When Lloyd Sabaudo of Italy placed the order for their new flagship Conte Rosso with Beardmores of Glasgow in 1914, no-one could possibly have foreseen that this vessel would soon be metamorphosed into an aircraft carrier in the Royal Navy instead of a luxury liner on the North Atlantic. Laid down in June (1914), building had hardly begun when War was declared and the hull earmarked for the British war effort. Finally purchased by the Admiralty in 1916, after protracted negotiations, she was renamed Argus, completed as an aircraft carrier and survived until scrapped in 1946.

Despite what had occurred, Lloyd Sabaudo returned to Beardmores after the War ended and placed a new order for a second Conte Rosso, broadly similar to the first but larger and more powerful. Laid down in 1920, construction proceeded rapidly and the new Conte Rosso was scheduled for launching on 26th January 1921. Despite the usual meticulous arrangements, the vessel became stuck on the ways after only a few yards and the assembled guests went away disappointed, the successful launching taking place two weeks later, on 10th February. Finally completed in February 1922, Conte Rosso was registered at 18,017 tons gross (9,865 net) and measured 588 feet in length with a 74 foot beam. Powered by four Parsons-Beardmore double-reduction geared steam turbines producing 22,000shp., she had a cruising speed of 18½ knots but could make 20 at full steam. With comfortable accommodation for 208 First, 268 Second and 1,890 Third class passengers, she carried a crew of 442 and proved a popular ship from the start, mainly because she was so superior to her pre-War running mates. Her first class public rooms were reportedly "extremely ornate", and so pleased were her owners that Beardmores received confirmation to proceed with the order for her sister ship Conte Verde without quibble.

After a very satisfactory maiden voyage to Buenos Aires in March/April 1922, she left Genoa for her first crossing to New York, via Naples, on 15th May and maintained this schedule for six years until transferred onto the company's Genoa - River Plate route in 1928. World economic problems in the early 1930s resulted in the amalgamation of three Italian lines, including Lloyd Sabaudo, into a new company named Italia in January 1932, after which Conte Rosso started sailings to Shanghai out of Trieste. Later the same year her owners changed to Lloyd Triestino, at which time her accommodation was drastically reduced, and in 1936 she underwent an extensive refit, including new boilers which increased her cruising speed to 20 knots. Taken up as a wartime troop transport in 1940, she was sunk on 24th May 1941 with heavy loss of life. Packed with over 2,500 troops, she was sailing in a heavily protected convoy bound for Tripoli when she was torpedoed by the British submarine Upholder 15 miles east of Syracuse; it was reported that as many as 1,212 men lost their lives although the exact number remains conjecture as accounts of the tragedy are at variance.