History in the Making revised -- Part 2 - Construction III

To the sea where she belongs.

With ORIANA’s hull construction almost complete by July 1994 it was almost time for ORIANA to take her first steps into the outside world, this would give Meyer Werft chance perfect the manoeuvre when it would be required some months later for the installation of the funnel.
In preparation the final block of the hull was installed the bulbous bow
Before ORIANA could be moved one final calculation had to be made to work out the ships centre of gravity, this was achieved by what is called the preliminary inclining test, as the name suggests ORIANA would be inclined by a single degree.
With this preformed the date was set for ORIANAs first albeit short journey the 30th July 1994

Ready to take to the water 30th July 1994

Flooding of the dry dock took several hours but finally with the Meyer Werft tug ANTJE attending at her bow ORIANA was ready to move.
With many locals stood on the banks of the river opposite the yard looking on as ORIANA began to slowly move emerging first the elegantly designed stern proudly displaying the words ORIANA and LONDON
A slow process the whole move would take 4 hours as eventually ORIANA emerged seemed to continually grow larger with her upper decks only just clearing the ceiling of the building dock .

ORIANA begins to move

ORIANA towers above the attendant tug

Afloat for the first time!

Despite not having its funnel in place and the forward deck structures incomplete the hull was still a impressive sight.
Devoid of any of any decking and with only gaps in the upper decks and terrace where the pools would later be installed ORIANA did look somewhat curious but within days she would be retuned to the covered dock for work to continue.
While ORIANA herself floated for the first time P&O them selves were busy preparing for arrival in 10 months time,
The maiden seasons cruises had been drawn up and gone on sale with the maiden voyage selling out quickly, to be emblematic of the company history the itinerary for the maiden voyage would include ports of calls which had a long associations with P&O ships.
The first port of call would be Funchal, Madeira a port which P&O had visited since its earliest days, more recreantly since the mid 1980s CANBERRA had called regularly and spent most New Years eve’s in port allowing for the passengers to watch the world famous and record breaking fireworks display.
After a overnight stay and a fireworks display put on for her passengers the ship would depart for the Canary islands before heading to Morocco and Gibraltar turning back north the ship would call in mainland Portugal before heading back to Southampton.
Also of good news to the company was that Her Majesty the Queen had agreed to name ORIANA just as her cousin Princess Alexandria of Kent had 35 years before with the previous ORIANA .
P&O had also successfully campaigned for ORIANA to carry the call sign of her namesake and to this end she was assigned the call sign GVSN , this would be changed to ZCDU9 11 years later when the ship was reregistered to Hamilton, Bermuda.

ORIANA'S impressive and elegant bow

Once returned to the cover off the dock work commenced again, during this period using external generators some of ORIANA’s major systems were tested including a using zero thrust propellers to test the main engines as well the planking on the decks and some of the fitting out including the installation of the swimming pools and lifeboat davits.

With work in dock continuing and more of the fittings including the cabins ready to be put in place ORIANA quickly took on some resemblance of her final form.
 Finally on a cold snowy 7th January 1995 ORIANA was ready to leave her dock for the second and final time to have her funnel installed before being moved to the outfitting pier.

With outfitting underway ORIANA soon began to look like a luxury liner instead of a steel building site, with her cabins, public and crew spaces all being installed with specialist contractors working along side Meyer Werfts own staff to insure delivery in just 3 months time

A nocturnal shot of ORIANA during fitting out.

With ORIANA finally afloat the fitting out begun in the covered building dock took priority as the number of electricians and fitters on board greatly increased and almost daily the harsh shipbuilding environment of steel and welding gave way a world of soft furnishings and exquisite art work.

Never a easy process for owner or builder P&O made the most of the last months before ORIANAs completion with some of her designated crew training onboard CROWN PRINCESS to gain experience of a ship with roughly the same tonnage as well as in training simulators in Southampton
While Meyer Werft in preparation for the ships departure has approached the state government of Lower Saxony for permission to dredge the River Ems at Papenburg to a depth of 7.3 metres in order for ORIANA to depart, initially this was refused Meyer Werft then reproached for special permission just for ORIANA’s departure this was fortunately granted.
By February ORIANA was virtually complete all that remained was small finishing touches to be added which could be completed while the ship was on trials.

ORIANA at the fitting out pier almost completed

Also missing at this point was ORIANA's lifeboats being built by Mulder + Rijke in The Netherlands these would be delivered to ORIANA shortly before her trip down the river Ems to the sea.
Soon ORIANA would be ready to take her place as the newest and most advanced ship in world.

Photos copyright Meyer Werft and P&O Cruises.