SS Milazzo

SS Milazzo in port, 1916
History
Name:	Milazzo
Namesake:	Milazzo, Sicily
Owner:	Navigazione Generale Italiana
Port of registry:	Genoa
Builder:	Fiat-San Giorgio, Muggiano
Completed:	June 1916
Maiden voyage:	Genoa – New York, 11 June – 1 July 1916
Fate:	sunk by U-14 (Austria-Hungary) on 29 August 1917
Notes:	sister ship of Volturno
General characteristics
Type:	bulk carrier
Tonnage:	11,477 long tons (11,661 t)
Displacement:	20,400 long tons (20,700 t)
Length:	157.7 m (517 ft 5 in) (pp)
Beam:	20.1 m (65 ft 11 in)
Draft:	6.2 m (20 ft 4 in)
Depth of hold:
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. 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". The ship was 157.7 meters (517 ft 5 in) long (between perpendiculars), was 20.1 meters (65 ft 11 in) abeam, and had a draft of 6.2 meters (20 ft 4 in) when loaded.Milazzo had a 11,477 gross tonnage (GT) 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.