SS Oronsay (1924)

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For other ships called SS Oronsay, see List of ships named Oronsay

SS Oronsay in April 1940.
History
United Kingdom
NameSS Oronsay
OwnerOrient Steam Navigation Company
Port of registry United Kingdom
BuilderJohn Brown & Company, Clydebank
Launched14 August 1924
Maiden voyage7 February 1925
FateTorpedoed by the Italian submarine Archimede and sank off Liberia, 9 October 1942
General characteristics
TypeOcean liner
Tonnage20,043 gross
Length659 ft (201 m)
Beam75 ft (23 m)
Installed powerSteam turbine engine
Propulsion2 screws
Speed18 knots (33 km/h)
Capacity1,836 passengers

SS Oronsay was a British ocean liner and World War II troopship. She was sunk by an Italian submarine in 1942.

Pre-war career

Oronsay was built for the

Cinema Museum in London (Ref HMO206) [3][4]

Wartime service

Norwegian Campaign
in 1940

Taken up from trade as a

St Nazaire in destroyers and small boats. During an air-raid, a German bomb landed on the ship's bridge, killing several people, destroying the chart, steering and wireless rooms and breaking the captain's leg.[6] Taking on survivors from RMS Lancastria which had sunk nearby, Captain Norman Savage steered the ship home with the aid of a pocket compass, a sextant and a sketch map.[7]

At the end of May 1940 Oronsay was involved with the evacuation of the families of Royal Navy personnel from Malta.[8]

On 14 August 1940, she sailed from Liverpool bound for Halifax with 351 evacuated children under the Children's Overseas Reception Board scheme.

On 8 October 1940, Oronsay, while part of a convoy from the Clyde to Egypt carrying troops, was bombed and damaged by

Bloody Foreland, County Donegal Ireland.[9][10] According to at least one eyewitness,[9] no bombs actually hit the ship, but the engines were damaged by the blast and the rest of the convoy, with escort, sailed on. With the ship in a highly vulnerable state during a storm (which may, fortuitously, have been limiting U-boat activity in the area), the engines were restarted. Oronsay then made her way back to port without further incident, though casualties were reported.[11]

On 9 October 1942, Oronsay was sailing unescorted in the Atlantic en route from

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for courage and seamanship during and after the sinking.[14]

A 1:48 full-hull presentation model of the Oronsay is held by the South Australian Maritime Museum.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Britain still builds the best ships". British Pathe.
  2. ^ a b "Ship Descriptions – O". www.theshipslist.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2010. The Ships List
  3. ^ "Cinema Museum Home Movie Database". Google Docs. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Australian Coronation Contingent, 7 May 1937 at Crowning of KGVI (England)". The Philatelic Database. 6 February 2018.
  5. ISBN 1844157539
    (p. 187)
  6. ISBN 0-7434-8943-8
    (p.124)
  7. ^ Fenby p. 204
  8. ISBN 9780987092212
    .
  9. ^ a b Jackson, L. "The Bombing of the SS 'Oronsay', 1940". WW2 People's War. BBC.
  10. ^ Rohwer, Jürgen; Gerhard Hümmelchen. "Seekrieg 1940, Oktober". Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart (in German). Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  11. ^ "War Cabinet Weekly Résumé (No 58) 3–10 October 1940 (Catalogue Reference:cab/66/12/43)" (PDF). The National Archives.
  12. ISBN 978-1937470111
    .
  13. ISBN 978-0750927604
    .
  14. ^ a b Hocking, Charles (1969),, Dictionary of Disasters at Sea During the Age of Steam, Lloyd's Register of Shipping (p. 530)
  15. ^ Researcher 242266. "The sinking of the troop ship SS Oronsay". WW2 People's War. BBC.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Mann, John F. (8 June 2023). "The Endurance Obituaries". www.enduranceobituaries.co.uk. UK. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  17. ISBN 978-1899530182
    .
  18. ^ "Oronsay". Australia: SA Maritime Museum. Retrieved 24 September 2014.

Notes

  1. ^ Although most sources credit the Archimede, Karl Dönitz stated in memoirs the ship was sunk by one of his u-boats.
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