SS King Orry (1913) Informations

TSS (RMS) King Orry (III) – the third ship in the history of the Company to bear the name – was a passenger steamer which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, until she was sunk during the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.

King Orry was a ship, built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead who also supplied her engines and boilers, at a cost of £96,000. She had a registered tonnage of 1,600 GRT; length 313 ft (95.4 m); a beam of 43 ft (13.1 m); depth 1611" and with a design speed of 21 knots.King Orry had accommodation for 1,600 passengers, and a crew of 51.

King Orry was launched from Cammell Lairds Birkenhead shipyard on 11 March 1913.

King Orry was the last ship built for the Steam Packet before the outbreak of the First World War, and represented another move forward in the marine engineering design of the Steam Packet steamers, for she was the first of the Companys ships to be built with geared turbines. This gave her a low propeller speed while keeping a high turbine speed. Her twin screws were driven by two single-reduction geared turbine engines developing 9,400 i.h.p.

King Orry entered service in 1913, making her maiden voyage on the Liverpool to Douglas route on 8 July that year, taking 3 hours 10​1⁄2 minutes to make the journey at an average speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph).

On Friday 17 July 1914, King Orry ran aground near Maughold, Isle of Man. Under the command of Capt. Bridson, the King Orry had taken the place of the Ben-my-Chree (which had gone to Ardrossan) on the Douglas – Liverpool service, departing at 16:00hrs. After coaling at Liverpool it was the Master’s intention to make passage direct to Ardrossan in order to bring holidaymakers to Douglas. As she neared the Isle of Man, the King Orry ran into a bank of fog, which obscured the coast with the added complication that the Foghorn at Maughold Head Lighthouse could not be heard. Whilst trying to re-set her course, the King Orry ran aground at Cornah (Cornaa, current spelling), on the north-east coast of the Isle of Man, approximately one mile south of Maughold Head. News of the King Orrys plight was passed by wireless message to the Company’s Headquarters at Douglas by the Mona’s Queen, which shortly passed near the scene inbound to Douglas from Ardrossan, and the Peel Castle and the Fenella were despatched to aid the King Orry.

However two hours after grounding, the King Orry refloated on the rising tide, and then made her way to Douglas under her own power. She was inspected by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s Senior Marine Superintendent, who found only slight damage had been sustained, with only one or two plates being strained. The following morning, King Orry sailed for Cammell Lairds dry dock at Birkenhead, for repairs to be undertaken, returning to service a week later.

At the time of the grounding there were no passengers on board.

She had only begun to establish herself within the Companys fleet, when she was requisitioned by the Admiralty at the outbreak of war in 1914.

King Orry saw service in both World Wars. She was fitted out as an Armed Boarding Vessel by Cammell Lairds in late November 1914, being fitted with an armament of two 4 inch (102 mm) guns. She then made passage for Scapa Flow. There she spent her time on patrol, tending to the crews of stricken ships, challenging suspects, and putting prize crews aboard where appropriate.

On one occasion she sent men aboard a large vessel laden with 10,000 tons of wheat for Germany, and her prize crew took the vessel into Kirkwall. Then, diverted to patrol down the fringe of the German minefield off the Heligoland Bight, she challenged and boarded six ships in one day, and put a prize crew aboard an oil tanker which she then directed to the East Coast of England.

On 23 September 1915, King Orry collided with the destroyer Christopher, damaging the destroyer.

In early June 1916, in response to intelligence that there would be a breakout by the German Merchant raider Möwe (and possibly also the German light cruiser Niobe), King Orry and the cruiser Donegal, both patrolling between Shetland and Norway, were ordered to support the armed merchant cruisers of the 10th Cruiser Squadron to intercept the German raider. While the 10th Cruiser Squadron were to patrol between Scotland and Iceland, King Orry and Donegal were to patrol near Muckle Flugga. No signs of the German ships were found by any of the patrols.

After the Battle of Jutland, the Royal Navy was ordered to undergo intensive gunnery practice, and the King Orry turned to the business of target towing. She was well suited to this field of work, and was able to move the largest target at more than 12 knots. She even accompanied the Grand Fleet on exercises and acted as a repeating ship, that is, she transmitted the flagship signals to the battle squadron in line astern.

From 15 July 1916, King Orry and the Armed Boarding Vessel Dundee were disguised as merchant vessels, substantially changed in appearance, and sent to patrol off Norway, tasked with intercepting ships carrying contraband down the Scandinavian approach. On 17 July, King Orry seized the Norwegian steamer SS Britannic, carrying a cargo of magnetic iron ore from Kerkeness to Rotterdam, off Utvaer and sent her to Kirkwall under an armed guard. Through fair weather and foul, but more usually foul in those northern waters, the King Orry stayed on station, suffering much storm damage, until she was ordered to Liverpool for repairs. She reached what had been once her regular port of call, but not before a shore battery at New Brighton had put shots across her bow when she failed to give a satisfactory answer to questioning signals.

She continued this record for the rest of the War.

When the German Empires High Seas Fleet surrendered in the Firth of Forth on 21 November 1918, she was the sole representative of the British mercantile marine at the capitulation ceremony.

Admiral Beatty awarded her the place of honour in the middle of the centre line. So a small Manx steamer took station, surrounded by the victorious British Grand Fleet. It was symbolic of the work and sacrifice of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company ships during the First World War.

After the Great War, the King Orry returned to the Steam Packet Company and resumed her service operating to the numerous ports then served by the Company.

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