The second Monticello (AP?61) was built in 1928 as Conte Grande by Stabilimento Tecnico, Triestine, Trieste, Italy; as an Italian?flag ship, interned in Brazil at the opening of World War II; purchased 16 April 1942 by the United States; and commissioned the same day in Brazil, Capt. Morton L. Deyo in command.
Monticello sailed north for conversion to a transport at Philadelphia, completed 10 September 1942. She left New York 2 November for the invasion of North Africa, carrying troops to Casablanca. Returning to New York, she sailed again 25 December, carrying men for the various commands of the China?Burma?India Theater to Karachi, by way of the Panama Canal, Australia, and Ceylon.
The transport returned to New York 24 April 1943, carried reinforcements to Oran on two voyages, then sailed from Africa to San Francisco by way of the Panama Canal. Through the first half of 1944 she carried men from San Francisco to Californian ports, Australia, Hawaii and the burgeoning bases of the South Pacific. In June 1944 she began the first of a series of transatlantic voyages bringing men to win victory in Europe, operating with a Coast Guard crew after 6 August 1945. She decommissioned at Norfolk 22 March 1946 and returned to WSA for disposal 27 May 1946. She was returned to the Italian government in June 1947.
