SS Oria, Steamship in Greece

The SS Oria was a 2,127 GRT Norwegian cargo steamer built in 1920 by Osbourne, Graham & Co. in Sunderland for Fearnley & Eger of Oslo, carrying coal. It measured about 90 metres in length and had a single screw. In 1944 it was used by the Germans to transport Italian prisoners of war from Rhodes to Piraeus.

Built in 1920 at Sunderland for Fearnley & Eger of Oslo, the Oria was interned at Casablanca in June 1940, requisitioned by Vichy France as Sainte Julienne, then returned to Norwegian owners in November 1942 before passing to Hamburg's Mittelmeer Reederei. On 11 February 1944 it left Rhodes for Piraeus with 4,046 Italian prisoners, 90 Germans and its crew; caught in a storm, it struck the rocks off Patroklos islet near Cape Sunion and sank.

Every year since 12 February 2014, a memorial ceremony has been held on the coast facing Patroklos islet, near Cape Sounion, organised by local Greek authorities with Italian diplomats. A monument there, visited by President Sergio Mattarella on 6 September 2017, honours the prisoners lost in the sinking.

The wreck lies off Patroklos islet near Cape Sounion, at the tip of Attica. Greek diver Aristotelis Zervoudis located the remains in 1999; in 1955 the wreck had been partly dismantled to recover its iron. A monument on the facing coast, inaugurated on 12 February 2014, is the focus of an annual commemoration.

The wreck was located in 1999 by Greek diver Aristotelis Zervoudis; in 2017 he was made a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy for this work. A monument was inaugurated near Cape Sounion on 12 February 2014, and a memorial ceremony is held there every year.