Built in Hamburg, the Umbria was launched on December 30, 1911.She was a large passenger-cargo vessel with a length of over 150m. After a service between Europe and Argentina, she was purchased by the Italian government in 1935. When she got close to Port Sudan on June 1940 the Umbria’s captain decided sink the boat, when Italy had formally declared war. The Umbria was loaded with various war-like commodities and ammunition such as 360,000 bombs, 60 boxes of detonators and other stores.