SS Rex

SS Rex was an Italian <a href="/facts/Ocean_liner/U8tD4ow7">ocean liner</a> <a href="/facts/Ceremonial_ship_launching/kFSJFllx">launched</a> in 1931. She held the westbound <a href="/facts/Blue_Riband/sX9TjqvA">Blue Riband</a> between 1933 and 1935, for a <a href="/facts/Passenger_liner/fvrVncmR">passenger liner</a> in regular service crossing the Atlantic Ocean with the record highest <a href="/facts/Velocity/Q3o1LVDe">average speed</a>. Originally built for the <a href="/facts/Navigazione_Generale_Italiana/kzB5UD3Y">Navigazione Generale Italiana</a> (NGI) as SS Guglielmo Marconi, its state-ordered merger with the <a href="/facts/Lloyd_Sabaudo/PAgUWeb4">Lloyd Sabaudo</a> line meant that the ship sailed for the newly created Italia Flotta Riunite (<a href="/facts/Italian_Line/RhmaqLuq">Italian Line</a>).
Rex operated transatlantic crossings from Italy with its running mate, <a href="/facts/SS_Conte_di_Savoia/MCwp67G6">Conte di Savoia</a> prior to the outbreak of the <a href="/facts/Second_World_War/2efV5L1U">Second World War</a>. Rex maintained a commercial service in the <a href="/facts/Mediterranean_Sea/Vr2pzVbM">Mediterranean Sea</a> for eight years, but when Italy entered the war in June 1940 Rex was <a href="/facts/Laid_up/SH225kWF">laid up</a> for safe-keeping. On 8 September 1944, off <a href="/facts/Koper/KwchoR6t">Capodistria</a>, Rex was hit by cannon fire and 123 rockets launched by <a href="/facts/Royal_Air_Force/P10CbL5H">Royal Air Force</a> aircraft, caught fire from bow to stern. She rolled onto the port side, burned for four days, and sank in shallow water. The ship was partially <a href="/facts/Ship_breaking/qh49CobX">broken up</a> in situ in 1950.

SS Rex open-in-new

SS Rex