Approximate location of the sinking of Empire Airman.
SMS Teodo was a 6,561 ton collier built in 1915 for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. She was ceded to Italy in 1921 as a war reparation. She was renamed Barbana in 1924 and Barbana G in 1926. In 1940, she was seized by the United Kingdom and renamed Empire Airman. On 21 September 1940, Empire Airman was torpedoed and sunk by U-100.
History
SMS Teodo was built by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, Trieste as yard number 501 and launched on 8 January 1913, being completed on 17 February 1916.[3] SMS Teodo was a Pola Class collier of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.[4] At the end of the First World War, under Article 137 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain, SMS Teodo was classed as a merchant ship[5] and passed to the Italian Government Ministry of Transport. In 1924, she was passed to the Italian Ministry of Marine, and renamed Barbana. In 1926, she was sold to the Società Anonima di Navigazione Garibaldi, Genoa and renamed Barbana G.[2] On 6 November 1929, she collided with the Italian cargo ship Atlantide in the Nieuwe Waterweg at Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands. Atlantide was consequently beached.[6]Barbana G was captured off Leith and taken to Methil[2] on 10 June 1940 and passed to the Ministry of War Transport, being renamed Empire Airman[7] under the management of Mark Whitwill & Sons Ltd, Bristol.[8]