SS Orkla
 |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | D/S Orkla |
| Operator: | Chr. Salvesen & Chr. Thams's Communications Aktieselskab |
| Port of registry: | Norway |
| Completed: | 1908 |
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 35 m (115 ft) |
| Beam: | 6 m (20 ft) |
| Installed power: | 2,700 kW steam engine |
| Speed: | 13 knots |
| Capacity: | 342 passengers |
SS Orkla was a steam ship that operated the line between Thamshavn in Orkdal and Trondheim in the Trondheim Fjord in Norway between 1908 and 1949. It was built at Trondheims Mekaniske Verksted in Trondheim and went into operation at the same time as the railway line Thamshavnbanen opened between Thamshavn and Løkken Verk. It operate two round trips each day and was owned by Chr. Salvesen & Chr. Thams's Communications Aktieselskab, who also owned the railway.
When it was delivered it was one of the fastest and grandest local boats in the country and was nicknamed "the Trondheim Fjord's white swane". During World War I the ship reduced its operations to one daily round trip due to lack of coal. In the 1920s the ship got competition from bus routes on the stretch Trondheim - Orkanger, after a bit operated by the sister company Trondhjem-Orkladal Billag, and throughout the 1920s and 1930s the line lost a lot of traffic and in 1949 there no longer was enough passengers to keep the route. A freight route was kept until 1959 with a motor ship.
