Cruising The Past takes you aboard the SS France and SS Liberte. Great cruise ship history – with videos of the French Line ships. 1950s trans-Atlantic glory. When going by ship was a joy – with class and grace. Enjoy these gorgeous full color home movies shot by a lucky couple who traveled on the SS France Eastbound, and the SS Liberte Westbound, here combined to suggest a mythical time when such a trip might have been possible. Bon Voyage!
Video cruise history of the French Line’s fabulous liner SS Normandie.
SS Normandie was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. When launched in 1932 she was the largest and fastest ship in the world, and she maintains the distinction of being the most powerful steam turbo-electric propelled passenger ship ever built in cruise history.
Her novel design features and lavish interiors have led many to consider her the greatest of all ocean liners.
Despite this, she was not a commercial success, and relied partly on government subsidy to operate. During her service career as the flagship of the CGT, she made 139 transatlantic crossings westbound from her home port of Le Havre to New York (but only 138 eastbound).
During World War II, Normandie was seized by United States authorities at New York and renamed USS Lafayette. In 1942, while being converted to a troopship, the liner caught fire, capsized, and sank at the New York Passenger Ship Terminal. Although she was salvaged at great expense, restoration of the vessel was deemed too costly, and she was scrapped in October 1946.
“If there’s a better or more lovingly displayed collection of S.S. Normandie material in the world (and that includes France), I don’t know of it. What Crash has assembled in the Miottel Collection is nothing less than the history of a legend. For people interested in transatlantic shipping in general and the Normandie in particular, it is the mother lode.” Harvey Ardman, Author: “NORMANDIE HER LIFE AND TIMES”
Click here to visit THE MIOTTEL COLLECTION.
Cruise History – Sailing trans-Atlantic on the French Line – 1920s – Great video from youTUBE…
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (French Line) was founded in 1861. The company began sailing in 1862 from Havre to Mexico and in 1864 they added a services from Havre to New York. They also sailed to Canada via Plymouth, plied the Mediterranean and they had routes to the West Indies. The vessels averaged 8 days to New York.
In 1880 CGT took over Cie Valery Eugene Pereire and their Mediterranean service and 12 ships. They purchased Cie Franco-Tunisienne and their three ships in 1907. Cie Havraise Peninsulaire was acquired in 1915 and in 1916 they formed a subsidiary company Cie Générale d’Armements Maritimes (CGAM) in partnership with Cie Chargeurs Reunis.
In 1917 Cie Navale de l’Oceanie was acquired with five ships.
By 1919 they controlled Cie d’Orbigny, Societe Plisson, Societe des Vapeurs de Charge and Societe Marseillaise d’Armament Fritsche & Cie.
They were also a major shareholder in the Fabre Line. In 1973 CGT merged with Cie des Messageries Maritimes to form Cie Generale Maritime.
RMS Titanic’s last meal for first class passengers is featured below to to celebrate a milestone in Cruise History commemorating the sinking of the White Star Liner on April 15, 1912. Cruising the past features the first class menu served to the doomed passengers before the ship struck an ice berg and sunk.
With over nine courses, passengers were served an elegant meal – for many – their last. [Read more...]
Cruise History: Is the QE2 headed for the Dubai scrapyard? Rumors are floating around the former Cunard Line ship is going to be scrapped because the Dubai economic bubble has gone bust.
The QE 2 on her last voyage.
The Business Insider website is reporting the QE 2 is being scrapped.
Last year, once the world’s fastest liner in the world, the Queen Elizabeth 2 was sold by Cunard Lines to Dubai investors. On her last cruise, she sailed to the Middle East for Dubai and arrived in a grand procession
In classic Dubai style, the plan was to turn the famous ship into a floating hotel.
Fast forward to now and according to Business Insider editor Joe Weisenthal the dream is dead. His insider mole in Dubai states the QE 2 is being dismantled. He claims there’s no business for the hotel, and the idled ship is just sitting there, costing money and polluting the water. Hence, workers are actively pulling it apart, a sad end for such a grand ship.
A youtube video of Brits saying their final goodbyes to the possibly now doomed liner QE2.
Business Insider is looking for pictures of the dismantling.
Problems with Weisenthal’s story it could be just the beginning of the conversion.
But, it true, the QE 2 will end up like her predecessor. The first RMS Queen Elizabeth is seen below being hacked apart in Hong Kong harbor following a devastating fire.
