She was built in 1926 in the Cantiere Navale Triestino shipyard in Monfalcone and was the largest motor ship in the world when it was launched, measuring 192.2 m in length and 24.3 m in width. The diesel engine system acted on two propeller shafts. In early 1935, the Motonave Vulcania was used to transport Italian troops in the Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-1936) . From May to October 1935 the measurement was increased from 23,970 to 24,469 GRT and the two Burmeister & Wain machines were replaced by two Fiat 10- cylinder two-stroke engines , each with 18,000 hp . The engine performance was unmatched in civil shipping in 1935. In 1940 William A. Mosetti (born November 25, 1914 Trieste, † 1992 Bern) sold former Lloyd Triestino ships to Aristotle Onassis , who had them flagged out in Argentina . In early 1941, refugees from Italian East Africa were evacuated under the ICRC flag
via the ports of Zeila and Berbera in British Somaliland via the Cape of Good Hope to Genoa . In 1941 the transatlantic ship was chartered by the Italian government and transported troops to Tripoli . On September 16, 1941, she sailed in a formation with the sister ships Neptunia and Oceania when they were sunk by the Upholder near Taranto . From 1942 to 1943 the ship was chartered for three voyages by the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees . From October 1943 to March 29, 1946 she was chartered by the United States Army as a troop ship. From March 29, 1946 to October 4, 1946, she was chartered by American Export Lines , which she used six times on the route New York City - Naples - Alexandria . In mid-November 1946 she was returned to the Italian shipowner with her sister ship Saturnia, anchored in New York City. From November 15, 1946 to September 21, 1955 she was used by the Italian Line on the New York City-Naples-Genoa route. In July 1947 she was chartered by the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees for a trip Genoa - Barcelona - Las Palmas - Rio de Janeiro - Montevideo - Buenos Aires . From September 21, 1955 to 1965 she was used on the route Trieste - Venice - Patras - Naples - Palermo - Gibraltar - Lisbon - Halifax - New York City. In 1965 it was sold to the Sicula Oceanica Societa per Azioni (Siosa), majority owned by the Grimaldis , who used it as an emigrant ship under the name Caribia . In 1974 the ship was finally decommissioned and scrapped a year later.
Sister ship Saturnia (1927-1965)
The Saturnia (23,940 GRT) put into service in September 1927 was the structurally identical sister ship of the Vulcania . The Saturnia was also used to transport troops to Ethiopia . The trips went through the Suez Canal . The Wafd party protested in Cairo when the Saturnia with Galeazzo Ciano , Vittorio Mussolini and Bruno Mussolini (* 1918, † 1941) stopped in Port Said on August 27, 1935 . The Motonave Saturnia was stopped on October 17, 1939 on the voyage to New York City near the Azores by the French submarine Pascal (Q 138) , searched, two passengers with citizenship of the German Reich were captured, seven German Jews were allowed to continue to the New York Harbor , where the ship anchored until mid-November 1946.
