Conte Grande
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The Conte Grande was a 1928 transatlantic passenger steamer of the Italian shipping company Lloyd Sabaudo , which was built for passenger and mail traffic from Genoa and Naples to New York . During the Second World War , the ship served as a troop transport for the United States Navy under the designation USS Monticello (AP-61) . After the war, it returned to passenger traffic under the Italian flag until it was scrapped in 1961.
Passenger ship
The 25,661 GRT steam turbine ship Conte Grande was laid down on October 30, 1926 at the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard in Trieste with hull number 764. On June 29, 1927, the 198.9 meter long and 23.8 meter wide ship was launched at Cantieri San Marco in Genoa. The ocean liner was completed on February 27, 1927, so that it could sail on April 13, 1927 on its maiden voyage from Genoa via Naples to New York. There was room for 1780 passengers on board the Conte Grande . She had a sister ship, the Conte Biancamano (23,562 GRT) , which was commissioned in 1925 .
The ship was powered by two Parson turbines built by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino , which developed 24,000 hp and enabled a cruising speed of 19.5 knots. There were also a total of nine boilers. The external lines of the Conte Grande were, as is usual with Italian luxury steamers, very elegant. The ship had a long black hull , white superstructures, two promenade decks and two red and black painted funnels.
The Navigazione Generale Italiana (based in Genoa), the Cosulich Società Triestina di Navigazione (Headquartered in Trieste) and Lloyd Sabaudo (headquarters in Turin) - - 1932, the largest Italian shipping companies were under the direction of Benito Mussolini nationalized and Società Italia fleet Riuniti summarized . The fleets of these shipping companies were therefore merged and the Conte Grande came under new ownership. As a result, it was relocated to South America in 1933 for passenger traffic, which was mainly characterized by tourism . When Italy joined Germany in the Second World War on June 10, 1940 and occupied French territory, the Conte Grande remained in the port of Santos (Brazil) and initially did not return to Italy. The ship's command wanted to wait for the political situation to develop.
US troop carrier USS Monticello
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On February 27, 1942, the Conte Grande was registered in Brazil and its Italian crew was replaced by a Brazilian one and interned. On April 16, 1942, the United States bought the steamer for use in the United States Navy . On the same day, the Conte Grande was put into service with the Navy in São Paulo under the name USS Monticello (AP-61). Captain Morton L. Deyo became the new commander. Accompanied by the American destroyer USS Lansdale , the USS Monticello went to Philadelphia , where it was converted for military service. The work was completed on September 10, 1942.
On November 2, 1942, the USS Monticello sailed from New York to Casablanca , where it brought soldiers ashore for Operation Torch . On December 25, 1942, she also set out in New York on a troop voyage to Karachi via the Panama Canal , Australia and Ceylon . Two crossings followed in 1943 to bring supplies to the Oran . On the return journey from Africa to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. In the first half of 1944 she brought mostly men from California to Hawaii , Australia and various stations in the South Pacific . In July 1945, their Navy crew in New York was replaced by a crew consisting of members of the United States Coast Guard under Commander George R. Leslie.
By October 2, 1945, the USS Monticello was decommissioned at Todd's Shipyards in Brooklyn and the armament was dismantled. Six days later she left New York for Italy with 176 Italian officers, 5590 Italian soldiers, 13 officers of the United States Army and 34 US soldiers on board. She entered Naples on October 19, 1945.
On March 22, 1946, the ship was officially released from service by the US armed forces and on May 27, 1946, the War Shipping Administration (WSA) was handed over, which took care of the repatriation. In June 1947 it was returned to the Italian government and used again in the following years under the name Conte Grande in passenger traffic from Italy to South America. On September 7, 1961, the 34-year-old ship arrived in La Spezia for demolition and was then scrapped.