SS Conte Rosso

SS Conte Rosso was an Italian ocean liner active in the early 20th century.

For the earlier liner of the same name commandeered by the Royal Navy during World War I, see HMS Argus (I49).

SS Conte Rosso
History
Italy
Name:	SS Conte Rosso
Namesake:	Amadeus VII, Count of Savoy
Owner:	Lloyd Sabaudo Line / Italian Line
Builder:	William Beardmore and Company, Glasgow, Scotland
Maiden voyage:	17 May 1922
Fate:	Sunk, 24 May 1941
General characteristics
Tonnage:	18,500 gross register tons (GRT)
Length:	180 m (590 ft 7 in)
Beam:	22.5 m (73 ft 10 in)
Propulsion:	2 oil or coal-fired steam turbines, 18,500 hp (13,795 kW)
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Capacity:	1,500 tons cargo 1,950 passengers (200 1st class, 250 2nd class, 1,500 steerage)

Named after Amadeus VII, Count of Savoy, the so-called "Red Count", Conte Rosso was noted for her lavish Italian interior decoration. Because much of its sailing would be in warmer waters, the designers included an outdoor dining area, unusual for ships of this era. Her sister ship was SS Conte Verde.

Service history

The ocean liner was built in the Glasgow yards of William Beardmore and Company for the Italian Lloyd Sabaudo Line and entered service in 1922 carrying passengers between Italy and New York City. She was the first new transatlantic liner built after World War I and the largest Italian liner to date.

In 1928, she was replaced on the New York route by the newer SS Conte Grande and began service between Italy and South America.[1] She was acquired by the Italian Line in 1932 when it took over the Lloyd Sabaudo Line. In 1932, she began serving the Trieste–Bombay–Shanghai route, and thus became one of the major escape routes for the Jewish population of Germany and Austria as Shanghai was one of the few places that did not require paid emigration visas. She also served briefly as an Italian troopship during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in the 1930s.

Incidents

On 31 January 1925, 19-year-old Antonietta Gigliobianco mysteriously fell overboard from Conte Rosso to her death, orphaning her two-year-old son Ernesto. After he was turned over to the ship's chaplain, a media outcry in New York City ensued, which reunited the boy with his father Leonardo Gigliobianco.

Sinking

During World War II, she was used as a troop ship by the Italian Government until 24 May 1941, when she was torpedoed and sunk by HMS Upholder. The sinking occurred 16 km (9.9 mi) off the coast of Sicily while in convoy from Naples to Tripoli. Of the 2,729 soldiers and crew aboard, 1,300 were killed.

See also

• Malcolm David Wanklyn
• List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines

References

1. New York Times

• To, Telephone (31 May 1941). "Conte Rosso Sunk in Transport Duty". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
• "Italy's Newest Liner a Model of Luxury" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 February 1922. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
• "Luxury in Italian Ship" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 February 1922. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
• "New Italian Liner Here on First Trip" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 May 1922. Retrieved 8 November 2007.
• "In Memoria Del Piroscafo "Conte Rosso"". Notiziario della Marina (in Italian). XXXI (7). July 1984. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
• "New Italian Liner to be Here Feb. 24" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 January 1922. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
• "New Italian Liner here on First Trip" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 May 1922. Retrieved 8 November 2007.
• Allaway, Jim (1 April 2004). "Chapter 17: The Sinking of the Conte Rosso". Hero of the Upholder. Penzance, Cornwall: Periscope Publishing Ltd. pp. 103–107. ISBN 978-1-904381-23-5.
• "Report Americans Shun Second Class". The New York Times. 15 June 1932. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
• "Lloyd Sabaudo". The ShipsList. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
• Cortesi, Arnaldo (8 January 1936). "Crack Alpine Unit Rushed To Africa". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 November 2007.