safety reasons the system
was quickly abandoned on eastbound crossings where the
prevailing weather produced following seas, although it was
still used on westbound crossings. This was because with a
following sea (and the deep slow rolls this generated) the
vessel tended to 'hang' with the system turned on, and the
inertia it generated made it harder for the vessel to right
herself from heavy rolls. None of this ever affected the
operation of the shipping lines advertising department and the
benefits of a "smooth crossing" were heavily promoted during the
life of the ship.
During troop service in World War II, Conte di Savoia was set on
fire and sunk by retreating German forces on 11 September 1943.
She was re-floated in 1945, but eventually scrapped.
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