1970s – Workmen with cutting torches have begun dissecting the great iron corpse of what had once been the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth, now a rusting hulk in the shallow waters of Hong Kong harbor.
A wonderful Dutch film/video on the great liner.
Throughout the 1930s a remarkable period of growth was experienced by the merchant fleets of many nations. This growth occurred in spite of a depression that put a strangle-hold on the world-wide economy.
The fabulous Nieuw Amsterdam.
National governments found it prudent to fund the construction of ocean liners such as the great liner Nieuw Amsterdam as a means of easing severe unemployment and providing national icons that would, hopefully, show those at home and abroad that somehow the bleak situation would soon improve. Into these circumstances was born the fabulously sleek Holland-America liner Nieuw Amsterdam.
The interior of the SS Nieuw Amsterdam First Class Dining Room, a luxury transatlantic ocean liner of the Dutch fleet, named by Queen Wilhelmina in 1937, and known for its modern decor.
Construction on the new liner was carried out at the Rotterdam Drydock Company. Christened by Queen Wilhelmina in April 1937, Nieuw Amsterdam was, at 36,000 tonnes, the largest liner ever constructed in Holland. Modern in every way, Nieuw Amsterdam followed the Art Deco trend of the day in both interior decorations and exterior design.
The First Class Lounge. Chic, for meeting friends and, unlike today’s cruise ships, socializing. Sophistication in a setting long one.
The interiors were distinguished by fluorescent lighting, aluminum motifs, and gentle pastels throughout the ship that created an understated elegance that would make the liner a favorite among seasoned transatlantic passengers. The sleek new liner’s maiden voyage was set for 10 May 1938, and upon her arrival in New York she immediately won adulation and acclaim.
6/5/1948-New York, NY: Star of stage and screen Katharine Hepburn, becomingly clad in slacks, unbent and gave an interview to the boys of the press as she sailed from New York, June 5th, on the S.S. Nieuw Amsterdam.
Nieuw Amsterdam was considered by many to be one of the most beautiful liners constructed in the 1930’s. Although she was neither as large or fast as many of her contemporaries, she was to be a popular liner for the Dutch and was showered with superlatives.
Some feel the Nieuw Amsterdam surpassed the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth and was equaled only by the Bremen and the Normandie.
Her sleek outline and two slim funnels provided a striking profile and she soon and garnered a loyal following amid stiff competition from great liners such as Britain’s Queen Mary and the superb Normandie of the French Line.
The great interiors of the fabulous Nieuw Amsterdam.
Despite the fierce competition, Nieuw Amsterdam proved to be one of the few money-making vessels of the day.
Departure of the SS Nieuw Amsterdam from New York. Look at the reflection in the window of one of the towers of the building of the Holland America Line (HAL) (now Hotel New York)in Rotterdam
Holland’s “ship of peace” was not to enjoy the praise lavished on her for long. After only seventeen voyages, Nieuw Amsterdam was laid up at Hoboken, New Jersey in 1939 after the German invasion of Poland. She would be idle for only a year, however, and was requisitioned by the British Ministry of Transport after Holland fell to Hitler’s armies. She would spend the remainder of the war years as a troop transport, despite the fact she had been constructed without the consideration of ever being used in a military capacity. During the course of the conflict she would transport over 350,000 troops and steam some 530,452 miles before being decommissioned in 1946. Fourteen months were required to restore Nieuw Amsterdam to her to pre-war condition, and in October 1947 she resumed her transatlantic schedule.
3rd July 1959: Three year old Mark Sheffer of Toronto with his luggage as he leaves the boat train at Waterloo, London. He traveled to England on the Holland America Line Flagship, SS Nieuw Amsterdam.
For the next twenty years Nieuw Amsterdam would enjoy a loyal following and financial success. Even when joined by a more contemporary fleet-mate in 1959—the Rotterdam—Nieuw Amsterdam still commanded a loyal following. Her several refits in the 1950s ensured she remained in top conditin and continued service despite her being near thirty years of age. In the 1960s severe mechanical problems seemed to indicate an end to the venerable liner’s career, however new boilers were installed and her career continued.
Youtube video of the great “glamor girls” — SS Nieuw Amsterdam and SS United States during the last of their voyages “across the pond”!
