Topic: REX wreck remains

[peterv6i]

The SS Rex was an Italian ocean liner launched in 1931.[1] It held the westbound Blue Riband between 1933 and 1935. Originally built for the Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) as the SS Guglielmo Marconi, its state-ordered merger with the Lloyd Sabaudo line meant that the ship sailed for the newly created Italia Flotta Riunite (Italian Line). On May 12, 1938, in a demonstration of U.S. air power, three YB-17 bombers of the U.S. Army Air Corps intercepted the Rex 620 nautical miles (1,100 km) at sea in a highly publicized event.[2]

The Rex operated transatlantic crossings from Italy with its running mate, the Conte di Savoia. On 8 September 1944, off Koper, Rex was hit by 123 rockets launched by RAF aircraft, caught fire from stem to stern. She burned for four days, then rolled onto the port side, and sank in shallow water. The ship was broken up at the site beginning in 1947.

In 1946, officials of the Italian steamship line proposed to salvage Rex and recommission it. However the liner had been sunk in a portion of the harbor allocated to Yugoslavia, whose government blocked any recovery. The remains of Rex - about one third of the ship, including double bottom, boilers, and engines - are located off the Slovenian coast in the Gulf of Koper. The rest was scavenged for scrap iron in the 1950s by the local government; it was said that the ship was the largest Slovenian "iron mine" at the time.[7] Since 1954, after the formal annexation of Zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste to Yugoslavia, an anchor claimed to be from the Rex has been on display in Congress Square of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana to symbolize the defeat of Fascist expansionism. Though claimed to be from the liner, this anchor is not of the dreadnaught style that Rex had.

Rex under attack:




And this is my yesterday side imaging picture of rex remains.. I'am a spearfisher.. with side imaging i found two new pieces of rex.. (the visibility is less than 2 meters)..

Steel pipe on mud..


REX remains

[Rüdiger]

Hi Peter

The measurements show that there is not a large object, how do you, the it is a part of REX?

mvh
Rüdiger

[peterv6i]

I was diving here arround many times and I know some pieces ...  (there are other parts to scan ... this picture shows only a part of rex!!).
Next time I will make some underwater photo..

Here you have some other photos from my friend: http://www.obala.com/potopljeni_objekti/R_E_X.html

[RGecy]

Very cool post!  Rudiger, I think the large box on right is showing the main part of the remains of the ship. The measurements look like some objects he was measuring on the seafloor.

Robert

[slabbacks]

thx for the px Peter, wish i could dive and see some of the stuff I've found over this way.  keep them coming 

[Rüdiger]

Hi Peter

If it is possible post sonarimages and real photos for comparison, this is for all of us a good opportunity to interpret the sonar images..

mvh
Rüdiger

[peterv6i]

For example this is some picture of rex made by the company harpha sea from slovenia (http://www.harphasea.com/index.php/en/services/hydrography-depth-measurements)

Območje potopljene ladje Rex pri Izoli na posnetku večsnopnega sonarja

The secnond picture is this:


My position when scanning was on the right side of image above..

here is another animated gif of rex