SS Orontes

SS Orontes was a passenger ship owned by Orient Line.

SS Orontes in Tilbury Docks, circa 1957, about to sail for Sydney on a single-class voyage with (mainly) migrant passengers on the Ten Pound Poms scheme.
History
United Kingdom
Name: SS Orontes
Owner: Orient Line (P & O)
Port of registry: Tilbury, Essex, United Kingdom
Route:
  • England - Australia (1929-1940)
  • England - Australia (1948-1962)
Builder: Vickers Armstrong Ltd. at Barrow-in-Furness, England
Maiden voyage: June 1929
Refit: 1947-1948
Identification:
  • Code Letters and radio callsign GBXM
Fate: Scrapped at Valencia, Spain in 1962
General characteristics
Type: Passenger
Tonnage: 20,097 grt
Length: 664 ft (202 m)
Beam: 75 ft 2 in (22.91 m)
Draft: 29 ft 8 in (9.04 m)
Installed power: 2 steam turbines, 20,000 shaft horsepower (15,000 kW)
Propulsion: 2 screws
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)
Capacity:
  • 1st: 500 passengers
  • 3rd: 1,112 passengers
  • Total: 1,612 passengers

The ship was built in 1929 by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, England.

Its sister ships were Orama (II), Orford, Oronsay, and Otranto (II). Orontes was the last of the "Orama" Class and great effort was taken to make the public rooms of Orontes the best of this class. The name had previously belonged to the RMS Orontes, an earlier ship owned by the Orient Line.[1]

Service

Orontes maiden voyage was a Mediterranean Cruise in June 1929. From 1929 to 1940, it served on the England to Australia route. It carried the England cricket team on the way to the Bodyline tour in 1932.[2]

During World War II, Orontes became a troopship, serving that role from 1940 to 1947. In 1947 Orontes transported World War II prisoners of war from Melbourne to Cuxhaven, West Germany.[1]

The ship served on the England to Australia route from 1948 to 1962 (the ship was refitted as a single class passenger ship at Thornycroft in 1953). In August 1958, Orontes was involved in a collision with SS Empire Baltic, a landing ship used as a ferry on the River Thames. The Orontes was scrapped at Valencia, Spain in 1962.[1][3][4]

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References
  1. "Builder's model of SS Orontes". Sydney, New South Wales: Australian National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  2. McKinstry, Leo (14 September 2007), "When cynicism eclipsed chivalry in sport", Daily Telegraph, London
  3. "Orontes (1146027)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  4. ORONTES (1929) (PDF), P&O Line, archived from the original (PDF) on 9 January 2007, retrieved 5 March 2009

Further reading
  • Geddes, FL (24 June 1948), "The Reconditioned "Orontes"", Shipbuilding and Shipping Record: 774 - article about the post-war refit
  • McCart, Neil (1987), Passenger Ships of the Orient Line, P. Stephens, ISBN 978-0-85059-891-9



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