Tripoli ~ 17 March 1918

The SS Tripoli, was built by Cant. Nav. Riuniti, Palermo in 1912 and owned at the time of her loss by Soc. Italiana di Servizi Marittimi, Venice. She was an Italian passenger steamer of 1,743 tons.

On March 17, 1918, a dark stormy night, the Tripoli was torpedoed and sunk off Capo Figari by U-49 (Hans von Mellenthin). The torpedo struck the engine room of the overloaded ship.

It took the Tripoli four hours to go down. As her communication equipment was out of order, she could not send a distress call.  Of the 457 people on board, 268 were lost: 38 crewmen out of 63; 147 military out of 376; and 4 civilians out of 18 (3 men and a woman).