SS Orbita
 SS Orbita in 1916
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | SS Orbita |
| Owner | Pacific Steam Navigation Company |
| Operator | |
| Port of registry |  Liverpool |
| Route | North Atlantic service |
| Builder | Harland and Wolff, Belfast |
| Yard number | 440 |
| Launched | 7 July 1914 |
| Completed | 31 July 1915 |
| Maiden voyage | 26 September 1919 |
| In service | 1915 |
| Out of service | 1950 |
| Identification | Official Number 137467 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1950, in Newport |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 15,495 GRT |
| Length | 550.3 feet (167.7 m) |
| Beam | 67.3 feet (20.5 m) |
| Draught | 35 feet 10+1⁄4 inches (10.93 m) |
| Depth | 43.0 feet (13.1 m) |
| Propulsion | Triple-expansion engines + low-pressure turbine; Triple screw[1] |
| Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Capacity | 896 passengers |
SS Orbita was an ocean liner built in 1913-14 by Harland & Wolff in Belfast for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. She was launched on Tuesday, 7 July 1914. Her sister ships were SS Orduna and SS Orca.[2]
She provided
History
From 1921 to 1923 the Orbita was chartered to operate the
Between 1946 and 1950 the Orbita was used as a troopship and to transport emigrants to Australia and New Zealand.
War service
In 1941, during the
On 18 December 1940 she departed as part of a convoy from Liverpool with 530 RAF personnel bound for Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The personnel were sent to set up
En-route the convoy was shelled by the German cruiser Admiral Hipper at 07.00 hours on Christmas Day 1940, and the convoy scattered. Although gun flashes were seen through fog by the
The ship transported 268 men of the first unit of British Honduran Foresters from Durban via Trinidad and Halifax, Nova Scotia, to the Port of Liverpool on 12 September 1941 (Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists. Kew, Surrey, England). She continued as a troop ship until at least 1949.[9]
Demise
The SS Orbita was dismantled in October 1950 in Newport, South Wales.[10]
References
- ^ postcard of sister ship, RMSP Orbita
- ^ RMSPCo
- ^ Pacific Steam Navigation Company Archived 5 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Saville's Ships: Orbita
- ^ MV Empire Windrush
- ^ A Portrait of Military Aviation in South Africa' by Ron Belling. Struikhof Publishers, 1989.
- ^ "42 Air School, Port Elizabeth", by Paul Stringer, "Looking Back" Journal of the Historical Society of Port Elizabeth, Vol 56, 2017.
- ^ "42 Air School, Port Elizabeth", by Paul Stringer, "Looking Back" Journal of the Historical Society of Port Elizabeth, Vol 56, 2017.
- ^ Signalman Wader´s Diary Part 6: My Journey Home
- ^ Miramar Ship Index: SS Orbita