REX 1932 |
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RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE
THE OCEAN LINERS |
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Welcome to
our Rex website
celebrating this stylish and beautiful ship. In
the late 1920s and early 1930s the main Italian operators on the "Sunny
Southern Route" to North America from the Mediterranean to New York
ordered their own giant ocean liners. Navigazione Generale Italiana
(NGI) and Lloyd Sabaudo each ordered a single large express ships.
However Mussolini ordered the merger of the major Italian shipping
lines into Italia Flotte Riunite (later known as Italia Line). Thus the
two intended rivals became fleetmates. The Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) contribution was the Rex. She was an elegant and well proportioned liner. Taking advantage of the warmer climate of the more southernly route across the North Atlantic, she featured outdoor swimming pools set within lido areas on the upper decks. The Rex achieved a record time for the Atlantic crossing during a westbound voyage in 1933. Although she fully deserved her place of honour on the roll of the Blue Riband holders, she held the title all too briefly and she is not perhaps remembered as one of the classic Atlantic greyhounds. However both ships were commercially successful and very popular. Sadly the Rex was destroyed by Allied bombing during the Second World War. This
website aims to record the history of this fine ocean liner and
act as
a virtual home to honour and celebrate this fine ship. We hope you
enjoy this
website and when you leave we hope you will visit again soon.
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S.S.
REX ~ The Italian Transatlantic Greyhound ~
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Genoa to New York (via Naples and Gibraltar) transatlantic service "THE TRANSATLANTIC
CROSSING" (ITALIA LINE)
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(c) The AJN Transport Britain Collection 2008 A Edward Elliott