SS Conte Verde Conte Verde was an Italian ocean liner active in the early 20th century . The name was chosen in honor of Amadeus VI , Count of Savoy , the so - called “ Green Count . ” She was launched in 1923 at the shipyard of William Beardmore and Company in Dalmuir , Scotland . The ship was a transatlantic liner of 18 , 761 GRT , ordered by the Italian shipping company Lloyd Sabaudo Line in Genoa . The first - class accommodations had a capacity of 450 passengers , second class was 200 passengers and third class ( emigrants rooms ) was 1 , 780 passengers . In addition , 400 crew members were on board . The ship was composed of 10 decks . The interiors of public rooms were designed in luxurious Italian classical styles . Her sister ship was the SS Conte Rosso . Lloyd Sabaudo ’ s Transatlantic Line . She started her maiden voyage from Genoa to Buenos Aires on April 21 , 1923 . She set sail for New York on June 13 , 1923 . One of her most famous voyages was when she brought football ( soccer ) teams from Europe to South America to participate in the World Cup in Uruguay in 1930 ( Romania , France , Belgium , and Brazil ) . The Romanian team boarded in Genoa , the French delegation ( including FIFA president Jules Rimet ) boarded in Villefranche - sur - Mer , the Belgian team boarded in Barcelona , and the Brazilian team boarded in Rio de Janeiro . The trophy and three referees , Jean Langenus , Henri Christophe , and Thomas Balvay also crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the ship . Other celebrities who sailed on the Conte Verde include Fyodor Chaliapin , a Russian opera singer , Josephine Baker , an American dancer , Fosco Maraini , an Italian academic of Tibetan and Japanese studies as well as a photographer and mountaineer , and Dacia Maraini , an Italian writer . Giovanni Giotta , owner of a famous San Francisco café , the Caffe Trieste founded in 1956 , was a member of the ship ’ s crew . Lloyd Triestino ’ s Far East Line . After acquisition by Italian Line in 1932 , she became a part of Lloyd Triestino ( also chartered by Italian Line ) for service between Trieste and Shanghai via Suez , Bombay , Colombo , Singapore and Hong Kong in 24 days . [ 2 ] For this transfer , she was thoroughly refitted . The first - , second - and third - class accommodations were reduced in capacity to 250 , 170 and 220 passengers , respectively , to create wider spaces . On September 1 , 1937 , she collided with NYK ’ s Asama Maru in an extraordinarily large typhoon in Hong Kong . She had run aground off the shores of Cape Collinson , and the Asama Maru was at the northernmost part of Chai Wan Bay . The work of refloating the Conte Verde required one month , and the Asama Maru took half a year . From 1938 to 1940 , the four Lloyd Triestino ships brought a number of Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria to Shanghai . Nazi persecution intensified especially after Kristallnacht on November 9 , 1938 . Then , the number of the refugees increased dramatically as the ships became their lifeboats . Ultimately , 17 , 000 Jewish refugees came to Shanghai on the Lloyd Triestino ’ s ships . The refugee route via the ships was closed on June 10 , 1940 , when Italy joined the war . The liners ’ operation was suspended indefinitely , and the Conte Verde was confined to Shanghai . Exchange ship . In December 1941 , Japan declared war on the Allies . In May 1942 , Japan and the US agreed to exchange interned diplomats and other citizens , chartering three ships — Conte Verde ( known as Teikyo Maru while chartered ) , Asama Maru and Gripsholm — for this purpose . The Conte Verde and Asama Maru were sent by Japan , and the Gripsholm by the US . They met at Lourenco Marques , exchanged the internees and returned . The Conte Verde and Asama Maru were moored at Yokohama while waiting for the second exchange voyage , but negotiations between Japan and the US collapsed . The Conte Verde left Yokohama on September and returned to Shanghai . Sinking . Due to the Italian Armistice in 1943 , she was scuttled in Shanghai by her Italian crew to prevent seizure by Japanese forces ; but the Japanese refloated the ship in July 1944 . She was bombed and sunk by a B - 24 of the 373rd Bomb Squadron on 8 August . The ship was raised again , repaired , renamed Kotobuki Maru , converted into a troopship , and towed to Maizuru , a port town in the north of Kyoto Prefecture , in June 1945 but hit in a raid by aircraft on July 25 and beached . Scrapped in 1949