RMS Orama (1911)
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | Orama |
| Namesake | Oorama Hill, South Australia |
| Owner | Orient Steam Navigation Company |
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry | Glasgow |
| Route | Tilbury – Gibraltar – Suez Canal – Colombo – Fremantle – Brisbane |
| Builder | John Brown & Company, Clydebank |
| Yard number | 403 |
| Launched | 27 June 1911 |
| Commissioned | as HMS Orama, 12 September 1914 |
| Maiden voyage | 10 November – 25 December 1911 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Sunk, 19 October 1917 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 12,927 GRT, 8,179 NRT |
| Length | 551.0 ft (167.9 m) |
| Beam | 64.2 ft (19.6 m) |
| Depth | 39.0 ft (11.9 m) |
| Installed power | 14,000 ihp (10,000 kW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Capacity |
|
| Crew | (as AMC): 367 |
| Armament |
|
RMS Orama was a British steam ocean liner and Royal Mail Ship. She was launched in 1911 for the Orient Steam Navigation Company. When new, she was the largest liner sailing between Great Britain and Australia.
In 1914 the British Admiralty requisitioned her and had her converted into an armed merchant cruiser (AMC). In 1915 she took part in the brief Battle of Más a Tierra off Chile. In 1917 a U-boat sank her in the Southwest Approaches.
She was the first of two Orient Line ships called Orama. The second was a 19,777-gross register ton (GRT) turbine steamship that was launched in 1924 in England, converted into a troop ship in the Second World War and sunk by a German cruiser in the Norwegian campaign in 1940.
The name Orama comes from a hill in the County of Lytton, South Australia, which was originally "Oorama" and was shortened to "Orama".