SS ''Conte Rosso'' was an Italian
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) ...
ocean liner that was built in Scotland in 1921–22, became a
troop ship
A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...
in the 1930s and was sunk by HMS Upholder in 1941.
She was named after
Amadeus VII, Count of Savoy
Amadeus VII (24 February 1360 – 1 November 1391), known as the Red Count, was Count of Savoy from 1383 to 1391.
Biography
Amadeus was born in Chambéry on 24 February 1360, the son of Count Amadeus VI of Savoy and Bonne of Bourbon. Althou ...
, the so-called "Red Count", and 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.
''Conte Rosso'' had a
sister ship, .
Building
William Beardmore and Company
William Beardmore and Company was a British engineering and shipbuilding conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active from 1886 to the mid-1930s and at its peak employed about 40,000 people. It was founded and ...
built the ship in
Dalmuir
Dalmuir (; gd, Dail Mhoire) is an area northwest of Glasgow, Scotland, on the western side of Clydebank, and part of West Dunbartonshire Council Area. The name is a lowland Scots derivation of the Gaelic meaning Big Field. The area was ori ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
for the Italian
Lloyd Sabaudo Line. She was launched on 10 February 1921 and completed on 14 March 1922.
''Conte Rosso'' was long
between perpendiculars
Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...
, had a beam of and her
gross register tonnage was 17,857. She had four steam turbines driving two
screws by
double reduction gearing.
''Conte Rosso''s
code letters were NJVH
[ until they were superseded in 1934 by the maritime call sign IBEI.
]
Service history
She entered service in 1922 carrying passengers between Italy and New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. She was the first new transatlantic liner built after World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the largest Italian liner to date.
In 1928 she was replaced on the New York route by the newer and began service between Italy and South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
.
The New York Times
'
In 1932 Lloyd Sabaudo merged with Navigazione Generale Italiana
Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) was an Italian shipping company.
History
The company formed in 1881 by the merger of ''Florio, I & V. Florio'' of Palermo and ''Raffaele Rubattino'' of Genoa. At the time of the merger, the two companies both ...
and Cosulich Line
The Cosulich Line, formally the Cosulich Societa Triestina di Navigazione, is a steamship line that was based in Trieste, Italy. The company had been founded in 1889 by Antonio F. Cosulich's son as a family business. In 1903 as Unione Austriaca di ...
to form Flotte Riunite. Flotte Riunite transferred ''Conte Rosso'' to the 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 prov ...
– Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
– Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
route. After 1933 this 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.
''Conte Rosso'' served as an Italian troop ship
A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...
during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War
The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Itali ...
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
In 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
the Italian Government
The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President.
The Italian Constituti ...
again used ''Conte Rosso'' as a troop ship. On 24 May 1941 the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
submarine sank her by torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...
off the coast of Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
while in convoy from 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 Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
. Of the 2,729 soldiers and crew aboard, 1,297 were killed.
See also
* David Wanklyn
Lieutenant Commander Malcolm David Wanklyn, (28 June 1911 – missing in action 14 April 1942) was a Royal Navy commander and one of the most successful submariners in the Western Allied navies during the Second World War. Wanklyn and his c ...
* List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Conte Rosso
1922 ships
Ships built on the River Clyde
Ocean liners
Steamships of Italy
Passenger ships of Italy
Troop ships of Italy
World War II naval ships of Italy
World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea
Maritime incidents in May 1941
Ships sunk by British submarines