RMS Imperatrice Rossa

RMS Imperatrice Rossa photographed off the coast of Andria departing for Kenlis
History
Cacertian Empire
Name:	RMS Imperatrice Rossa
Namesake:	Legatus Atria Aurelia
Owner:	White Star Line
Port of registry:	Port of Fumicino, Cacertian Empire
Route:	Fumicino to Andria to Kenlis
Ordered:	11 April 1900
Builder:	Royal Shipbuilders of Cacerta, Fumicino, Cacertian Empire
Laid down:	25 December 1900
Launched:	3 March 1903
Completed:	10 January 1904
Maiden voyage:	4 February 1904
In service:	4 February 1904
Out of service:	8 April 1940
Fate:	Retired at Fumicino after 34 years of service. Sold for scrap, 15 August 1940. Superstructure and hull dismantled in Fumicino.
Status:	Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type:	Empress-class ocean liner
Displacement:	56,551 tons
Length:	291.4 meters
Beam:	30.5 meters
Draught:	11.2 meters
Decks:	11
Installed power:	Steam generated at 265 psi by 48 oil-fired watertube boilers. 66,000 shp (49,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 × four-bladed propellers 4 × shafts 4 × steam turbines
Speed:	25 knots (46 km/h) max
Capacity:	4,234 passengers
Crew:	1,181 crew

RMS Imperatrice Rossa (Italian: Red Empress) was a Cacertian ocean liner and the second ship of the White Star Line’s Empress-class ocean liners. The largest of three ships eventually constructed, the Imperatrice Rossa had a long career serving as a long-haul liner traveling from Fumicino to Andria to Kenlis. Her luxurious facilities and untarnished safety record gave the Imperatrice Rossa a famed reputation as a Cacertian liner. She would be requisitioned as a troopship late in her career during the Siduri War between 1934 and 1938.

She was laid up in Fumicino following the war and was originally intended to be refitted, refurbished, and put back into service. However, the growing prominence of airships and the introduction of more efficient fixed-wing aircraft made her a costly investment and, after projections reflected that her operation would be unprofitable, the plans to put her back into service were cancelled. She remained docked in Fumicino for a little over a year and a half before her ownership was transferred to the Royal Shipbuilders of Cacerta who scrapped her in 1940.

Background and Construction

As with most ships in Cacerta at the time, the Imperatrice Rossa was laid down and constructed by the Royal Ship Builders of Cacerta in Fumicino. All the ships of the Empress-class were intended to be the largest and most luxurious in the world, securing Cacerta’s domination of the Siduri market. Unlike her sister ships, however, Rossa also had a secondary purpose of also penetrating the Eracuran market of steam ocean liners that had long since been controlled by Ossorian companies. It was unlikely that White Star would be able to directly compete in Eracura, but it was hoped to help expand its industry.

Size and comfort were given priority on the Empress-class, but this was especially so aboard the Imperatrice Rossa which would eventually be over twenty meters longer and carry nearly 500 more passengers than her sister ships. It was understood that Cacertian liners could not compete with their Ossorian peers in terms of speed, so instead the designers at CNRC and executives of the White Star Line focused on a high level of luxury. Livia Maffucci, a Gylic-Cacertian architect who was famous for her design of luxury hotels, was called in to help design the ship interior.

Construction of the Imperatrice Rossa began approximately a month after the Imperatrice Bianca and, to accommodate the size of the ships, CNRC made extensive upgrades to their facilities. Her hull was completed in early March 1903 and she was launched without her superstructure. As the only dry-dock large enough to accommodate her was being occupied by her sister ship for fitting out, Imperatrice Rossa was instead towed to Paviolo to complete construction. She was finally completed in January 1904 and made her maiden voyage a month later.

Service History

Stella del Nord Disaster

Main article: Sinking of the RMS Stella del Nord

The Imperatrice Rossa was en route to Kenlis from Andria and had been at sea for two days on the night of the disaster. Wireless operator Daniela Venneri was on duty in the ship’s radio room when she received the distress call from Stella del Nord and immediately informed Captain Lelia Cale. Although they were approximately 900 kilometers south of the Stella’s location, Cale calculated a new course and ordered the ship’s engines be set to full power to assist in the rescue.

Several hours later, when she was closing to within 100 kilometers of the Stella’s last known position, she received a message from the LPR Bradán Feasa which had received the survivors from the SCS Simple Truths in the aftermath of the sinking. Captain Mathúna explained that there was no reason for her to continue her course as it would also bring her into the same ice field and recommended the Imperatrice Rossa to make a wide berth on her approach to Kenlis.

Imperatrice Rossa entered Kenlis harbor on the evening of 3 May. An agreement was brokered between the Alberreno Line and White Star in which her originally planned itinerary which would return her to Andria and subsequently Fumicino would be cancelled. Instead, the Rossa would take any survivors originally bound for Moddra and Andria and ferry them to their originally intended destinations without charge.

Post-Stella del Nord Refit

On 11 July 1908, White Star withdrew Imperatrice Rossa from service and returned her to Fumicino for a proper refit incorporating lessons learned from the Stella del Nord disaster two months prior and significantly improve her safety. While the ratio of lifeboats to passengers aboard the Imperatrice Rossa was not nearly as disparate as aboard the Stella del Nord, an additional twenty lifeboats were added so that she could accommodate all passengers and crew in the event she was at maximum capacity.

In addition to the lifeboats, an inner watertight skin was constructed in the boiler and engine rooms which gave her a double-hull. All of her watertight bulkheads were extended to match the height of the entire hull; this addressed a glaring flaw aboard the Stella del Nord in which water spilled over the top of the ship’s bulkheads which resulted in flooding of the adjacent compartments. Improvements were also made to her ballast and bilge pumps. With these additional measures, Imperatrice Rossa could theoretically remain afloat even if the first six of her seventeen compartments were flooded.

Imperatrice Rossa returned to service in November 1908.

Siduri War

Main article: Siduri War