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After the Second World War had come to an
end, the British based Orient Line began
renewing their fleet that operated
between England and Australia. The first
of three 28,000-ton liners Orcades
entered service in 1948 with the second
Oronsay following in 1951 and the
third Orsova in 1954. As
Australia’s low population left
them vulnerable to invasion by the
Japanese during World War Two, the
Australian government began discussing
ways of increasing the population of
their country. In the mid 1950s, they
began offering to pay for voyages of any
Europeans wanting to emigrate. Europeans
could then travel half way around the
world on a liner at a cost of just
£10 to start a new life in
Australia. The sudden increase in
passengers that followed allowed the
Orient Line to order their largest and
fastest liner to date. As their new liner
Oriana was nearing completion, the
Orient and P&O lines joined their
passenger ship services.
Oriana set out on her maiden
voyage from Southampton December 3rd
1960, traveled through the Suez Canal and
arrived at Sydney December 30th. With her
being the fastest liner operating on that
route, she soon cut the traveling time
from around 30 to 21 days.
P&O’s takeover of the Orient
Line in 1965 led to Oriana being
painted in the P&O color of white.
The ever-decreasing emigration to
Australia forced P&O to operate
Oriana as a full time cruise ship
from 1973. Over the next eight years, she
was operated on cruises out of
Southampton for nine months of the year
and three months from Sydney.
Oriana’s final five years as
a cruise ship saw her operated year round
out of Sydney to islands in the
Pacific.
Following Oriana being taken
out of service in 1986, she was sold to a
Japanese company to be used as a museum
and hotel at Kyushu Island/Japan.
Mounting losses in that venture led to
her being sold to a Chinese company in
1999 to serve as a museum at
Dalian/China. In 2004, Oriana
was damaged in a storm. With repairs
proving to be unfeasible, she was towed
to the Zhangjiagang Shipyard in China's
Eastern Province to be dismantled in
2005.
Below, Oriana in Sydney
Below, Orcades, Oronsay, and
Orsova operated between London and
Australia until they were taken out of
service and scrapped at Kaohsiung/Taiwan
between 1973 and 1975.
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