The Umbria has been described by divers as “the best shipwreck in the world”. Still very much intact, only her wooden decking has been lost through the years—making it a great site for divers wishing to explore a preserved piece of history.
On December 1911, the Umbria was launched as a cruise ship, it was eventually purchased by Italy and used to ferry troops to the East African colonies. When WWII had broken out—but before Italy had formally declared war on the Allies—the ship was searched by British sailors, who noted that it was chock-full of arms and explosives which would inevitably go towards the Axis war effort.
But Italy still had not declared war, so Britain couldn’t do a thing. That night, as the Umbria lay in British custody on the Red Sea, the Italian captain was the first to hear Italy’s war declaration over the radio. Wasting no time, he scuttled the ship—with 360,000 bombs still onboard. The ship and its contents have never been salvaged.
Source: Tour Egypt