In the same decade jet travel had made continued Atlantic passenger runs impractical, so Nieuw Amsterdam was shifted to cruising in the Caribbean. Soon escalating operating cost and competition from newer cruise vessels meant an end to the grand liner’s service career. Nieuw Amsterdam had been an enduring icon on the North Atlantic for the better part of three decades—certainly her refined interiors and impeccable service added much to her appeal. When she sailed to the breakers in 1974, the world saw the end to one of the greatest liners to sail the Atlantic. The links below provide a glimpse into the fabulous interiors that made Nieuw Amsterdam a favorite among seasoned transatlantic travelers.
Enjoy these great full color home movies shot by a lucky couple who traveled on the SS France Eastbound, and the SS Liberte Westbound, here combined to suggest a mythical time when such a trip might have been possible in the early 1960s. Bon Voyage!
SS France arrives in New York to great celebration on her maiden voyage in 1962.
In 2006, the French Line’s SS France ended her career with a passage to India.
Her destination the beaches at Alang where she would be scrapped.
This wonderful ship was not just another rusting hulk of a cargo ship.
The long sleek lines marked the France as a ship of an altogether different class.
And, to a shipping enthusiast, the distinctive winged funnels were instantly recognizable.
This was the SS France, last of the great ocean-going liners.
Her dining room considered the finest in the world.
The decks that were once the haunt of Cary Grant and Salvador Dali lay empty.
Celebrities aboard the France: Cary Grant, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol talking with Tennessee Williams.
The restaurant that was described as “the best French restaurant in the world” had been left to the echoes and the memories.
This was the final voyage of the ship that was once the epitome of glamour and nautical prestige.
Her destination was very different from the gala receptions that once greeted the France in New York when she debuted in 1962.
The Tourist Class Dining Room.
Cocktails aboard the SS France.
It was all very different back in the early Sixties, when the France was the acme of chic.
On her maiden voyage in 1962, the smart set of Paris relocated to her decks.
Society descends down the stairs into the First Class Dining Room. Considered the finest French restaurant in the world.
Everyone who was anyone was on board. And when she sailed into New York after crossing the Atlantic, the France was surrounded by fireboats, tugboats and tenders, all spraying water in the air in salute.
It was a more glamorous way of arriving in New York than standing in line at JFK passport control.
The final days of trans-Atlantic liners. The terrible end. The France, the QE 2 and the Michelangelo. The SS United States was gone and these liners were struggleing to maintain service across the pond as jets took over.
But it was a more glamorous age: when the France arrived, four other liners were already docked on the Hudson.
The France joined the RMS Queens Elizabeth and Mary and the United States, all struggling in the wake of jet air service that now dominated the Atlantic.
Chic, wonderful glamour and a demonstration of real society – the QE 2 never achieved this but the France carried this like a regal lady until the end.
Despite the odds, the France consistently sailed with a high capacity of passengers (unlike the struggling Cunarders, which were likened to creaking ghost ships).
Even Tourist Class had a paniche today’s cruise ships, with their dreadful Vegas atmosphere, will never attain.
The France’s deep draft (35 feet) requires her to anchor and tender passengers ashore in almost every port. This gave people ashore a great look at an impressive ship.
Cary Grant – who always preferred ship travel – used to lounge on the sundecks between films. Grant sailed on the United States, Queen Mary and Elisabeth, along with the France, the French Line’s earlier ships and even cargo-passenger ships of the Holland America Line from Europe to California. Similar to Katherine Hepburn, many times Grant preferred the anonymity of small ships to stay out of the lime lite.
The First Class Dining Room.
Dali brought his pet ocelot on board. Perhaps the most famous passenger was the Mona Lisa. When the Louvre lent the painting to an exhibition in the US, the France was chosen to take it there.
Dali’s ocelot was not the only pet on board. The France was famous for the facilities it offered for passengers’ pet dogs. On-board kennels were carpeted, the animals had a walkway, and a choice between a Parisian milestone or a New York hydrant for them to cock their legs against.
No wood was allowed on the France because of fire regulations. So the designers dreamt up a modernist interior of aluminum, Formica and plastic. There was a 660-seat theatre and two swimming pools. And this was not some meandering cruise ship, but a liner built for speed, to cross the Atlantic in the fastest time possible. In her heyday she could cruise at 31 knots, all 66,348 tons of her.
The France was a product of the age before mass air travel, born out of French pride. At the time, liners were the preferred way of crossing the Atlantic between the United States and Europe. The Americans had the fastest, the United States.
