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SS Orsova (1954)
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SS Orsova, a 1503-passenger ocean liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

, was built by Vickers Armstrong
Vickers Armstrong
Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927...

 Shipbuilders Ltd. of Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, launched on 14 May 1953 and entered service in 1954 for the Orient Steam Navigation Company
Orient Steam Navigation Company
The Orient Steam Navigation Company, also known as the Orient Line, was a British shipping company with roots going back to the late 18th century...

 for UK to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 services via the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

, the voyage taking four weeks. After 1955, the return trip was eastward via Auckland, Suva, Honolulu, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Panama, Trinidad and Cherbourg.

She had a gross tonnage of 28,790 tons. Length: 220 metres. Breadth: 28 metres. Cruising speed: 22 knots. Maximum speed: 26 knots. Propulsion: twin screw, double reduction turbine. Maiden voyage from Tilbury to Sydney: 17 March 1954. Orsova had no masts. Her funnel was capped with a distinctive ‘Welsh bonnet’ flue extension. She was built with an all-welded hull, the first passenger liner to be so constructed, and her bulkhead and wall linings were plastic-clad. Originally her hull was painted in the Orient Line’s corn colour, but in her later years this was changed to P & O’s all white.

She was named after Orșova
Orsova
Orșova is a port city on the Danube river in southwestern Romania's Mehedinți County. It is one of four localities in the county located in the Banat historical region. It is situated just above the Iron Gates, on the spot where the Cerna River meets the Danube.- History :The first documented...

, which is a port city on the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

 in southwestern Romania's Mehedinți County
Mehedinti County
Mehedinţi is a county of Romania. It is mostly located in the historical province of Oltenia, with one municipality and three communes located in the Banat...

. It is situated just above the Iron Gates
Iron Gate (Danube)
The Iron Gates The gorge lies between Romania in the north and Serbia in the south. At this point, the river separates the southern Carpathian Mountains from the northwestern foothills of the Balkan Mountains. The Romanian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Turkish, German and Bulgarian names literally mean...

, at the point where the Cerna River meets the Danube. Orsovas bow featured the Iron Gates as a figure head. This section of the bow opened inwards to reveal a powerful searchlight, used mostly for manouevering in harbours. The "Iron Gate" symbol also featured on the forward bulkhead of the First Class Midships Arena Games deck.

Orsova had First and Tourist Class sections with separate dining rooms either side of the Galley.

Radio Call Sign: GNDL (Golf November Delta Lima)with sub-contracted Marconi radio operators.

Ship's Complement:
All Officers were British.
Deck and Engine Room crew were British.
Purser's Dept (Cabin Stewards, Restaurant staff, Galley, Laundry, etc) were a combination of British and Goanese.

Typical Voyage (1968): Outward leg - Southampton-Bermuda-Port Everglades-Panama-Acapulco- Los Angeles-San Francisco-Vancouver-Hawaii-Fiji-Auckland-Sydney
Then either cruising from Sydney for six weeks or Round Pacific
Sydney-Singapore-Hong Kong-Kobe-Yokohama-Hawaii-Vancouver-San Francisco-Los Angeles-Hawaii-Fiji-Auckland-Sydney
Home leg - Sydney-Brisbane-Singapore-Penang-Colombo (with Goanese crew change) Durban-Port Elizabeth-Cape Town-Madeira-Southampton.

On 24 May 1956, Orsova ran aground off Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, for twelve hours. In the 1960s, the Orsova carried many thousands of economic refugees from Greece and Italy to Australia. The 30-foot draft vessel was transferred to sister company P & O (Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company
The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is usually known as P&O, is a British shipping and logistics company which dated from the early 19th century. Following its sale in March 2006 to Dubai Ports World for £3.9 billion, it became a subsidiary of DP World; however, the P&O...

) in 1966.

In 1966, the Gulf Oil Corporation identified Whiddy Island
Whiddy Island
Whiddy Island is an island near the head of Bantry Bay, Ireland. It is approximately long and wide. The topography comprises gently-rolling glacial till, with relatively fertile soil...

 in Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay is a bay located in County Cork, southwest Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km wide at the head and wide at the entrance....

, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, as the most suitable site for its new oil terminal. Construction started in 1967 and the terminal was completed in 1969. Orsova was chartered by Gulf Oil in the spring of 1969 to act as a floating hospitality and accommodation ship for the formal opening of the Bantry Bay Oil Terminal. Leaving Southampton she called at Cobh
Cobh
Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...

 in Ireland to collect the many guests to be taken to the Bay for the ceremony. These included the then Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...

, Jack Lynch
Jack Lynch
John Mary "Jack" Lynch was the Taoiseach of Ireland, serving two terms in office; from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979....

, together with many ambassadors to the Republic. They were then returned to Cobh and Orsova returned to Southampton for spring cruising.

In the early 1970s, she was primarily involved in cruises. She was scrapped off Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 in 1974–75.

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