Builders: Cammell Laird & Co Ltd 1913
Propulsion type: Twin screw, single reduction geared turbines.
Owners: Isle of Man Steam Packet Co Ltd
Service dates: 1913 - 1940
Tonnage: Gross 1877
Comments:
King Orry (III) was the first geared turbine steamer built for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and whilst more economical than earlier turbine steamers, she was still capapble of 22 knots. Soon after the outbreak of the Great War she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and joined the Northern Armed Boarding Patrol, steaming over 53,000 miles in that capacity. She was later attached to the Grand Fleet and was stated to be the sole representative of the British Mercantile Marine at the surrender of the German Fleet at 9.30 am on 22 Novemeber 1918, although Glen Usk was later reported to be there also. Her war service was not without incident, as she struck a submerged reef in June 1915 in the Sound of Islay and seven months later, in a severe gale, she suffered considerable damage when her lifeboats were lost and she was partially flooded by the high seas. Part of her duties also consisted of towing ships for target practice and she was hit by at least one practice shell, which passed through the after part of her hull. As built, she was coal fired but was later converted to oil burning in 1939, having had an earlier extensive overhaul in 1935. King Orry (III) was present at the Dunkirk evacuations, where she was lost on 30 May 1940, when she was bombed and severely damaged. She sank after being ordered to clear the harbour and approach channel and became the third of the company's steamers to be lost in less than twenty four hours.