The British had the largest, the Queen Elizabeth.
France’s two liners, the stylish Ile De France and the much loved Liberte, were nearing the end of service, and the French shipping line needed something to compete.
And so they built the 1,035ft France which, until the recent arrival of the Queen Mary 2, was the longest passenger ship built.
The France’s tragedy was to arrive too late. Even at that reception in New York for her maiden voyage, aircraft were wheeling overhead. And within a few years, air travel would turn the liners into a thing of the past.
The First Class Children’s Playroom.
The France’s decline was long and slow.
By 1972 she was one of only four transatlantic liners still in service.
The Tourist Class Ballroom.
Built for the cold winds of the north, she quickly found herself on winter cruises she was not designed for, with one swimming pool indoors and the other covered up. She went on a world cruise – and had to sail around South America because she was too big for the Panama Canal.
First Class cabins facing a unique private patio.
In the end, it was another project of national pride that finished her off. In 1974 the French government ended the subsidy that had kept her afloat and diverted the money to Concorde.
For three years the ship lay idle in harbor. In 1977, she was bought by a Saudi millionaire who wanted to turn her into a museum for French furniture, but the plan never got off the drawing board. In 1979, she was bought by Norwegian Caribbean Lines, one of the biggest companies tapping into the large new market for cruises.
Theater aboard the SS France. The orchestra seats were for tourist class passengers and the balcony/mezzanine for first class passengers.
The France was converted into a cruise ship and, in a cruel blow to the national pride that spawned her, renamed SS Norway. The cruise company tore out the second engine room that gave the France her speed, and turned her into a plodding cruise ship. The tourist class smoking room was replaced with a casino, and the first class library with shops.
It was a preview of cruise ships to come – ghastly Vegas hotels at sea.. Blocks of condos, lined with balconies and packed with obese Americans gorging themselves on 24-hour buffets. The hoi polio would consume food foreign to the France’s former gastronomical tastes. All of it adding insult to injury to the great ships.
The SS France turned into the NCL cruise ship SS Norway appealing to mass market tourists.
She continued to sail through the Eighties and Nineties, but, by the beginning of this decade, cutbacks in maintenance meant the Norway was suffering frequent mechanical breakdowns and fires. There were incidents of illegal dumping of waste and sea, and at one point the ship was detained in port for safety violations. It was a sad senescence.
Worse was to come.
In May 2003, while the Norway was docked in Miami, an explosion rocked the engine room. Several crew members were killed. The ship was towed to Germany for repairs. But in March 2004, the chief executive of the cruise company announced: “France will never sail again.” The ship was sent to Malaysia and sold to an American dealer for scrap. She was renamed once again, the Blue Lady, and for months lay at anchor off the Malaysian coast.
Soon the Blue Lady was headed for the scrap yards. There were attempts to preserve the SS France, once an icon of French glamour, but failed. She ended up raped by low paid workers on the beaches of Alang. Another great liner gone.
In this economy, will the Queen Elizabeth 2 meet a similar fate as Dubai hits the skids?
One of the last great ocean liners
* SS France was launched in May 1960. At 1,035ft she was the longest ocean liner in the world.
* Her construction cost $80m and took over four years. A unique design allowed the 66,348 tons ship to carry enough fuel to make the return journey from Le Havre to New York without refuelling.
* Up to 1,944 passengers were accommodated in the lap of luxury, served by 1,100 crew, including over 100 chefs.
* She was built to make 46 transatlantic crossings per year but the rise of air travel caused a declining demand for the service.
* The premier on-board restaurant was said to be ‘the best French restaurant in the world’.
* She made her first world voyage in 1974 but had to sail around the coast of South America because she was too large for the locks of the Panama Canal.
* In 1974 the French government withdrew its subsidy and SS France left service. Sold to Norwegian Caribbean Line in 1979 and renamed SS Norway, she sparked a trend for larger cruise ships.
* President Charles de Gaulle was a driving force behind the ship’s construction. He hoped she would be a source of Gallic pride and a showcase for French technology.
SS Normandie arriving in New York on her maiden voyage.
