Sovoia Sunk?

A routine press release from the Army this week credited two second lieutenants with sinking "a large Italian transport of the 50,000-ton Conte di Savoia class." The U.S. pilots, flying A36 fighter bombers (converted P-51s), spotted a big ship anchored off a quay at Bagnara Calabra in the southwestern part of Italy. They bombed it, registering two hits and a near miss. Pilots who flew over next" day confirmed the sinking.

The size of ships is a tricky thing to judge on the surface, let alone from the air in a 400-mile-an-hour warplane. But if the pilots did indeed sink a transport of the "Conte di Savoia class," then it must have been either the 49,000-ton Savoia herself or her companion (but not sister) ship, the 51,000-ton Rex. Either would be the biggest merchant vessel sunk by military action during the war.*

* Other notable victims: Empress of Britain, 42,000 tons; Statendam, 29,000 tons; President Coolidge, 22,000 tons. The Germans' own 50,000-ton liners, Bremen and Europa, have been reported damaged or destroyed by fire, either from bombing or sabotage.

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