SS Umbria
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | SS Umbria | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | ship, shipwreck | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Scuttled | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Germany | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Royal Italian Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | Red Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Sudan | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 17 km from land |
| Position | 19.6367, 37.2905 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
SS Umbria (formerly SS Bahia Blanca) was a cargo ship built in 1912 in Hamburg, Germany, which plied the routes between Europe and Argentina. In 1918 the ship was acquired by the Argentinean Government and transported various goods (notably coal and agriculture products) across the Atlantic until 1934. In 1935 she was purchased by the Italian Government and renamed Umbria. On 3 June 1940 she arrived at Port Said, Egypt which was controlled by the British. She was secretly carrying 6,000 tons of bombs, 600 cases of detonators, 100 tons of various weapons, over 2,000 tons of cement and three Fiat 1100 cars. Although expected to enter the war, Italy was still technically neutral, so on 6 June Umbria was allowed to continue her way. On 9 June the British warships HMS Grimsby and HMS Leander forced Umbria to anchor at Wingate reef near Port Sudan, Sudan on the pretext for searching for contraband. Shortly after that Umbria's captain, Lorenzo Muiesan, heard on the radio that Italy had joined the war with Nazi Germany. He asked the British guards for permission to do a muster drill and with the help of the crew scuttled the ship.
Umbria lies on her port side at a maximum depth of 38 metres (125 ft). She is often visited by scuba divers and is considered to be one of the best wreck dives in the world.
Location
- Recorded position: 19.6367, 37.2905 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Red Sea
- Nearest coast: Sudan
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SS Umbria (revision 1358327835), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS Tuscarora 1968 · 17 km
Browse more: Africa wrecks · Red Sea