The Oronsay was built at the Vickers Armstrong shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness. She was a sister ship of the Orcades, built in 1948 . The keel was laid and construction began in 1949. After the christening of the ship by A. Anderson, wife of the shipping company's CEO, the new building was launched on June 30, 1950 . On the morning of October 28 of the same year, a fire broke out in the insulation of hold number 2. Extinguishing the fire lasted three days and the ship was due to the large amounts of water seeping extinguishing a list of 20 degrees. To prevent capsizing , holes were cut in the outer skin of the ship to allow the extinguishing water to drain away. Due to the fire damage, the completion of the Oronsay was delayed by around two months. After the end of the construction work on April 29 and 30, 1951, the test drives were carried out on the Clyde, during which the new ship reached a maximum speed of 23.23 knots.
commitment
On May 3, 1951, the finished ship was delivered to the Orient Line in Tilbury . As RMS Oronsay , the ship began its maiden voyage to Australia on May 16 under the command of Captain Shurrock . After stops in Fremantle, Adelaide and Melbourne, the ship arrived in Sydney on June 18.
The interior designed by Brian O'Rourke was described as particularly successful.
In 1960 P&O took over Orient Line, after which the ship was taken out of service. The ship still carried the traditional colors of the Orient Line until 1964, when it was painted white. The Oronsay was operated as a cruise ship for around ten more years . In early October 1975, the ship made its last voyage from Hong Kong to the shipbreaker Nan Feng Steel Enterprise Company in Kaohsiung , where it arrived on the 7th of the month for demolition.
