MS Oranje

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "MS Oranje" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Oranje in her original Netherland Line livery
History
Name	Oranje (1939–1964) Angelina Lauro (1965–1979)
Owner	Netherland Line (1939–1964) Lauro Lines (1965–1979)
Operator	Netherlands Lines (1939–1941) Australian Government (WWII Service) (1941–1946) Netherlands Lines (1947–1964) Lauro Lines (1965–1977) Costa Lines (Chartered 1977–1979)
Port of registry	1939–1964: Amsterdam,  Netherlands 1964–1979: Naples,  Italy
Builder	Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij,[1] Amsterdam, Netherlands
Yard number	270[1]
Laid down	2 July 1937[1]
Launched	8 September 1938[1]
Completed	15 July 1939[1]
Maiden voyage	1939
In service	1939
Out of service	30 March 1979
Identification	Call sign: PGOF → IBHO[1][2] IMO number: 5264077
Fate	Destroyed by fire on 30 March 1979, sank on 24 September 1979
General characteristics [2][1]
Tonnage	24,377 GRT (after refit) 20,017 GRT(originally)
Length	672.4 ft (204.9 m) (after refit) 656 ft (200 m) (originally)
Beam	83.6 ft (25.5 m)
Decks	8
Installed power	3 × 12-cylinder Sulzer diesels 37,500 hp (28,000 kW) at 145 rpm
Propulsion	Triple screw
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) (service) 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) (maximum)
Capacity	740 passengers, original in 1939 1,230 passengers, 1964 refit

MS Oranje, later known as Angelina Lauro, was a Dutch passenger liner, a wartime hospital ship, and finally a cruise ship. The ship underwent 25 years' service as Oranje, and fifteen as Angelina Lauro. She was a cruise ship for the last seven years of her career. An extensive film of a cruise she made in 1954 exists in the London Cinema Museum archive.^[3]

In 1979, while the vessel was docked in a port at Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, a fire broke out in the crew area that spread to the passenger areas; and she was declared a total loss. She sank on her route to the scrapyard.