The French Line’s Normandie is one of the relatively few legitimate contenders for the title “Greatest Liner Ever”. She was a ship of superlatives: the largest ship in the world for five years, more than 20,000 tons larger than White Star’s Majestic; the first liner to exceed 1000 feet in length; the first liner to exceed 60,000 tons (and 70,000 and 80,000, for that matter); the largest turbo-electric powered liner; and the first to make a 30 knot eastbound Atlantic crossing. All told, Normandie earned the Blue Riband for five record-breaking crossings; twice westbound and three times eastbound, including both legs of her maiden voyage. And yet, all these technical qualities are only part of Normandie’s greatness; her design and decor were equally innovative, distinctive and luxurious. All of these factors contributed to her being described as “the ultimate ocean liner—definitely of the 1930s and possibly of the century”. (Braynard and Miller’s Fifty Famous Liners.) And, in the end, her demise was as ignominious as she herself was glorious.
Built by Chantiers et Ateliers de St. Nazaire and launched in 1932, Normandie made her maiden voyage from Le Havre to New York on 29 May 1935, setting speed records both westbound and eastbound. She was overhauled during the winter of 1935-36 to correct significant vibration problems which were evident from the time of her maiden voyage. (In the process, her gross tonnage was increased from 79,280 to 83,423. This permitted her to remain the largest liner even after Cunard White Star’s Queen Mary, 81,235 tons, entered service in May 1936.)
Normandie’s career as a passenger liner was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. At the end of her 139th Atlantic crossing, she arrived in New York on 28 August 1939, and would never sail again. Mothballed at Pier 88, she was taken into custody by the U.S. Coast Guard when France was occupied in June 1940, and less than a week after Pearl Harbor she was taken over by the U.S. Maritime Commission and was renamed U.S.S. Lafayette.
In January 1942 the U.S. War Department took her over and by 9 February her conversion into a troopship was nearly completed. But on that date, while she was being loaded with supplies, a spark from a welder’s torch ignited a bale of lifejackets. The fire spread rapidly, and a series of mistakes by the ship’s crew and firefighters led to the ship’s turning on her port side and sinking at her berth. The stern slipped under Pier 88, while the bow moved close to the adjacent Pier 90. Refloated in September 1943, she was then towed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Plans to convert her into an aircraft carrier were abandoned as too costly, and she remained in Brooklyn for the balance of the war. Unwanted and unusable, she was scrapped in Newark, NJ, in 1946-47, the last pieces of steel being removed by rail on 6 October 1947.
Another wonderful video from Aaron1912 celebrating the SS Normandie.
The First Class dining salon.
Her novel design features and lavish interiors have led many to consider her the greatest of all ocean liners. The SS Normandie was far more impressive than the Cunard Liners RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. Passengers flocked to it and the great liner attracted the celebrities of the day.
Charles Boyer, well-known film star, pictured with his wife, the former Pat Patterson, also well-known for her film work, on the S. S. Normandie, when they sailed for Europe today,
6/3/1935-New York, NY- A scene on the SS Normandie, largest and speediest trans-Atlantic passenger ship, as Mrs. Albert Le Brun, wife of President Le Brun of France, was welcomed to NY by Mrs. Fiorello H. La Guardia, wife of the Mayor of New York City. The picture was made shortly after the Normandie had dropped anchor in quarantine, upper New York Bay, at the end of the fastest ship crossing of the ocean. In foreground is key to NYC.
Marlene Dietrich and Carry Grant, two of Hollywood’s brightest stars, are pictured posing amid the posifs in the garden of the S.S. Normandie as they arrived from Europe today, just in time for Thanksgiving Dinner.
6/3/1935-New York, NY- The first Lady of France, Madame Albert Le Brun, wife of the French president, is shown broadcasting from the first ship of the land, the new trans-Atlantic champion, SS Normandie. French notables are looking on. The ceremony took place during the maiden crossing of the World’s largest vessel.
Famous author P. G. Wodehouse, his wife Ethel. and a brace of Pekes aboard the S.S.Normandie in 1936 – arriving in America for a second crack at Hollywood.
The SS Normandie abandoned the rather severe decor of the Cunard Ships and incorporated the glamor of inventive Art Decor design.
Major Edward Knight, publicity director of the French Line, is shown welcoming George Raft, polished movie actor, aboard the S.S. Normandie just before he sailed on vacation to Europe. The screen, stage, radio, sports, business, diplomacy, and government were all represented in the record crowd of passengers that headed East on the world’s largest liner.
Sailed On Normandie. Ruth Draper, actress, pictured aboard the S. S. Normandie, sailing from New York City, November 24th. She will vacation abroad.
