SS Orontes

{{Infobox ship image

|Ship image= StateLibQld 1 149467 Orontes (ship).jpg

|Ship caption= A publicity image of Orontes

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{{Infobox ship career

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|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}

|Ship country= United Kingdom

|Ship name= Orontes

|Ship namesake= Orontes River

|Ship owner= Orient Steam Navigation Company

|Ship operator=

|Ship registry= Barrow

|Ship route= England – Australia (1929–40; 1948–62)

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|Ship builder= Vickers-Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness

|Ship original cost=

|Ship yard number= 637

|Ship laid down=

|Ship launched= 26 February 1929

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|Ship completed= July 1929

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|Ship maiden voyage= 1929

|Ship refit= 1947–48; 1953

|Ship identification=*Until 1934: code letters LDPF

{{ICS|Lima}}{{ICS|Delta}}{{ICS|Papa}}{{ICS|Foxtrot}}
By 1930: call sign GBXM
{{ICS|Golf}}{{ICS|Bravo}}{{ICS|X-ray}}{{ICS|Mike}}

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|Ship fate= Scrapped in Spain, 1962

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{{Infobox ship characteristics

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|Ship class=

|Ship type= ocean liner

|Ship tonnage= {{GRT|19770}}; {{NRT|12020}}

|Ship displacement=

|Ship length= *{{cvt|664|ft|abbr=on}} overall:

{{cvt|638.2|ft|abbr=on}} registered

|Ship beam= {{cvt|75.3|ft|abbr=on}}

|Ship draught= {{cvt|30|ft|2|in|abbr=on}}

|Ship depth= {{cvt|33.1|ft|abbr=on}}

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|Ship decks= 3

|Ship power= 2 × steam turbines: 3,825 NHP; {{convert|20000|shp|kW}}

|Ship propulsion= 2 × screws

|Ship speed= {{convert|20|kn|km/h}}

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|Ship capacity=*Passengers:

500 × 1st class
1,112 × 3rd class
Total: 1,612

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|Ship sensors= wireless direction finding

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SS Orontes was an Orient Steam Navigation Company ocean liner. Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, England built her in 1929. She was the second Orient Line ships to be named after the Orontes River. The first was {{RMS|Orontes}}, which had been scrapped in 1925.

Her sister ships were Orama, Orford, {{SS|Oronsay|1925|2}}, and {{RMS|Otranto|1925|2}}. Orontes was the last of the Orama class to be built. Great effort was taken to make her public rooms the best of the class.

Service

Orontes{{'}} maiden voyage was a Mediterranean cruise. From 1929 to 1940, she worked Orient Line's route between England and Australia. She carried the England cricket team on the way to the Bodyline tour in 1932.{{citation |last=McKinstry |first=Leo |title=When cynicism eclipsed chivalry in sport |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/09/14/do1401.xml |date=2007-09-14 |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |place=London}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

Orontes was a troopship from 1940 until 1947. In 1947 she repatriated German prisoners of war from Melbourne to Cuxhaven, Germany.

In 1947 she was refitted, and in 1948 she returned to Orient Line's route between England and Australia. In 1953 John I. Thornycroft & Company refitted her as a one-class ship. In August 1958, she was involved in a collision with Empire Baltic, a landing ship used as a ferry on the River Thames. She was scrapped at Valencia, Spain, in 1962.{{cite web |title=Builder's model of SS Orontes |url= http://collections.anmm.gov.au/objects/202592 |publisher=Australian National Maritime Museum |access-date=28 January 2020 |place=Sydney, NSW}}{{csr|register=MSI|id=1146027|shipname=Orontes |access-date=26 November 2018}}{{Citation |url=http://portal.pohub.com/pls/pogprtl/poghistory.display_document.pdf?p_id=1494 |title=ORONTES (1929) |publisher=P&O Heritage |access-date=5 March 2009 |url-status=usurped |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070109014756/http://portal.pohub.com/pls/pogprtl/poghistory.display_document.pdf?p_id=1494 |archive-date=9 January 2007 |df=dmy-all}}

SS Orontes

Service

References

Further reading