[6] Service began with sailings from New York at noon each Thursday by either Contessa or sister ship Cefalu for twelve day travel to the tropical waters and ports with advertisements emphasizing the fact all passenger accommodations were well ventilated "outside" staterooms.

[6] In October Contessa was chosen at the last minute to solve a problem facing Operation Torch planners in rapidly supplying the airfield to be captured at Port-Lyautey that lay up the Sebou River with aviation gasoline and munitions.

[10] Contessa arrived at Norfolk as the convoy was preparing to sail in a leaking condition with engine problems that required immediate dry docking expected to take several days.

[11] Three days late, with a crew filled out from seaman volunteers from a local Naval brig released from minor offenses, the ship got underway from the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation in the early hours of 27 October[note 1] in an unescorted dash across the Atlantic to join the convoy.

[6] Contessa returned to regular service after the war but was sold and registered in the Netherlands in 1959 as Leeuwarden and then Panama in 1965 as Tropicana II and Santa Anna spending much of the time idle before scrapping in 1970.