SS ''Conte Grande'' was a

Lloyd Sabaudo The Lloyd Sabaudo was a Shipping transport line formed in Turin in 1906. It began passenger service in 1907, expanding to link Italy to ports in Asia as well as North and South America. In 1932 it merged with several other Italian shipping lines ...

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). C ...

built in 1927 by

Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) ("Technical Establishment of Trieste") was a private shipbuilding company based in Trieste from the mid-19th to early 20th century, and the most important naval shipbuilding firm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. ...

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

, Italy, to service the

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film ...

passenger line between

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

, Italy, and New York City. Launched on 29 June 1927, her maiden voyage was from Genoa to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

to New York City, which occurred on 13 April 1928. In 1932, after acquisition by the

Italian Line Italian Line and from 1992 Italia Line, whose official name was Italia di Navigazione S.p.A., was a passenger shipping line that operated regular transatlantic services between Italy and the United States, and Italy and South America. During ...

, she was transferred to the South America service but was laid up in Santos, Brazil in 1940. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, she was acquired by the United States and was used as an American troopship—renamed USS ''Monticello'' (AP-61) in 1942. After the war, in 1947, she was returned to the Italian Line and renamed ''Conte Grande''. After a two-year hiatus, in 1949, she resumed service to South America. In 1960, she was transferred from the Italian Line to

Lloyd Triestino Lloyd Triestino was a major shipping company, created in 1919 when the city of Trieste became part of Italy in the settlement after the First World War. It ran passenger services on ocean liners around the world. Seriously harmed by Second Worl ...

(also chartered by Italian Line), where she served for another year until being scrapped in 1961. Her sister ship was the .

Beginnings

''Conte Grande'' was built by

as an Italian-flagged

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

. She was launched on 28 June 1927 and entered service with

at Cantieri San Marco for service on the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

tourist and passenger trade. In 1933 she transferred to the South American tourist trade. Early in June 1940 the ''Conte Grande'' was in Santos, Brazil, on one of her regular South American cruises. Here her officers held her awaiting developments after Mussolini's attack on France on 10 June 1940. On 27 February 1942 she was transferred to Brazilian registry and a Brazilian crew replaced the Italian crew who were interned. She was purchased on 16 April 1942 by the United States and renamed USS ''Monticello''. She was commissioned the same day at

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

in Brazil under the command of Captain Morton L. Deyo, USN.

World War II

The USS ''Monticello'' sailed north under the escort of the to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

for conversion to a troop transport which was completed 10 September 1942. She left New York on 2 November for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, carrying troops to Casablanca. Returning to New York, she sailed again on 25 December, carrying men for the various commands of the China-Burma-India Theater to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

, by way of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a Channel ( ...

, Australia, and Ceylon. The transport returned to New York on 24 April 1943, carried reinforcements to Oran on two voyages, then sailed from Africa to San Francisco by way of the Panama Canal. Through the first half of 1944, she carried men from San Francisco to Californian ports, Australia, Hawaii, and the burgeoning bases of the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. In June 1944, she began the first of a series of transatlantic voyages bringing men to win victory in Europe. She reported to New York for an eight-week availability on 20 July 1945 and while there her Navy crew transferred off and were replaced by a

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

crew beginning on 21 July 1945. Her first Coast Guard commanding officer was Commander George R. Leslie. He took command on 6 August 1945 and was replaced the next day by Captain R. S. Patch, USCG.

Postwar service

The vessel remained under repair at Todd's Shipyards,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, until 2 October. During this time all of her

armament A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

was removed. She departed New York, bound for

, on 8 October 1945, with 176 Italian officers, 5,590 Italian Army enlisted men, 13

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

officers and 34 Army enlisted men, a total of 5,813. She arrived at

safely on 19 October. She departed Naples on 22 October and arrived in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 cen ...

on 3 November 1945. She departed Norfolk on 8 November and arrived at

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, ver ...

, France on the 17th. She departed Le Havre on 19 November and arrived back at her home port of New York on 27 November. She then departed New York on 10 December, bound for

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

, arriving there on 20 December. She departed Marseille on 22 December, arriving at New York on 1 January 1946.

Decommission and transfer

She decommissioned at Norfolk on 22 March 1946 and returned to the

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime C ...

for disposal on 27 May 1946. She was returned to the Italian government in June 1947, redubbed ''Conte Grande'', and after being laid up for two years, resumed service as a passenger vessel in South America. She was scrapped in 1961.

Awards

''Monticello'' earned one

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or se ...

for the

service.''Monticello''
Navsource Online.

Footnotes

References

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

website.
''Monticello'' AP-61
– DANFS Online.

Navsource Online. *http://www.silverhillnet.com/monticello.htm *http://www.ussmonticello.com/moboat_history.pdf (including the second ''Monticello'') *

External links

* http://www.monticello.org/press/newsletter/2008/fall/ships.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Conte Grande 1927 ships Ships built in Trieste Ocean liners Steamships of Italy Passenger ships of Italy Steamships of the United States World War II auxiliary ships of the United States