RMS Orion

RMS Orion, State Library of Queensland
History
United Kingdom
Name	RMS Orion
Operator	Orient Steam Navigation Company
Builder	Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire
Launched	7 December 1934
Completed	August 1935
Fate	Broken for scrap at Temse, 1963
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	23,371 GRT
Length	665 ft (203 m)
Beam	82 ft (25 m)
Draught	30 ft 8 in (9.35 m)
Propulsion	steam, 6 x Parsons SRG turbines (24,100 shp) twin screws
Speed	21 kn (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Capacity	708 Cabin class 700 Tourist class (from 1961, 1,691 one class)
Crew	466 (later 565)

RMS Orion was an ocean liner launched by the Orient Steam Navigation Company in 1934 and retired from the water in 1963 after carrying about 500,000 passengers. A 23,371 ton passenger ship, the Orion was built to carry 486 first class, 653 tourist class passengers and 466 crew from Europe through the Pacific to Australia. The construction of the ship was documented in Paul Rotha's 1935 film Shipyard.^[1]

The vessel's sister ship was Orcades, launched in 1936.