''For other ships called SS Oronsay, see

List of ships named Oronsay This is a list of ships named ''Oronsay'': * (renamed ''Hainaut'' after 1900) 2,070 GRT steamship wrecked off Skyros in 1911 * 3,761 GRT cargo ship, torpedoed off Malta in 1916 * Orient Line liner and troopship torpedoed off Liberia in 1942 * ...

'' SS ''Oronsay'' was a British

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

. She was sunk by an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

in 1942.

Pre-war career

''Oronsay'' was built for the

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. From the early 20th century onwards, an association began with P&O which became 51% shareholde ...

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

and was launched by Viscountess Novar in 1924. Her maiden voyage started on 7 February 1925 from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. She continued on this route (extended to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

once in 1938) until the outbreak of

. The Ships List The Australian military contingent for the

coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The coronation of George VI and his wife, Elizabeth, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and as Emperor and Empress of India took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Wednesday 12 May 1937. ...

took passage to the UK on the ''Oronsay'' in 1937. Film of her voyage from Colombo to Gibraltar is held by the Cinema Museum in London (Ref HMO206)

Wartime service

Taken up from trade as a

, ''Oronsay'' took part in the Norwegian Campaign, including

Operation Alphabet Operation Alphabet was an evacuation, authorised on 24 May 1940, of Allied (British, French and Polish) troops from the harbour of Narvik in northern Norway marking the success of Operation Weserübung (the German invasion of 9 April) and the ...

, the secret evacuation of Narvik on 7 June 1940. Almost immediately afterwards, she participated in

Operation Aerial Operation Aerial was the evacuation of Allied forces and civilians from ports in western France from 15 to 25 June 1940 during the Second World War. The evacuation followed the Allied military collapse in the Battle of France against Nazi Germ ...

, the evacuation of British troops from western France. On 17 June 1940, she was anchored in the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

Estuary, embarking troops being ferried out from

St Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. T ...

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s 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. Taking on survivors from which had sunk nearby, Captain Norman Savage steered the ship home with the aid of a pocket compass, a

sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celes ...

and a sketch map. At the end of May 1940 ''Oronsay'' was involved with the evacuation of the families of Royal Navy personnel from Malta. On 14 August 1940, she sailed from Liverpool bound for Halifax with 351 evacuated children under the

Children's Overseas Reception Board The Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) was a British government sponsored organisation. The CORB evacuated 2,664 British children from England, so that they would escape the imminent threat of German invasion and the risk of enemy bomb ...

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

Focke-Wulf Fw 200 The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 ''Condor'', also known as ''Kurier'' to the Allies (English language, English: Courier), was a Nazi Germany, German all-metal four-engined monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner. A Japanese req ...

aircraft of I ''Staffel'',

Kampfgeschwader 40 ''Kampfgeschwader'' 40 (KG 40) was a Luftwaffe medium and heavy bomber wing of World War II, and the primary maritime patrol unit of any size within the World War II Luftwaffe. It is best remembered as the unit operating a majority of the four-eng ...

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

at a position 70 miles off

Bloody Foreland Gweedore ( ; officially known by its Irish language name, ) is an Irish-speaking district and parish located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. Gweedore stretches some from Glasserchoo in the north to Crolly ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

Ireland. According to at least one eyewitness, 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. On 9 October 1942, ''Oronsay'' was sailing unescorted in the Atlantic en route from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

to the UK via

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

. She was carrying 50 RAF personnel, 20 rescued British seamen, and 8 DEMS gunners, with a cargo of 1,200 tons of copper and 3,000 tons of oranges. When she was some 500 miles southwest of Freetown, she was torpedoed by the Italian submarine . As the boats were being lowered a second torpedo was launched, hitting one of the boats and killing five of those on it.Hocking, Charles (1969),
''Dictionary of Disasters at Sea During the Age of Steam''
Lloyd's Register of Shipping (p. 530) In all six crew members were lost; the remainder got the ship's boats away as ''Oronsay'' sank. 321 of them were rescued by after 12 days. 26 survivors, including the ship's surgeon James McIlroy (the Antarctic explorer), were picked up by the

Vichy French Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

aviso An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication. The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an '' ...

''Dumont d'Urville'', and were interned at

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

. Another notable survivor was Flight Lieutenant

Archie Lamb Sir Albert Thomas "Archie" Lamb Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, KBE Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, CMG Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom), DFC (23 October 1921 – 19 October 2021) was a Britis ...

, later a British diplomat, who wrote an account of the sinking in 2004. Captain Savage was later made

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) for courage and seamanship during and after the sinking. A 1:48 full-hull presentation model of the ''Oronsay'' is held by the

South Australian Maritime Museum The South Australian Maritime Museum is a state government museum, part of the History Trust of South Australia. The Museum opened in 1986 in a collection of historic buildings in the heart of Port Adelaide, South Australia's first heritage prec ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oronsay (1924) 1924 ships Ships sunk by Italian submarines Ships of the Orient Line Troop ships Ocean liners of the United Kingdom Maritime history of Australia World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean