MS Oranje
{{Short description|Ship}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2009}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Ms Oranje in zee, Bestanddeelnr 908-0402.jpg | Ship caption = The Oranje in her original Netherland Line livery }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship name = * Oranje (1939–1964)
| Ship owner = * Netherland Line (1939–1964)
| Ship operator = * Netherlands Lines (1939–1941)
| Ship registry = * 1939–1964: Amsterdam, {{flag|Netherlands}}
| Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij,{{cite web |url=http://www.marhisdata.nl/schip&id=4937 |title=Name ship: Oranje |publisher=Stichting Maritiem-Historische Databank |access-date=28 January 2020}} Amsterdam, Netherlands | Ship original cost = | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = 2 July 1937 | Ship launched = 8 September 1938 | Ship completed = 15 July 1939 | Ship christened = | Ship acquired = | Ship maiden voyage = 1939 | Ship in service = 1939 | Ship out of service = 30 March 1979 | Ship identification = *Call sign: PGOF → IBHO[http://www.naviecapitani.it/Navi%20e%20Capitani/gallerie%20navi/navi%20passeggeri%20storiche/schede%20navi/A/Angelina%20Lauro-%20Costa.htm Angelina Lauro]
| Ship fate = Destroyed by fire on 30 March 1979, sank on 24 September 1979 | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Ship class = | Ship tonnage = * {{GRT|24,377}} (after refit)
| Ship displacement = | Ship length = * {{convert|672.4|ft|m|abbr=on}} (after refit)
| Ship beam = {{convert|83.6|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship height = | Ship draught = | Ship draft = | Ship depth = | Ship decks = 8 | Ship deck clearance = | Ship ramps = | Ship ice class = | Ship sail plan = | Ship power = 3 × 12-cylinder Sulzer diesels {{convert|37500|hp|abbr=on}} at 145 rpm | Ship propulsion = Triple screw | Ship speed = * {{convert|22|kn}} (service)
| Ship capacity = *740 passengers, original in 1939
| Ship crew = | Ship notes = }} |
MS Oranje, later known as Angelina Lauro, was a Dutch passenger liner, a wartime hospital ship, and finally a cruise ship. The ship underwent 25 years' service as Oranje, and fifteen as Angelina Lauro. She was a cruise ship for the last seven years of her career. An extensive film of a cruise she made in 1954 exists in the London Cinema Museum archive.{{Cite web|title=Cinema Museum Home Movie Database|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OJqSWnOFAn6RJ24jtwb21Z4Hv5svJjbp/edit#gid=2059894427}}
In 1979, while the vessel was docked in a port at Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, a fire broke out in the crew area that spread to the passenger areas; and she was declared a total loss. She sank on her route to the scrapyard.
History
=Early career and World War 2=
The Oranje was ordered by Netherland Line and was built in the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij shipyard. The ship was ceremonially launched on 8 September 1938, On 15 July 1939, the finished ship was delivered to the Netherland Line and on September 4, 1939, she left Amsterdam on her maiden voyage to Batavia (Jakarta).{{Cite web|title=History of the MS Oranje|url=http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Oranje%20History.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121022235/http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Oranje%20History.html|archive-date=21 January 2012}} World War II had begun days before she departed, so the ship was laid up in Surabaya, without completing her maiden voyage home. In February 1941, the ship's captain was ordered to sail to Sydney and hand over his ship to the Royal Australian Navy.{{Cite web|title=WWII Hospital Ship – MS Oranje|url=https://www.pmhps.org.au/2021/07/wwii-hospital-ship-ms-oranje/}} The Dutch government agreed with the Australian government that the Oranje would be converted into a hospital ship. Although she was under Australian command, she kept her Dutch crew and remained under the Dutch flag throughout the war.
=Post-war career=
From October 1946 to 1957, the ship returned to its original owners to resume passenger service. The Indonesian War of Independence and its nationalist course led to a decrease in passenger numbers. In February 1951, the Oranje made her first around the world cruise: from Amsterdam via the Panama Canal to Australia and New Zealand and back via Singapore and the Suez Canal to Amsterdam. Between 8 and 18 June 1951, she voyaged to Lisbon and Madeira with 650 passengers.
==Collision with ''Willem Ruys''==
On 6 January 1953, MS Oranje collided in the Red Sea with Willem Ruys, which was heading in the opposite direction. At that time, it was common for passenger ships to pass each other at close range to entertain their passengers. During the (later heavily criticized) abrupt and fast approach of Oranje, Willem Ruys made an unexpected swing to port, resulting in a collision. Oranje badly damaged her bow. As she might have been impounded for safety reasons, she was unable to call at Colombo as scheduled and went directly to Jakarta. Willem Ruys suffered less damage. There was no loss of life. Later, it was determined that miscommunication on both ships had caused the collision.{{Cite web|date=6 January 1953|title=Dutch passenger ships collide in Red Sea|url=https://www.dagvantoen.nl/rotterdamse-passagiersschepen-botsen-in-rode-zee/|access-date=2 May 2021|website=Day when|language=en}} The ship's final voyage for Netherland Line was in 1964.
=Lauro Lines=
On 4 September 1964, both she and the Willem Ruys were sold to an Italian company, Flotta Lauro Lines.{{Cite web|title=Flotta Lauro Lines MS Angelina Lauro|url=http://ssmaritime.com/oranje2.htm}}{{Cite web|title=MS Angelina Lauro Fire|url=http://ssmaritime.com/oranjefire.htm}} Oranje was then sent to Genoa for an extensive refit at the Cantieri Navali del Tirreno shipyards. On 6 March 1966 the Angelina Lauro departed on her maiden voyage from Bremerhaven to Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, and Wellington. In 1977 the ship was chartered by Costa Lines. However, in 1979 while in a pier at Saint Thomas, she caught fire, which burned in the ship's hull for days; and was declared a total loss. On 30 July 1979, the ship's burned hull was planned to be towed to a scrapyard at Kaohsiung. Then on 21 September 1979, the ship's weakened hull (which the fire had affected), began to fill with water. Three days later the Angelina Lauro sank in the mid-Pacific, on 24 September 1979.
Gallery
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.ssmaritime.com/oranje.htm Detailed website with many photographs]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050406234824/http://www.allatsea.co.za/shipwrecks/angelinawreck.htm Allatsea.com]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070830002448/http://www.chesterh.com/angelina_lauro.htm An eyewitness account: The Angelina Lauro fire]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110202171307/http://www.cofepow.org.uk/pages/ships_oranje.htm Oranje during and after WW2]
{{Costa Cruises}}
{{1979 shipwrecks}}
{{coord missing|Pacific Ocean}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oranje}}
Category:Passenger ships of the Netherlands
Category:Hospital ships of the Australian Army
Category:Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean
Category:Maritime incidents in 1979
Category:Ships built by Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij