Dante Alighieri was built by Società Esercizio Bacini of Riva Trigoso in 1914 for Transatlantica Italiana.

[3] After the war ended, Dante Alighieri resumed her Genoa–New York service, continuing on the same route through October 1927.

In 1928, the liner was sold to the Japanese firm of Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and renamed Asahi Maru.

On 24 January 1942, the hospital ship was hit by gunfire from the destroyer USS John D. Ford, during an American incursion on Balikpapan.

On 5 February 1944, Asahi Maru was damaged in a collision in the Japanese Inland Sea, beached, broke in two, and abandoned.