Thanks, Phil. I probably should have said that my dad's name was Alessandro Demi. He was born in Naples, Italy in 1922. As I remember the story, he was shaving & heard a loud explosion. When he went to get out, he saw that part of the ship was gone. He said that he and the captain were the only ones left & that there was a sailor in the water badly burned. He got him to shore, but learned that he had died 4 hours later. This is how the story was told to me.
I did read the other posts you mentioned. Thanks for answering.
Clara