SS Loreto (1912)

SS Loreto, formerly Astrée, was a cargo steamship that was built in England in 1912 for French owners and bought in 1933 by Italian owners who renamed her Loreto. In 1942 a Royal Navy submarine sank her in the Tyrrhenian Sea, killing 130 British Indian Army prisoners of war who were aboard.

Building and career
The Sunderland Shipbuilding Company of Sunderland, County Durham built the ship in 1912 as Astrée for G Lamy et Compagnie of Caen, France. She was managed for G Lamy by the Société Navale Caennaise. In 1933 Italian owners bought her, renamed her Loreto and appointed Lauro Lines to manage her. She passed through at least two individual owners until by 1937 Lauro Lines itself owned the ship.

The ship had a three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine built by the North Eastern Marine Engineering Company of Newcastle. It developed 127 NHP, drove a single screw and gave the ship a speed of 11 kn.

Loss
On 9 October the UK Government Code and Cypher School intercepted an enemy signal about Loreto and transmitted an Ultra warning: "'Loreto will sail from Tripoli at 9.00 a.m. of the 9th, speed 7 knots, and should arrive to Naples at 07.30 a.m. of the 13th. It will transport 350 POWs.'"

On 13 October 1942 Loreto was in the Tyrrhenian Sea about 8 nmi west of Capo Gallo, near Palermo, Sicily. At 1732 hrs the British U-class submarine HMS Unruffled (P46) torpedoed and sank her, killing 130 British Indian Army POWs who were on the cargo ship. Unruffled may not have received the signal, or she may not have identified Loreto before firing.