SS Orduna SS " Orduna " was an ocean liner built in 1913 - 14 by Harland & Wolff in Belfast for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company . After two voyages she was chartered to Cunard Line . In 1921 she went to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company , then being resold to the PSNCo in 1926 . Her sister ships were the RMSP " Orbita " and SS " Orca " . She provided transatlantic passenger transport , measured approximately 15 , 500 gross tons , and was 550 . 3 ft x 67 . 3 ft . History . First World War . " Orduna " was pressed into service as an auxiliary cruiser and troop transport in the First World War running from Halifax , Canada to Liverpool with notables such as Quentin Roosevelt on board . In January 1915 " Orduna " rescued the Russian crew of the sailing ship " Loch Torridon " , which had sprung a leak while transporting timber off the west coast of Ireland . Later in 1915 , en route for New York , " Orduna " was targeted by a U - boat . The torpedo , which was spotted by Captain Hughes - Parry , failed to hit the ship , which arrived safely . In 1918 " Orduna " collided with the 4 , 406 ton steamer " Konkary " , carrying a cargo of ballast from Queenstown to Trinidad . " Konkary " was lost in the accident . Between the wars . In April 1923 she was involved in another rescue , transporting the crew of the barquentine " Clitha " , which had been abandoned and set on fire , to England after they had been rescued by the schooner " Jean Campbell " . In 1925 , Dean James E . Lough of the Extra - Mural Division of the New York University chartered " Orduna " for the transport of 213 students to France , with lectures taking place on board . In 1938 the " Orduna " was used for the third and final ' Peace Cruise ' , carrying 460 Scouter s and Guider s , including Robert and Olave Baden - Powell , and their daughter Heather , on a cruise to Iceland , Norway , Denmark and Belgium . " Orduna " left Liverpool on 8 August , returning on 25 August via Dover . Robert Baden - Powell was too ill to leave the ship during the voyage , but parties of local Scouts visited him on the ship at most of the stops , while the Scouters and Guiders on the ship took the opportunity to tour local landmarks and attend receptions . During the stop at Reykjavík on Thursday , 11 August , during which " Orduna " moored beside the German cruiser " Emden " , a party from the Scouts of Iceland brought some rock on board so that Baden - Powell could still ' set foot in Iceland ' . The " Orduna " called at Trondheim , Norway , on 15 August , Copenhagen , Denmark on 18 August , and Belgium on Sunday 21 August , before returning to England . In September 1938 she was at Nassau , Bahamas and Kingston Jamaica Second World War . During the 1939 " Voyage of the Damned " affair , where German Jewish refugees were refused entry into Cuba , the United States and Canada , " Orduna " was refused permission to land 40 refugees at Havana . On 12 August 1940 , she sailed from Liverpool arriving Nassau 30 August , with a privately organised party of 16 children from Belmont Preparatory school , Hassocks Sussex . It was part of a wider Government children ' s evacuation programme Children ' s Overseas Reception Board during World War II . When the prospect of imminent invasion threatened Britain . With the need for military transport in the Second World War , in 1941 she was put into service by the British government as a troopship . Another task during the Second World War was that of an evacuation transport . On 21 September 1945 she sailed from Rangoon with British former Far East Prisoners of War on board , arriving in Liverpool on 19 October 1945 . Military transport continued until 1949 . Post - Second World War . In 1947 conditions for troops returning from Port Said in Egypt on the " Orduna " , said to include overcrowding and poor food , were raised with the Secretary of State for War . Demise . " Orduna " was decommissioned and laid up in November 1950 and dismantled the following year in Dalmuir , Scotland .