The SS Normandie was impressive, brilliant and lasting. Many famous celebrities sailed aboard the great linr. She was a true definition of chic afloat.
Many of the models dedicated to the great ship.
Despite this, she was not a commercial success, and relied partly on government subsidy to operate. During her service career as the flagship of the CGT, she made 139 transatlantic crossings westbound from her home port of Le Havre to New York (but only 138 eastbound).
Normandie Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico… one of the many architectual tributes to the greatest liner of them all.
A tragic view of the great liner in New York following the “fire” or sabotage!
Who was to blame for how this great liner ended her life?
History of the Normandie…
SS Normandie…
SS “Normandie” was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire France for Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. When launched in 1932 she was the largest and fastest ship in the world, and she maintains the distinction of being the most powerful steam turbo-electric propelled passenger ship ever built.Ardman, Harvey. “Normandie, Her Life and Times,” New York, Franklin Watts, 1985] Her novel design features and lavish interiors have led many to consider her the greatest of all ocean liners.”Floating Palaces.” (1996) A&E. TV Documentary. Narrated by Fritz Weaver] Despite this, she was not a commercial success, and relied partly on government subsidy to operate. During her service career as the flagship of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, or French Line), she regularly sailed transatlantic crossings between her home port of Le Havre and the port of New York.
In 1942, while being converted to a troopship during World War II, “Normandie” caught fire, capsized, and sank at the New York Passenger Ship Terminal. Although she was salvaged at great expense, restoration was deemed too costly, and she was scrapped in October 1946.Maxtone-Graham, John. “The Only Way to Cross”. New York: Collier Books, 1972, p. 391]
Origin
The beginnings of “Normandie” can be traced to the Roaring Twenties when shipping companies started to look for new ships to replace the aging veterans, such as the RMS|Mauretania|1906|6 which had first sailed in 1907. Those earlier ships had been designed around the huge numbers of steerage-class immigrants coming from Europe to the United States; when the U.S. closed the door on most immigration in the early 1920s, steamship companies ordered vessels built to serve middle-class tourists instead, particularly Americans who travelled to Europe for alcohol-fueled fun during Prohibition. Companies like Cunard and White Star Line planned to build their own super-linersMaxtone-Graham 1972, p. 268-69] to rival the newer ships on the scene. These new ships included the record-breaking SS|Bremen|1929|2 and SS|Europa|1930|2, both German ships. The French Line was not to be left out of this new race and soon began to plan their own supership.
At the time, the French Line’s flagship was the SS|Ile de France|3=2, which had modern Art Deco interiors but a relatively conservative hull design. The designers intended to construct their new ship similar to French Line ships of the past, but then they were approached by Vladimir Yourkevitch, a former ship architect for the Imperial Russian Navy before the revolution who had emigrated to France. His ideas included a slanting clipper-like bow and a bulbous forefoot beneath the waterline in combination with a slim hull, a design which worked wonderfully in his scale model.Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 273] Model tests supported his design’s performance advantages. The French engineers were so impressed that they asked Yourkevitch to join their project. Reportedly, Yourkevitch also approached the Cunard Line with his ideas, but was rejected on the grounds that the new bow shape was too radical.
Construction and launch
Work began on the ship (not yet named “Normandie”) in January 1931, soon after the terrifying stock market crash of 1929. While the French continued construction, the competing White Star Line’s ship (intended as “Oceanic”) – started before the crash – had to be cancelled and the Cunard ship was put on hold, both because their financing, organized before the crash, ran into trouble. Soon, the French builders also ran into difficulty, and had to ask their government for money to continue construction, a subsidy that was questioned in the press. Still, the building was followed heavily by newspapers and national interest was deep. [Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 269-272] Though she was designed to represent France in the nation-state contest of the great liners, and though she was built in a French shipyard and, using French-built major parts including the 29 boilers, the turbines, generators and even the 4 massive engines (designed by Alsthom, which later worked on the RMS|Queen Mary 2|3=2), a few secondary parts of her came from other European countries – e.g., the ship’s great rudder was built by Skoda Works in Czechoslovakia,Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 275] while the steering mechanism, including the teak wheel, came from Edinburgh.
” which is not grammatically correct); but English speakers usually refer to ships as feminine (“she’s a beauty”), and the French Line carried many rich American customers. After discussion, French Line officials wrote that their ship was to be called simply “Normandie,” preceded by no “le” or “la” (French masculine/feminine for “the”) to avoid any confusion.
