HMS Otranto

Otranto in Orient Line service, 1909
History
United Kingdom
NameOtranto
NamesakeOtranto
OwnerOrient Steam Navigation Company
OperatorOrient Steam Navigation Company
Port of registryLondon
RouteLondon – Australia
Orderedc. 1908
BuilderWorkman, Clark and Company, Belfast
Yard number278
Laid downc. 1908
Launched27 March 1909
Completed20 July 1909
Maiden voyage1 October 1909
Identification
FateRequisitioned, 4 August 1914
United Kingdom
NameOtranto
Acquired4 August 1914
Commissioned14 August 1914
Identification
FateSank after collision, 6 October 1918
General characteristics
TypeOcean liner / AMC
Tonnage12,124 GRT, 7,433 NRT
Length535 ft 4 in (163.2 m)
Beam64 ft (19.5 m)
Depth38 ft 8 in (11.8 m)
Installed power14,000 ihp (10,000 kW)
Propulsion
Speed18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Capacity
  • Passengers:
  • 235 1st class
  • 186 2nd class
  • 696 3rd class
Armament8 × 4.7 in (120 mm) guns

HMS Otranto was an armed merchant cruiser requisitioned by the British Admiralty when World War I began in 1914. Built before the war for the UK–Australia run as SS Otranto, she was primarily used in the war to search for German commerce raiders. She played small roles in the Battle of Coronel in November 1914 when the German East Asia Squadron destroyed the British squadron searching for it and in the Battle of the Falkland Islands the following month when a British squadron annihilated the Germans in turn.

Apart from brief refits in the UK, Canada and Australia, she remained on this duty until early 1918 when she became a troop ship. During a severe storm off the Isle of Islay in late 1918, she accidentally collided with another troop ship, HMS Kashmir (1915) and was forced ashore by the storm, killing 470 passengers, mainly American soldiers, and crewmen.

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