HMS Otranto

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Otranto in Orient Line service, 1909
History
United Kingdom
NameOtranto
NamesakeOtranto
OwnerOrient Steam Navigation Company
OperatorOrient Steam Navigation Company
Port of registryLondon
RouteLondon – Australia
Orderedc. 1908
BuilderWorkman, Clark and Company, Belfast
Yard number278
Laid downc. 1908
Launched27 March 1909
Completed20 July 1909
Maiden voyage1 October 1909
Identification
FateRequisitioned, 4 August 1914
United Kingdom
NameOtranto
Acquired4 August 1914
Commissioned14 August 1914
Identification
FateSank after collision, 6 October 1918
General characteristics
TypeOcean liner / AMC
Tonnage12,124 GRT, 7,433 NRT
Length535 ft 4 in (163.2 m)
Beam64 ft (19.5 m)
Depth38 ft 8 in (11.8 m)
Installed power14,000 
kW
)
Propulsion
Speed18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Capacity
  • Passengers:
  • 235 1st class
  • 186 2nd class
  • 696 3rd class
Armament8 × 4.7 in (120 mm) guns

HMS Otranto was an

commerce raiders. She played small roles in the Battle of Coronel in November 1914 when the German East Asia Squadron destroyed the British squadron searching for it and in the Battle of the Falkland Islands
the following month when a British squadron annihilated the Germans in turn.

Apart from brief refits in the UK,

Isle of Islay in late 1918, she accidentally collided with another troop ship, HMS Kashmir (1915)
and was forced ashore by the storm, killing 470 passengers, mainly American soldiers, and crewmen.

Description

Otranto had an

kW) and gave Otranto a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).[1] The ship had a capacity of 235 first-class, 186 second-class and 696 third-class passengers.[2]

By 1913 Otranto was equipped for wireless telegraphy, operating on the 300 and 600 metre wavelengths. Her call sign was MOD.[3]

Construction

Otranto, named after the

hydraulic jacks failed and the slipway had to be partially rebuilt before she was successfully launched four days later.[2] She was completed on 20 July and departed London on her maiden voyage to Brisbane, Australia, on 1 October.[4]

Passenger service

Otranto had made two round-trips to Australia by January 1910, and then made a 17-day cruise in the Mediterranean.

The arrival of the British mails was always important to Australia, and the installation of wireless telegraphy equipment, even more so. It was reported on 13 July 1910 as follows:

ARRIVAL OF THE OTRANTO. Well up to cabled time, the R.M.S. Otranto arrived from London, via ports, early yesterday morning, and, after being granted pratique, made fast to the quay a little before 9 o'clock Captain Coad reported an uneventful voyage. Fine weather was experienced to Cape Guardafui, but from that point to Minikoi Island a strong south-west monsoon was met with. After leaving Colombo moderate south-east trades were encountered accompanied by a heavy southerly swell. The Otranto is the first of the new Orient liners to be fitted with wireless, and during her present trip she was able to maintain communication with 23 shore stations and 45 steamers. A full account of the Johnson-Jeffries fight was received from the Macedonia's operator on Monday. The Otranto, after discharging cargo, resumed her voyage to the Eastern States at 3.30 o'clock in the afternoon. MAILS BY THE OTRANTO. One hundred and forty-two packages of parcel posts and 1,690 bags of mails comprise the total shipment of mails brought to hand by the R.M.S. Otranto. Western Australia's proportion consists of 164 bags, whilst the balance is distributed as follows:— Adelaide, 125; Melbourne, 272; Geelong, 8; Ballarat, 18; Bendigo, 10; New South Wales, 346; Queensland, 169; Tasmania, 45; New Zealand, 495; H.M. fleet, 18; Noumea, 30. THE OTRANTO'S OFFICERS. Captain A. J. Coad. of the R.M.S. Otranto, has associated with him this voyage the following officers:— L. S. Brooke-Smith, first officer; H. G. C. Adams, second officer; J. J. Hayes, third officer; E. E. Smith, fourth officer; C. J. Hill, fifth officer; H. Newman, purser; H. E. Bloxsome, surgeon; G. T. Greig, chief engineer; E. F. Jeffrey, assistant purser.[5]

