Design and Construction
Milazzo was designed by Emilio Menada, a noted inventor of transporting machinery. In a 1916 feature on the ship, Popular Science Monthly reported that there was "nothing romantic" about the "brutally practical" design of the ship, which the magazine called an "engine-driven hull and a mass of elevators and chutes". The ship was 157.7 meters (517 ft 5 in) long (between perpendiculars), was 20.1 meters (65 ft 11 in) abeam, and had a draft of 6.2 meters (20 ft 4 in) when loaded. Milazzo had a gross tonnage (GT) of 11,477 tons and displaced 20,040 long tons (20,360 t). As designed, Milazzo could carry up to 14,000 long tons (14,200 t) of bulk coal or other cargo. Additional longitudinal compartments provided the ability to carry up to 4,500 long tons (4,600 t) of bulk oil.
Milazzo featured eight watertight bulkheads that divided her into nine separate compartments: eight 10.3-metre (33 ft 10 in) deep cargo holds and one compartment amidships for the ship's single quadruple-expansion steam engine. In addition, saltwater ballast tanks were located In the bow and the stern of Milazzo. The ship's engine generated 4,000 horsepower (3,000 kW) and moved the ship at an average speed of 11 knots (20 km/h).
The cargo handling on Milazzo was intended to be automated and featured a railcar and elevator system. Two longitudinal compartments between the bottom of the cargo holds and the hull each contained twin rail lines spanning the length of the cargo carrying spaces. Extending from the bottom of the hull to above the ship's funnel were twenty elevator and crane combinations. To unload the ship, the onboard railcars were positioned under doors in each cargo hold which, filled the cars with the coal. The rail cars were then positioned in the elevators, raised to the top, and had their loads dumped into chutes that then discharged the coal from the ship. The ship could discharge all 14,000 long tons of her cargo in 48 hours.
Milazzo was built by the Fiat-San Giorgio shipyard in Muggiano and completed in June 1916.
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