SS Oceania (1907)
History | |
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Name |
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Owner | Unione Austriaca di Navigazione |
Port of registry | ![]() |
Builder | Alexander Stephen & Sons |
Yard number | 423 |
Laid down | 1907 |
Launched | 10 September 1907 |
Completed | 1907 |
Maiden voyage | 26 September 1908 |
In service | 26 September 1908 |
Fate | Ran aground after stricking a mine on 4 October 1918 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Passenger ship/Hospital ship |
Tonnage | 5,368 GRT |
Length | 119.2 metres (391 ft 1 in) |
Beam | 15.2 metres (49 ft 10 in) |
Installed power | 2 triple expansion engines |
Propulsion | 2 screw propellers |
Sail plan | Trieste - Patras - Palermo - New York |
Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
SS Oceania was an Austro-Hungarian hospital ship that ran aground off Cape Rodoni, Albania on 4 October 1918 after striking a mine in the Adriatic Sea.[1]
Construction
Oceania was built at the Alexander Stephen & Sons shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland in 1907. She was launched on 10 September 1907, and completed that same year. The ship was 119.2 metres (391 ft 1 in) long and had a beam of 15.2 metres (49 ft 10 in). She was assessed at 5,368 GRT and had two triple expansion engines driving double screw propellers. The ship could reach a maximum speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[2]
Early career
Oceania made her maiden voyage from Trieste to New York on 26 September 1908, and kept sailing on that line until the outbreak of the First World War.[1]
World War I and sinking
After the start of World War I, Oceania was requisitioned by the Austro-Hungarian Navy in October 1915 for service as a hospital ship. All hospital ships were distinctively painted in white with a green stripe down the side and three red crosses on each side as well, this was done to differentiate these "non-combatant" vessels from other shipping. But sometimes even these non-combatants became targets of enemy submarines. Oceania was given the prefix HS, which stands for Hospital Ship.[1]
Oceania struck a mine in the Adriatic Sea and subsequently beached herself off Cape Rodoni, Albania before being abandoned on 4 October 1918. The wreck of Oceania was thereafter torpedoed and sunk by the Austro-Hungarian torpedo boat Tb 16 on 15 October 1918, to avoid her falling into Italian hands. No lives are reported to have been lost during these events.[1]
Wreck
The current condition of the wreck is unknown.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d "ss OCEANIA". clydeships.co.uk. 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-03-15. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
- ^ a b "SS Oceania (+1918)". wrecksite.eu. 28 December 2009. Retrieved 5 July 2023.