She resumed her London–Australia runs into early 1910. That year, the company was awarded a contract to carry mail and she was redesignated as RMS Otranto, the RMS standing for

Germany on 4 August 1914.[6]

Auxiliary cruiser

HMS Otranto in WWI

Conversion

The Admiralty requisitioned Otranto on that same day for conversion to an armed merchant cruiser, having eight

amidships.[7]

Naval duties commence

The work was completed on 13 August and she was commissioned as HMS Otranto the next day. The ship departed the UK on 17 August, the second armed merchant cruiser to leave England, with sealed orders that assigned her to

armoured cruisers Good Hope, Monmouth and the light cruiser Glasgow.[8]

Otranto accompanied Cradock and three cruisers to patrol the

Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee from breaking through into the South Atlantic.[9] In mid-October Otranto struck a rock while departing Port Legunas, Chile, but a diver from Monmouth reported that it had done very little damage.[10]

Battle of Coronel

Main article: Battle of Coronel

On 27 October Cradock ordered Otranto to investigate Puerto Montt for signs of German ships and sent Glasgow to Coronel, Chile, to pick up any information from the Admiralty. The latter ship heard very strong radio transmission from the light cruiser SMS Leipzig four days later and Cradock brought his other ships north to rendezvous off Coronel. He ordered Glasgow to return to Coronel to transmit his appreciation of the situation to the Admiralty and collect any orders from them. The latter ship rejoined the squadron on the afternoon of 1 November and Cradock formed his ships into a line at 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) intervals to search for any Germans.[11] At this time, both sides thought that they were in pursuit of a single light cruiser as a German merchantman had reported Glasgow's presence in Coronel to von Spee earlier in the day.[12]

Glasgow was the first British ship to sight the East Asia Squadron at 16:20 and Otranto confirmed the spotting five minutes later. Cradock reformed the squadron into a line-ahead formation with Otranto in the rear and steered south to intercept the Germans. Due to the heavy weather and

head sea, Otranto could make no more than 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[13] After taking fire from the light cruiser SMS Dresden and the armoured cruiser SMS Gneisenau, her commander, Captain Edwards, ordered Otranto out of line, away from the Germans, and headed west at her best speed as she had no value against the German cruisers. Glasgow was the only other British ship to survive the battle.[14]

Otranto was ordered to Montevideo to rendezvous with Rear Admiral

Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands on 16 December to serve as the islands' guard ship. There she remained until 4 February 1915 when she returned to the UK where she arrived at Birkenhead on 10 March[16] to begin a refit where her 4.7-inch guns were replaced an equal number of 6-inch (152 mm) weapons.[17]

On 18 June, Otranto arrived at

Esquimault, British Columbia, Canada,[18] from October to December before leaving for the western coast of South America on 29 December. She arrived at Santa Elena, Ecuador, on 12 January 1917 and resumed her patrols. The ship arrived at Esquimalt for another refit on 2 October and arrived back at Santa Elena on 8 January 1918.[19]

Otranto arrived at

HM Dockyard, Devonport.[20] The ship arrived in New York City on 20 July where contractors fitted her with troop accommodations.[19] Otranto departed on 8 August for her first trooping voyage and arrived at Liverpool on 20 August where she remained for several days before arriving back at New York City on 8 September.[20]

Last voyage and sinking

Painting of the passenger ship Otranto

Serving as the convoy

influenza pandemic occurred and the soldier was buried at sea. Only one other flu death aboard Otranto is recorded, but others may have occurred before she met her end.[21]

The convoy encountered a strong storm on 4 October that got even stronger over the next several days; by the morning of 6 October it was assessed as a Force 11 storm on the

port side amidships, a few miles off the rocky coast of Islay.[22]

The impact punched a hole some 20 feet (6.1 m) deep and 16 feet (4.9 m) wide in Otranto, from below the

bow was crushed by the impact, although she was able to steam off when a wave forced the two ships apart soon after the collision.[23]

