THE LINER ORAMA

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 80, 28 December 1935, Page 10

THE LINER ORAMA

Due Wellington To-morrow WAR-TIME NAMESAKE Hunting German Raiders The Orient liner Grama, which is due at Wellington to-morrow from Auckland with a large number of tourists from Australia, is a handsome ship of 19.819 tons gross register, measuring 632 feet in length and 75 feet in breadth. Built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers. Ltd., in 1924, the Grama is propelled by twin-screws driven by six steam turbines, which arc geared to tbe shafts.

The Grama is the second ship of that name in the fleet of the famous Orient Line. Like several other ships of the company’s pre-war fleet, the first Ora ma saw considerable war service and met her end in 1917 when she was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic. Seeking Enemy Raiders. Built by John Brown and Company at Clydebank in 1911, the first Orama was a triple-screw steamer of 12,927 tons gross register. She had been engaged in the Australian mail service for over two years, when she was taken over by the Admiralty shortly after the outbreak of war in August, 1914, and commissioned as an armed merchant cruiser. In October, 1914, H.M.S. Orama, commanded by Captain J. R. Segrave, R.N., in company with H.M.S. Macedonia (of the P. and O. Line) joined the cruiser squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Stoddart, with his flag in H.M.S. Carnarvon, searching for the German cruiser Karlsruhe and other enemy raiders in the River Plate area off the South American coast. During October, the Orama captured off the coast of Brazil the German steamer Rio Negro, which had left Asuncion a few days previously with coal and other supplies and was looking for the Karlsruhe.

On November 9, Admiral Stoddart’s squadron was joined by K H.M.S. Otranto (another Orient liner commissioned as a cruiser), which had steamed in Admiral Craddock’s line of battle in the disastrous action off Coronel. Two days later. H.M.S. Glasgow, which, with the Otranto, bad escaped in the stormy darkness when Craddock’s flagship Good Hope and the cruiser Monmouth were being sunk by the German Pacific Squadron, also joined Admiral Stoddart’s flag. The Orama was then sent to search Irinidada Island, but she was hardly clear of the River Plate when she fell in with the German steamer Navarra, which had left Pernambuco on September 24 with supplies for the German raiders in the Atlantic and had been looking for them ever since. The Navarra was steering toward Trini•dada to tlnd the German armed liner Kronprinz Wilhelm, when she was chased and overhauled by the Orama. The crew of the Navarra abandoned their ship after setting her on fire, and were picked up by the boats of the which sank the German vessel. Falklands and After. After this encounter, the Orama carried on to the British cruisers’ coaling station at the Abrolhos Rocks, where Admiral Sturdee, with the battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible, arrived from England on November 26. Three of his fastest colliers were sent on by separate routes to the Falkland Islands, whither the remaining live were escorted by the Orama. Following the action in which the German cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Nurnberg and Leipzig were sunk by Sturdee’s squadron, the Orama, in company with H.M.S. Kent, left the Falkland Islands on December 14 for tbe west, coast of South America in the search for the Dresden, the only German ship that had eseaped destruction. The two ships were joined later by H.M.S. Glasgow. The search continued until March 14, 1915, when the Dresden was run to earth at Mas-a-Tierra, one of the islands of the Juan Fernandez group in the South Pacific. At davbreak the Glasgow and Orama approached the island from the westward while the Kent came in from the eastward and found the Dresden at anchor, with her flags flying, in Cumberland Bay. End of the Dresden. The Glasgow and Kent opened tire at 8400 yards on the German cruiser, which'three minutes later, hauled down her flags and sent a boat off under a flag of truce. The German officer said the Dresden was interned (the island was Chilean territory), but this was untrue. Captain Luce answered that he would treat with the Germans on no basis but that of unconditional surrender. Under the orders of Captain Ludecke, the Dresden was abandoned after charges had been set in her bottom, and the ship was blown up and sank. The survivors, including a number of wounded, were then taken on board the Orama, which, with the Glasgow and Kent, returned to tbe Falkland Islands. During 1916, tbe Orama proceeded to Sydney via Wellington for a relit, and subsequently spent another 12 months with the cruiser squadrons in the Atlantic, searching for the Moewe and other German raiders. The Orama narrowly missed the Moewe on her second cruise in January, 1917. Torpedoed and Sunk. In June, 1917, H.M.S. Orama joined tbe North American and West Indies squadron, and her end came five months later. Commanded by Commander W. R. C. Moorsom, the Orama in October, 1917, was escorting Convoy 11.D.17 homewards from Dakar. The convoy of 17 ships was steaming in B ix columns, strongly screened by eight United States destroyers anil a sloop, with an extended escort of a sloop and two destroyers. At 5.50 p.m. on October 19, .in fine, clear weather, the Orama was torpedoed on her port side. The submarine was sighted by the United States destroyer Conyngham, which made a smart turn to ram the enemy, but was unsuccessful. The Orama sank four hours later.