History

Design and Construction (1938 – 1939):

The Oranje was built for the Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschapij (Nederland Line) in 1938/39, by the Nederland Shipbuilding Company in Amsterdam and was launched by Queen Wilhelmina and named Oranje (in honour of the Royal House of Orange) on the 8^th September 1938. She undertook her trials in June 1939 and attained a speed of 26 knots, making her the world fastest motor liner. It was claimed that her unique tumblehome hull reduced her tonnage by around 1,800 tons.

The War Years (1939 – 1947):

She made two Amsterdam to Madeira cruises before starting her first scheduled voyage which departed Amsterdam on 4^th September 1939, sailing via Cape of Good Hope to Batavia. Unfortunately, the World War II had commenced which saw her laid up at Sourabaya from December 1939 to February 1941.

In February 1941 she was transferred to Sydney were she was converted to a hospital ship. On the 30^th July 1941 she commenced a five year service as an Australian hospital ship.

MS Oranje made some 41 voyages for the Australian and New Zealand Governments and she became a regular and most welcome sight in Australian and New Zealand ports.

The Nederland Line era (1947 – 1964):

With her war service completed, in 1947 MS Oranje commenced the Amsterdam to Djakarta (Batavia) service, sailing via Southampton. This service ended in 1957. The next year, in 1958, she made her first liner voyage from Amsterdam to Australia, sailing via Southampton, Suez and Singapore.

One year later, being twenty years of age, the Nederland Line decided to give MS Oranje a refit and a minor facelift, this took place in Amsterdam in 1959. Upon completion her tonnage was then listed as 20,565 GRT and able to accommodate 323 Fist Class and 626 Tourist Class passengers.

On the 7^th September 1960 she departed on her first round-the-world voyage from Amsterdam via Southampton, Suez, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Panama, Port Everglades, Bermuda, Southampton and Amsterdam. She and two other Dutch ships serviced Australia and New Zealand, these being the Nederland Line Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and the Royal Rotterdam Lloyd Willem Ruys. These three ships sailed under the banner of Dutch Mails.

Then on February 26, 1961 she sailed in the opposite direction but visiting the same ports. With air travel and passenger numbers dropping rapidly, the Nederland Line decided to end its passenger services in 1964.

The Nederland Line decided to sell their flagship, MS Oranje, together with her Royal Rotterdam Lloyd, running mate MS Willem Ruys to Flotta Lauro Line. They were rebuilt and renamed Angelina Lauro and Achille Lauro

MS Oranje commenced her last voyage around the world voyage as a Dutch liner on the 4^th May 1964.

Flotto Lauro Line era (1964 – 1977):

As the Dutch liner MS Oranje, she served the Nederland Line well for 25 years. However, with passenger number dropping, both the Nederland Line and Royal Rotterdam Lloyd (Dutch Mails) decided to sell both the Oranje and her running mate MS Willem Ruys to Flotta Lauro Lines in 1964.

Oranje was sent to Genoa to be extensively rebuilt at the Cant del Tirreno shipyards. On the 24^th August a fire broke out whilst being rebuilt and tragically six lives were lost. The rebuild would see her Promenade Deck extended forward and was fully glazed in. She was given a sharply raked bow extending her length by 16 feet. The other outstanding feature was her tall louvered funnel topped by a large smoke deflector wing, reminiscent of two Italian liners, Michelangelo and Raffaello. Her interiors were transformed with typical Italian flair, literally giving her the feel of a brand new ship! Her hull was painted the same colour blue as the funnel and was adorned with a white band. Angelina Lauro now looked modern sleek line, indeed almost yacht like. She was one of the more attractive rebuilds of her time. However, she would always reveal her Dutch heritage by her tumblehome hull.

She was now listed as 24,377 GRT (Gross Registered Tons), 205.5 meters (672.4ft) long, 25,50 meters (83.6ft) wide. Her new passenger configuration allowed for interchange cabins between first and tourist class. First Class could accommodate between 180 and 377 passengers and Tourist Class between 946 to 1050 passengers, making a total of 1230 passengers.

On the 6^th March 1966 she departed on her maiden voyage from Bremerhaven sailing via the Suez Canal to Australia. She continued on the Australian service, until 1972, when Flotta Lauro discontinued the service due to poor loading as was experienced by all shipping companies.

She received an extensive refit to ready her for a new role as a full time cruise ship. She now accommodated 800 passengers in a one class configuration. She was relocated to San Juan for regular cruises of the Caribbean, but was managed by another Italian shipping company Costa Line.

Costa Line era (1977 – 1979):

In 1977 Angelina Lauro was chartered to Costa Lines for 3 years and they took delivery on the 10^th October. She was based at Port Everglades for cruise duties in the Caribbean. For her new role as a Costa Cruise ship her funnel had been painted in yellow, being the Costa colours. Although she retained her name, Costa Lines according to their custom of using Christian (first) names, marketed the Angelina Lauro simply as “Angelina”.

Occasionally Angelina Lauro would operate a line voyage across the Atlantic from South America to Italy. For these line voyages she reverted to her original two class configuration.

Angelina Lauro was a popular cruise ship in the Caribbean until that fateful day on the 30^th March 1979 when tragedy struck this remarkable 40 year old ship. Angelina Lauro was a much loved ship in both her guises, on line voyages from the Netherlands to Batavia, her remarkable war duties as a hospital ship, a liner bringing thousands of emigrants from the UK and Europe to Australia and New Zealand, both as Oranje and Angelina Lauro and lastly as a popular Italian cruise ship. She had endeared herself to thousands, civilians and soldiers alike.

On the 30^th March 1979, whilst on a cruise, Angelina Lauro was berthed at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, when suddenly a fire broke out in her aft galley, which rapidly spread forward through the restaurants and passenger accommodations. Even though the well trained crew did everything possible to contain the fire, the task was too great and soon flames roared from her top decks. Thankfully, most of her passengers and crew were ashore when the fire broke out. All those onboard managed to disembark safely.

A number of attempts were made to tow her away from the wharf; however this failed due to the weight of the water that had been pumped into the ship. Slowly she ended up sitting on the shallow bottom with a list to port. Thankfully there was no loss of life.

Angelina Lauro was declared to be a total loss and remained dockside for some three months. Eventually the German salvage company, Eckhardt & Company of Hamburg was awarded the contract to raise her from the bottom and have her refloated. This was achieved on the 2^nd July 1979.

Having been sold for scrap to Taiwanese ship breakers, she departed under tow on the 30^th July. She successfully navigated the Panama Canal and headed across the Pacific towards Asia. However, on the 21^st  September, being mid Pacific, Angelina Lauro’s fire affected warped hull plates began to take on water, which saw her slowly listing. Even though her list increased, she remained afloat for three days, but, by the evening of the 23^rd September she was fully on her side. It was not until early the next morning, just before sunrise, that Angelina Lauro, ex Oranje, slowly sank.