The Vera Cruz was built under the hull number 748 at Cockerill-Sambre in Antwerp and was launched on June 2, 1951 as the largest passenger ship in Portugal at the time. After being taken over by the Companhia Colonial de Navegação in February 1952, the ship took up the liner service from Lisbon to Santos , but switched to the route to Buenos Aires in 1953 . In the same year it was supplemented on this route by the slightly enlarged sister ship Santa Maria .
In 1960, Vera Cruz switched to the route from Lisbon to Angola after seven years . Because of the unrest that began there a few months later, the ship was used from 1961 both for passenger service and as a troop transport.
After serving a total of 21 years, the Vera Cruz was retired in the spring of 1973 and sold for scrapping in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where it arrived on April 19, 1973. Her sister ship the Santa Maria also went to Kaohsiung for scrapping in 1973.