On October 29, 1932 – three years to the day after the stock market crash – “Normandie” was launched in front of 200,000 spectators. The 27,567 ton hull that slid into the Loire River was the largest ever launched and it caused a large wave that crashed into a few hundred people, but with no injury. “Normandie” was outfitted until early 1935, meaning all her interior, funnels, engines, etc. were put in to make her into a working vessel. Finally, in April 1935, “Normandie” was ready for her trials, which were watched by reporters. The superiority of Vladimir Yourkevitch’s hull design was immediately visible: hardly a wave was created. The ship demonstrated impressive performance during these trials, reaching a top speed of convert|32.2|kn|km/h and performing an emergency stop from that speed in only 1,700 meters.
One of the most famous posters of “Normandie” was made by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre who was a Russian emigrant to France, like Yourkevitch himself.
Interior
Indeed, the interior was quite dazzling but perhaps the most dazzling was the first class dining room.
Three hundred and five feet long, convert|46|ft|m wide and convert|28|ft|m high, this was by far the largest room afloat. Passengers entered the dining room through convert|20|ft|m|sing=on tall doors adorned with bronze medallions by the artist Raymond Subes. The ten medallions featured French castles, cathedrals, and the French ocean liner SS “Ile de France”. The medallions and dining room door elements survive today as part of the Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church. in Brooklyn Heights, at the corner of Remsen and Henry, having been sold at auction in 1945.
This first class dining room could seat 700 diners at a time with 150 tables, serving them with some of the best meals in the world. This ship was a floating promotion of the most sophisticated French cuisine of the period. However due to the design of the ship, no natural lighting could get in. The designers illuminated the room with twelve tall pillars of Lalique glass and along the walls stood 38 columns equally bright. In addition, two chandeliers hung at each end of the room. From this gorgeous display of lights came the nickname “Ship of Light”Maddocks, Melvin “The Great Liners”. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1978.] (similar to Paris as the ‘”City of Light”). The French Line marketed the dining room as longer than the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 276]
A popular feature was a cafe which led to the grand salon, one of the most popular rooms on board which would be transformed into a nightclub during voyages. In addition, “Normandie” boasted both an indoor and outdoor pool (the second ship to have one, after the Italian liner SS|Rex|3=2), a chapel and a theatre which could function as both a stage and cinema.
The interiors were filled with long perspectives and spectacular entryways such as long, wide staircases in order to give a suitable frame to the many upper middle-class ladies who saw an Atlantic crossing as a way to show off their clothes and jewels, and sometimes their husbands.
First-class suites on “Normandie” were given unique individual designs by a team of renowned designers. The most luxurious accommodations on the ship were the Deauville and Trouville apartments, [Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 279] which came with their own dining rooms, baby grand pianos, multiple bedrooms, and private deck. A disproportionate amount of public space was devoted to the first-class passengers, including the dining room, first-class lounge, grille room, first class swimming pool, theatre, winter garden, and other amenities. The first class swimming pool featured staggered depths, and a training ‘beach’ with very little depth for children.
In addition to a novel hull shape which made it possible for her to attain her great speed at lesser power expenditure than that of the other big liners, “Normandie” was filled with technical feats. She had turbo-electric engines which improved fuel efficiency and made control and maintenance much easier. The machinery of the top deck and forecastle, normally an eyesore or an annoyance for passengers on the other liners, had been integrated within the ship, concealing it completely and releasing nearly all of the exposed deck space for the passengers’ use. [Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 273-75] An early form of radar was installed to detect icebergs and other ships. The voluminous nature of her public rooms, particularly in first class, were made possible by having the funnel intakes split and pass along the sides of the ship, rather than straight upward, to allow room for lounges and other features to have an uninterrupted space.
A youtube video showing a wonderful lifelike model of the legendary ocean liner SS Rex cruising “at sea.”
Ship models have been considered a legitimate decorative art form for the past four hundred years throughout northern Europe and more recently in 19th and 20th centuries in North America.
Of course ship models have been prized objects of art since 2000 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia. As appreciation for marine model artists – known by name and specializing in original, conscientious research as well as highest quality construction methods and aesthetic appeal – has grown, their models’ value as works of art has grown accordingly.
Actor Nicholas Cage is a well-known collector.
This value is recognized and celebrated not only by leading museums specializing in maritime art but also by major international museums such as the British Museum, the Louvre, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Smithsonian Institution, all of which exhibit ship models in their collections.
