The 12,927 GRT steamship Orama was built at the John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank and launched on June 28, 1911. The 173.43 meter long and 19.56 meter wide passenger and mail ship had two funnels, two masts and three propellers and was powered by triple expansion steam engines and a low pressure turbine , which together produced 13,000 PSi and enabled a speed of 18 knots . The ship was designed to carry 240 passengers in the first, 210 in the second and 630 in the third class.
The Orama was the last in a series of five identical sister ships , all of which were commissioned for the Australian route between 1909 and 1911. The other four were the Otway (12,077 GRT), the Orvieto (12,133 GRT), the Osterley (12,129 GRT), the Otranto (I) (12,077 GRT) and the Orsova (I) (12,136 GRT).
On November 10, 1911, ran Orama in London on her maiden voyage to Melbourne , Sydney and Brisbane from. She stayed on this route until after the outbreak of war in 1914 she was called up for service as an armed auxiliary cruiser . On October 19, 1917, the ship was in a convoy consisting of 17 ships , which was secured by eight American destroyers . South of Ireland , the Orama was torpedoed by the German U- 62 submarine under the command of Lieutenant Ernst Hashagen. Five people were killed. The Orama sank four hours after the torpedo at position 48.00N, 09.20W. She was the largest ship sunk by U 62 and among the 40 largest allied ships sunk in World War I. The destroyer Conyngham tried unsuccessfully to sink U 62 by ramming.
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