SS Oriana (1959)
Oriana in Vava'u, Tonga | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Oriana: 1960–2005 |
| Owner |
|
| Operator | 1960–1966, P&O-Orient Lines. 1966–1973, P&O Line, 1973–1986 P&O Cruises |
| Port of registry | London United Kingdom |
| Route | Southampton-Sydney via Suez, transpacific to US West Coast, occasional return via Panama Canal (1973 Cruising) |
| Ordered | 1956 |
| Builder | Vickers-Armstrong |
| Cost | £12.5 million (1956) (equivalent to £354.4 million in 2023) |
| Yard number | 1061 |
| Laid down | 18 September 1957 |
| Launched | 3 November 1959 |
| Completed | 1960 |
| Maiden voyage | 3 December 1960 |
| In service | 1960–1986 |
| Out of service | 27 March 1986 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Converted into a hotel ship in 1986. Service ended after ship sank at her berth after a storm in 2004 and was scrapped post refloating. |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 41,910 gross register tons |
| Length | 804ft (245.1m) |
| Beam | (moulded) 97.1ft (30.5m) |
| Draught | 32ft |
| Installed power | 80,000 horsepower |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Capacity | As built, 638 1st class, 1,496 tourist class (1973, 1,750 one class) |
| Crew | As built, 980. (1973, 780) |
SS Oriana was the last of the Orient Steam Navigation Company's ocean liners. She was built at Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England and launched on 3 November 1959 by Princess Alexandra. Oriana first appeared as an Orient Line ship, with a corn-coloured hull, until 1966, when that company was fully absorbed into the P&O group. Faced with unprofitable around-the-world passenger routes, the P&O white hulled Oriana was operated as a full-time cruise ship from 1973. Between 1981 and her retirement from service five years later, Oriana was based at Sydney, Australia, operating to Pacific Ocean and South-East Asian ports. Deemed surplus to P&O's requirements in early 1986, the vessel was sold to become a floating hotel and tourist attraction, first in Japan and later in China. As a result of damage sustained from a severe storm whilst in the port of Dalian in 2004, SS Oriana was finally sold to local breakers in 2005.