These carefully crafted works of art provide the ultimate in detail of these ocean going palaces. For more information contact their website (click above), email them at: services@modelshipmaster.com or phone them at (866) ART 1 ART.
(Photos © 2008 Global Art Collections - all rights reserved.)
Italian Line’s SS REX (1931-1947)
Holland America Line’s SS NIEUW AMSTERDAM (1937-1974)
RMS Titanic – The fatal iceberg of April 14, 1912, during her maiden voyage, when she hit the iceberg.
United States Line’s SS AMERICA (1940-1994)
“If there’s a better or more lovingly displayed collection of S.S. Normandie material in the world (and that includes France), I don’t know of it. What Crash has assembled here is nothing less than the history of a legend. For people interested in transatlantic shipping in general and the Normandie in particular, it is the mother lode.”
Harvey Ardman, Author: “NORMANDIE HER LIFE AND TIMES”
S.S. NORMANDIE
When the French Line decided to supplement the revolutionary Ile de France of 1926 with a record-breaking super-liner in early 1930, they turned to naval designer Vladimir Yourkevitch to design the new ship. It was intended that the ship would be France’s contender for the Blue Ribband of the Atlantic, and it would be a floating showcase for the talent of French artisans and craftsmen. In designing the ship, Yourkevitch incorporated turbo-electric engines and the relatively new and innovative bulbous bow. The French Line also announced with much fanfare that new ship would be the first liner to exceed 1000 feet in length, and it would have a gross tonnage of 60,000 tons—making it the world’s largest ship.
On October 29, 1932, Madame Lebrun—wife of the French President—launched the new ship. By this time, however, the economic >When construction was completed on Normandie, she was the longest and largest ship afloat—measuring 1,028 feet in length with an initial tonnage of 79,280. To the pride of her owners and countrymen, she claimed the Blue Ribband from the Italian Liner Rex on her maiden crossing in May 1935. Keen on keeping the title “longest, largest, and fastest” ship in the world, it did not escape her owner’s attention that the British had announced the tonnage of their new super-liner Queen Mary that was nearing completion at 81,235. So during the winter refit in 1935, a deckhouse was added to her aft deck increasing her final tonnage to 83,423, allowing her to maintain title of world’s largest ship. And though she eventually lost the Blue Ribband to Queen Mary in August 1938, her top speed of 31.2 knots was only a fraction slower.
The magnificent First Class Dining Salon.
Though she was the world’s largest ship, the enormous size of Normandie did not mean she carried more passengers than any ship had ever carried. Her grandeur meant that each passenger had more space. The dimensions of her dining-salon—walled in molded glass, air-conditioned and decorated by the foremost artists and craftsmen of France—were breath taking. The sun deck, clear of all obstructions, stretched two city blocks in length. She was equipped with a permanent theater, seating nearly 400, and a beautiful chapel. Staterooms aboard Normandie—virtually all with luxurious bath or shower facilities—afforded a new scope for the kind of gracious living that French Line passengers had come to expect while on board ship.
Her cruiser bow and the turtleback extending over the foredeck enabled Normandie to take the roughest seas smoothly, without loss of speed. Her electric drive reduced vibration to an absolute minimum—though she was plagued with terrible vibration because of inappropriately designed propellers during her early crossings. Radios onboard allowed her to be in constant touch at all times with both Europe and America. Normandie was truly a wonder-ship that one could not see without wanting to travel onboard.
Launching of the S.S. NORMANDIE video on youTUBE.
Regrettably the service career of what is arguably the most superb liner to ever sail was tragically short. Scheduled to sail the day before war started in Europe, she was detained at New York as U.S authorities checked to ensure she did not have munitions or arms aboard. She would spend the remainder of her days in New York, and with the fall of France to the German armies, her fate seemed uncertain. However, with America’s entry into the war, the U.S. Coast Guard seized Normandie in May 1941. In December, the U.S. Navy took control of the vessel and renamed her USS Lafayette.
On February 9, 1942, while undergoing the major refit to accommodate thousands of U.S. troops, sparks from a workman’s welding torch set her ablaze. Firemen were able to extinguish the blaze, but tragically the liner capsized as a result of the tons of water used to fight the fire. She would be salvaged, but ultimately was scrapped at Port Newark, New Jersey—truly an ignominious end for perhaps the greatest liner to ever sail.
