SS Milazzo
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 SS Milazzo in port, 1916 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Milazzo |
| Namesake | Milazzo, Sicily |
| Owner | Navigazione Generale Italiana[1] |
| Port of registry |  Genoa |
| Builder | Fiat-San Giorgio, Muggiano[1] |
| Completed | June 1916[1] |
| Maiden voyage | Genoa – New York, 11 June – 1 July 1916 |
| Fate | Sunk on 29 August 1917[1] |
| Notes | sister ship of Volturno |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | bulk carrier |
| Tonnage | 11,477 GRT[1] |
| Displacement | 20,400 long tons (20,700 t)[2] |
| Length | 157.7 m (517 ft 5 in) (pp)[1] |
| Beam | 20.1 m (65 ft 11 in)[1] |
| Draft | 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in)[2] |
| Depth of hold | [3] |
| Propulsion | 1 x quadruple-expansion steam engine, 4,000 hp (3,000 kW) |
| Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h) |
SS Milazzo was an Italian bulk carrier built in 1916 and sunk during World War I. When she entered service, Milazzo was reported as the largest collier and also the largest cargo ship in the world.[3] She was designed with a unique railcar and elevator system that helped to automate the discharge of cargo. SS Volturno was her sister ship.
Milazzo, built for and operated by Navigazione Generale Italiana, sailed to New York on her maiden voyage in June 1916. In October, on her second eastbound voyage, the ship put in at the Azores with three of her cargo holds ablaze; her New York agent attributed the fires to sabotage. On 29 August 1917, Milazzo was sunk by the Austro-Hungarian Navy submarine U-14 under the command of Georg Ritter von Trapp, later more notable as the patriarch of the family featured in The Sound of Music.
Milazzo was designed by Emilio Menada, a noted inventor of transporting machinery. In a 1916 feature on the ship, Popular Science Monthly reported that there was "nothing romantic" about the "brutally practical" design of the ship, which the magazine called an "engine-driven hull and a mass of elevators and chutes".[2] The ship was 157.7 meters (517 ft 5 in) long (between perpendiculars), was 20.1 meters (65 ft 11 in) abeam,[1] and had a draft of 6.2 meters (20 ft 4 in) when loaded.[2] Milazzo had a 11,477 gross register tons (GRT) and displaced 20,040 long tons (20,360 t). As designed, Milazzo could carry up to 14,000 long tons (14,200 t) of bulk coal or other cargo. Additional longitudinal compartments provided the ability to carry up to 4,500 long tons (4,600 t) of bulk oil.[2]
Milazzo featured eight watertight bulkheads that divided her into nine separate compartments: eight 10.3-metre (33 ft 10 in) deep cargo holds and one compartment amidships for the ship's single quadruple-expansion steam engine[clarification needed].[1][2][3] In addition, saltwater ballast tanks were located In the bow and the stern of Milazzo. The ship's engine generated 4,000 horsepower (3,000 kW) and moved the ship at an average speed of 11 knots (20 km/h).[3] The ship's engine was originally installed on board passenger liner "Principessa Jolanda" which had capsized at launch in 1907 and had to be scrapped.
The cargo handling on Milazzo was intended to be automated and featured a railcar and elevator system. Two longitudinal compartments between the bottom of the cargo holds and the hull each contained twin rail lines spanning the length of the cargo carrying spaces. Extending from the bottom of the hull to above the ship's funnel were twenty elevator and crane combinations. To unload the ship, the onboard railcars were positioned under doors in each cargo hold which, filled the cars with the coal. The rail cars were then positioned in the elevators, raised to the top, and had their loads dumped into chutes that then discharged the coal from the ship. The ship could discharge all 14,000 long tons of her cargo in 48 hours.[2]
Milazzo was built by the Fiat-San Giorgio shipyard in Muggiano and completed in June 1916.[1]
