RMS Otranto (1925)
_-_SLV_H91.108-2561.jpg) Otranto in civilian service
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | RMS Otranto |
| Namesake | Otranto |
| Owner | Orient Steam Navigation Company |
| Operator | Orient Steam Navigation Company |
| Port of registry |  Barrow[1] |
| Builder | Vickers Armstrong ,
Barrow-in-Furness[1] |
| Launched | 9 June 1925 |
| Completed | December 1925[1] |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sold for scrap, June 1957 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 632.0 ft (192.6 m) p/p[1] |
| Beam | 75.2 ft (22.9 m)[1] |
| Draught | 37 ft 6 in (11.43 m)[1] |
| Depth | 32.9 ft (10.0 m)[1] |
| Installed power | 3,722 NHP[1] |
| Propulsion | 6 steam turbines[1] |
| Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h)[3] |
| Sensors and processing systems | wireless direction finding[1] |
| Notes | sister ships: Orama, Orford[3] |
RMS Otranto was an ocean liner that was built for the Orient Steam Navigation Company in 1925. The "RMS" prefix stands for Royal Mail Ship, as she carried overseas mail under a contract between Orient Line and Royal Mail. Otranto was in service until 1957, when she was sold for scrap.
The ship was named after the town of Otranto in Apulia in southern Italy. She was Orient Line's second ship of that name. The first was a passenger liner completed in 1909 that, in 1914, became the armed merchant cruiser HMS Otranto and, in 1918, was lost as a result of a collision.
In the
Operation Husky) and Italy (Operation Avalanche
).
Building and details
launched
her on 9 July 1925.
She was 632.0 feet (192.6 m) long
lbf/in2 to the turbines. 56 corrugated furnaces with a combined grate surface area of 2,688 square feet (250 m2) heated her boilers.[1]
Career
_-_SLV_H99.220-1879.jpg)
In 1926 Otranto was slightly damaged when she struck a rock at Cape Grosso, Greece during a heavy rainstorm. Otranto accidentally collided with the Japanese steamer
When World War II broke out in 1939 the
Admiralty requisitioned Otranto and had her converted into a troop ship. In 1942 she was modified to carry landing craft as a Landing ship, infantry. She took part in the invasion of French North Africa later that year and the landings in Sicily and Salerno
in 1943. She was subsequently reconverted back into a troop transport and served as such until released from government service in 1948.
Otranto then resumed her pre-war role as a passenger liner, now refitted to carry 1,412 tourist-class passengers. In February 1957 she made her final voyage, from the UK to
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1935. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
- ^ Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships (PDF). London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
- ^ a b Talbot-Booth 1936, p. 383.
- ^ Museum, Australien National Maritime (17 November 2011), English: KITANO MARU at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, retrieved 30 July 2021
- ^ Scott 2012, p. 157.
- ^ "Casualty reports". The Times. No. 46204. London. 5 August 1932. col E, p. 15.
- ^ Scott 2012, pp. 157–158.
Bibliography
- ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
- Scott, R Neil (2012). Many Were Held by the Sea: The Tragic Sinking of HMS Otranto. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-1342-5.
- Talbot-Booth, EC (1936). Ships and the Sea (Third ed.). London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. p. 383.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1926 | |
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1928 | |
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1932 | |
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