RMS Otranto (1925)

Otranto in civilian service
History
United Kingdom
Name	RMS Otranto
Namesake	Otranto
Owner	Orient Steam Navigation Company
Operator	Orient Steam Navigation Company
Port of registry	Barrow[1]
Builder	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness[1]
Launched	9 June 1925
Completed	December 1925[1]
Identification	UK official number 146025[1] code letters KTMQ[2] (until 1933) Call sign GFKV[1] (from 1934)
Fate	Sold for scrap, June 1957
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	20,032 GRT[1] tonnage under deck 12,228[1] 12,031 NRT[1]
Length	632.0 ft (192.6 m) p/p[1]
Beam	75.2 ft (22.9 m)[1]
Draught	37 ft 6 in (11.43 m)[1]
Depth	32.9 ft (10.0 m)[1]
Installed power	3,722 NHP[1]
Propulsion	6 steam turbines[1]
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h)[3]
Sensors and processing systems	wireless direction finding[1]
Notes	sister ships: Orama, Orford[3]

RMS Otranto was an ocean liner that was built for the Orient Steam Navigation Company in 1925. The "RMS" prefix stands for Royal Mail Ship, as she carried overseas mail under a contract between Orient Line and Royal Mail. Otranto was in service until 1957, when she was sold for scrap.

The ship was named after the town of Otranto in Apulia in southern Italy. She was Orient Line's second ship of that name. The first was a passenger liner completed in 1909 that, in 1914, became the armed merchant cruiser HMS Otranto and, in 1918, was lost as a result of a collision.

In the Second World War the second Otranto was converted into a troop ship and a Landing ship, infantry. She took part in the invasions of French North Africa (Operation Torch), Sicily (Operation Husky) and Italy (Operation Avalanche).