DOS release footage of the British ocean liner R.M.S Orcades
RMS Orcades, 23, 456 tons, was an ocean liner and a cruise ship belonging to the Orient Line. She was on a voyage from Capetown to Liverpool, unescorted, in October 1942. She carried 741 passengers, 290 crew, 36 gunners, transporting 3000 tons of mixed cargo and 2000 bags of mail.
She was spotted by U-172 on the 10th of October 1942 and hit by two torpedoes at 1028 hrs. The gunners and crew put up an epic fight against the submarine to try to save the ship. Four more torpedoes struck between 1045 hrs and 1254 hrs before the ship sank.
Orcades was one of the largest merchant ships sunk in WW2.
As part of a series of tests for DOS’s 6,000m side scan sonar, the DOS team went to look for RMS Orcades in 2014.
