The Conte Verde ( Italian for Green Count , named after Amadeus VI. ) Was an Italian ship of the line with 18,765 GRT , which was put into service in 1923.
From 1932 the Conte Verde operated the Trieste - Shanghai route for Lloyd Triestino . From 1938 on, this route developed into one of the main escape routes for German and Austrian Jews to Shanghai , as no emigration visas were required there. During the Second World War , the Conte Verde was initially fixed in Shanghai and was chartered by the Japanese government in 1942 . From June 30 to July 23, 1942, the ship transported 639 American civil internees from Shanghai on behalf of the Japanese, who were exchanged. After the armistice between the Allies and Italy, it was sunk by the Italian occupation. The Japanese salvaged the ship and repaired it; from 1943 they used it as a warship under the name Kotobuki Maru . In 1944 the ship was sunk in a US air raid off Kyoto .