The high winds and heavy seas prevented the launching of any lifeboats and Davidson had decided not to abandon ship just yet in the faint hope that some passengers and crewmen might be able to swim ashore once the ship got closer. About a half-hour after the collision, the destroyer HMS Mounsey appeared after searching for the convoy during the night. Despite Davidson's order to stand clear, Mounsey's captain, Lieutenant Francis Craven, positioned his ship on Otranto's lee side to allow the men aboard the liner to jump aboard. Several times the two ships struck and the destroyer's hull was holed, her bridge smashed, two of three boiler rooms flooded, and many hull frames were broken by the force of the impacts. Nonetheless, Craven kept his small ship close and was able to rescue 300 American troops, 266 officers and crewmen from Otranto, one YMCA morale officer and 30 French fishermen, although many more men had been washed from the decks or crushed between the two ships. Despite the weight of the rescued men and the damage sustained in the rescue, Mounsey was able to reach Belfast safely although she was too badly damaged to return to her own home port against the storm.[24]

Muck, Scotland Map in 1957

About three hours after the collision, a large wave dropped Otranto onto "Old Women's Reef", about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) offshore, near the entrance to Machir Bay, missing a sandy beach just north of the reef. The action of the enormous waves quickly broke the ship in half and then ripped her bottom out. Of the roughly 489 men aboard after Mounsey departed, only 21 (17 of these were American) were able to successfully swim ashore, although two of these, including one American, later died of their injuries. The islanders were able to rescue some of these men by pulling them up the coastal cliffs or from rocks just offshore. By the following morning, the liner had been completely demolished by the heavy seas and the coastline was strewn with wreckage and hundreds of bodies in piles up to 15 feet (4.6 m) deep. A total of 316 Americans were found and buried on Islay and the nearby island of Muck.[25]

The police sergeant at Bowmore, Malcolm McNeill, the maternal grandfather of a later (1999-2004) NATO general secretary, George Robertson, commended local people in his report: 'though they had so little, they gave so much to help' and also responded to enquiries from the American families of those lost from the Otranto (and in the 1918 SS Tuscania sinking).[26]

Aftermath

Craven was awarded the

Mull of Oa by the American Red Cross to commemorate the men lost aboard Otranto and Tuscania which was sunk by a German U-boat nearby. The remains of the wreck were later salvaged by Keith Jessop.[29]

References

  1. ^ a b Osborne, Spong & Grover, p. 130
  2. ^ a b Scott, p. 1
  3. ^ The Marconi Press Agency, p. 258
  4. ^ Osborne, Spong & Grover, pp. 130–131
  5. ^ "SHIPPING". The West Australian. Vol. XXVI, no. 7, 579. Western Australia. 13 July 1910. p. 6. Retrieved 28 March 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ Scott, pp. 5–6
  7. ^ Scott, pp. 6–7
  8. ^ Scott, pp. 7–8
  9. ^ Corbett, Vol. I, pp. 309–314, 318–319
  10. ^ Scott, p. 8
  11. ^ Corbett, Vol. I, pp. 342–346
  12. ^ Massie, p. 223
  13. ^ Corbett, Vol. I, pp. 348–349
  14. ^ Massie, pp. 229, 242
  15. ^ Corbett, Vol. I, p. 402
  16. ^ a b Transcript, Pt. 1
  17. ^ Osborne, Spong & Grover, p. 131
  18. ^ Scott, p. 19
  19. ^ a b c Transcript, Pt. 2
  20. ^ a b Scott, p. 20
  21. ^ Scott, pp. 37, 47, 54–57, 62–65
  22. ^ Scott, pp. 62, 67–75
  23. ^ Scott, pp. 73–77
  24. ^ Scott, pp. 85–100
  25. ^ Scott, pp. 103–122
  26. ^ MacPherson, Hamish (3 October 2021). "Remembering the tragedy off Islay that claimed the lives of 470 sailors". The National. p. SevenDays supplement page 11 - Back in the Day.
  27. ^ "To be Companions of the Distinguished Service Order: Lieut. Francis Worthington Craven, R.N." The London Gazette (Supplement). No. 31236. 14 March 1919. p. 3592.
  28. ^ "Francis Worthington Craven". The Dreadnought Project. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  29. ^ Scott, pp. 121–122, 139–140, 142, 149, 155–157

Bibliography

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