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.

One of her most famous voyages was when she brought the national association football teams of Romania, France, Yugoslavia, Belgium and Brazil to Uruguay to participate in the 1930 FIFA World Cup.

The trophy and three referees, Jean Langenus, Henri Christophe, and Thomas Balvay also crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the ship.

[9] 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.

[10] Giovanni Giotta, owner of a famous San Francisco café, the Caffe Trieste founded in 1956, was a member of the ship's crew.

She had run aground off the shores of Cape Collinson, and the Asama Maru was at the northernmost part of Chai Wan Bay.

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.