SS Himalaya was a British passenger ship of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, launched in 1948, which operated mainly between Britain and Australia. She was withdrawn from service in 1974 and scrapped the next year.

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History
United Kingdom
Name	SS Himalaya
Namesake	Himalaya
Owner	Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company
Operator	1949-1961 P&O Lines, 1961-1966 P&O-Orient Lines, 1966-1974 P&O Lines
Port of registry	London,  UK
Route	Tilbury-Gibraltar-Marseilles-Naples-Port Said-Aden-Bombay-Colombo-Singapore-Fremantle-Adelaide-Melbourne-Sydney
Ordered	March 1945
Builder	Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness, UK
Cost	£3,500,000
Yard number	951
Laid down	26 February 1946
Launched	5 October 1948
Completed	August 1949
Maiden voyage	6 October 1949
Out of service	31 October 1974
Identification	Official number: 183093[1] IMO number: 5150800
Fate	Scrapped, 1975
General characteristics [2]
Type	Passenger ship
Tonnage	As built 27,955 GRT 1963, 27,989 GRT 1969, 28,047 GRT) 9,659 DWT[1]
Length	708 ft 8 in (216.00 m) o/a 667 ft 0 in (203.30 m) p/p[1]
Beam	90 ft 8 in (27.64 m)
Draught	31 ft 2 in (9.50 m)
Propulsion	Steam turbines, 42,550 shp (31,730 kW) 2 screws
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Capacity	As built, 758 1st class, 401 tourist class (1963, 1,416 tourist class), cargo 450,000 cu ft (13,000 m3)
Crew	572

Close

Himalaya was built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers-Armstrongs and launched 5 October 1948. She had an identical hull and machinery to the Orient Line's Orcades (yard no. 950 to Himalaya's 951), though differing in superstructure and internal layout. She began her service on the Tilbury-Bombay-Australia route in 1949 following her departure from the shipbuilding yard in August. During her commission Himalaya underwent a number of improvements the first of which was, although controversial at the time, a funnel cowl to keep the liner's decks clear of debris without interference to the boilers.

Arthur C. Clarke completed his book, The City and the Stars, on board Himalaya during a voyage to Sydney between September 1954 and March 1955, as mentioned at the end of the book.

In 1958, she pioneered a new South Pacific route for P&O, from Melbourne and Sydney to San Francisco and Los Angeles via Fiji, Honolulu and Vancouver. The following year, she was routed from Los Angeles to Singapore and then onward to London.^[3]

In the winter of 1959-60, she was given a major refit by the Rotterdam Drydock Co., which include the installation of full air conditioning. In 1963, following the sale of the Strath Class liners by P&O, Himalaya, along with Orcades, was converted to all tourist class and was often used on assisted immigrant sailings.^[3]

Himalaya arrived at Hong Kong on 31 October 1974 on her final commercial voyage. She was sold to Tong Cheng Steel Manufacturing Co. Ltd, and scrapped in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1975.^[4]

Himalaya was in a background scene, while docked in Hong Kong, in an episode of the series I Spy Season: 01 Ep: 02. A Cup of Kindness.

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