SS Normandie

SS Normandie was an ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat; she is still the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built.

Her novel design and lavish interiors led many to consider her the greatest of ocean liners. Despite this, she was not a commercial success and relied partly on government subsidy to operate. During service as the flagship of the CGT, she made 139 westbound transatlantic crossings from her home port of Le Havre to New York. Normandie held the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing at several points during her service career, during which the RMS Queen Mary was her main rival.

During World War II, Normandie was seized by US authorities at New York and renamed USS Lafayette. In 1942, the liner caught fire while being converted to a troopship, capsized onto her port side and came to rest on the mud of the Hudson River at Pier 88, the site of the current New York Passenger Ship Terminal. Although salvaged at great expense, restoration was deemed too costly and she was scrapped in October 1946.

Origin
The beginnings of Normandie can be traced to the Roaring Twenties when shipping companies began looking to replace veterans such as the RMS Mauretania (1906) which had first sailed in 1907. Those earlier ships had been designed around the huge numbers of steerage-class immigrants 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 upper-class tourists instead, particularly Americans who traveled to Europe for alcohol-fueled fun during Prohibition. Companies like Cunard and the White Star Line planned to build their own superliners to rival newer ships on the scene; such vessels included the record-breaking SS Bremen (1929) and SS Europa (1930), both German. The French Line began to plan its own superliner.

The French Line's flagship was the SS Ile de France, which had modern Art Deco interiors but a conservative hull design. The designers of the new French superliner 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, who had emigrated to France before the revolution. His ideas included a slanting clipper-like bow and a bulbous forefoot beneath the waterline, in combination with a slim hydrodynamic hull. Yourkevitch's concepts worked wonderfully in scale models which supported his design's performance advantages. The French engineers were impressed and asked Yourkevitch to join their project. Reportedly, he also approached the Cunard Line with his ideas but was rejected because the bow was deemed too radical.

The French Line commissioned artists to create posters and publicity for the liner. One of the most famous posters was by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, who was also a Russian emigrant to France. Another cutaway diagram by Albert Sébille, 15 feet long, detailed the interior layout and is displayed in the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.

Construction and launch


Work by the Société Anonyme des Chantiers de Penhoët began on the unnamed flagship on 26 January 1931 at St. Nazaire, France, soon after the stock market crash of 1929. While the French continued construction, the competing White Star Line's ship (intended as Oceanic) – started before the crash – was cancelled and the Cunard ship put on hold. French builders also ran into difficulty and had to ask for government money; this subsidy was questioned in the press. Still, building was followed by newspapers and national interest was deep, as she was designed to represent France in the nation-state contest of the great liners and was built in a French shipyard using French parts.

The growing hull in Saint-Nazaire had no formal designation except "T-6" (with "6" for "6th" and "T" for "Transat", short for "CIE. GLE. TRANSATLANTIQUE" aka the "French Line"), the contract name. Many names were suggested including Doumer, after the recently assassinated president Paul Doumer; and originally, La Belle France. Finally Normandie was chosen. In France, ship prefixes properly depend on the ship name's gender, but non-sailors mostly use the masculine form, inherited from the French terms for ship, which can be "paquebot", "navire", "bateau", "bâtiment", but English speakers refer to ships as feminine ("she's a beauty"), and the French Line carried many rich American customers. French Line wrote that their ship was to be called simply "Normandie," preceded by neither "le" nor "la" (French masculine/feminine for "the") to avoid any confusion.

On 29 October 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 launched and the wave crashed into a few hundred people, but with no injury. The ship was christened by Madame Andre Lebrun, wife of Albert Lebrun, the President of the French Republic. Normandie was outfitted until early 1935, her interiors, funnels, engines, and other fittings put in to make her into a working vessel. Finally, in May 1935, Normandie was ready for trials, which were watched by reporters. The superiority of Vladimir Yourkevitch's hull was visible: hardly a wave was created off the bulbous bow. The ship reached a top speed of 32.125 kn and performed an emergency stop from that speed in 1,700 m.

In addition to a novel hull which let her attain speed at far less power than other big liners, Normandie was filled with technical feats. She had turbo-electric transmission, with turbo generators and electric propulsion motors built by AlsThom of Belfort. CGT chose turbo-electric transmission for the ability to use full power in reverse, and because, according to CGT officials, it was quieter and more easily controlled and maintained. The engine installation was heavier than conventional turbines and slightly less efficient at high speed but allowed all propellers to operate even if one engine was not running. This system also made it possible to eliminate astern turbines. An early form of radar was installed to prevent collisions such as RMS Titanic had.

Interior
The luxurious interiors were designed in Art Déco and Streamline Moderne style. Many sculptures and wall paintings made allusions to Normandy, the province of France for which Normandie was named. Drawings and photographs show a series of vast public rooms of great elegance. Normandie's voluminous interior spaces were made possible by having the funnel intakes split to pass along the sides of the ship, rather than straight upward. French architect Roger-Henri Expert was in charge of the overall decorative scheme.

Most of the public space was devoted to first-class passengers, including the dining room, first-class lounge, grille room, first-class swimming pool, theatre and winter garden. The first-class swimming pool featured staggered depths, with a shallow training beach for children. The children's dining room was decorated by Jean de Brunhoff, who covered the walls with Babar the Elephant and his entourage.

The interiors were filled with grand perspectives, spectacular entryways, and long, wide staircases. First-class suites were given unique designs by select designers. The most luxurious accommodations were the Deauville and Trouville apartments, featuring dining rooms, baby grand pianos, multiple bedrooms, and private decks.

The first-class dining hall was the largest room afloat. At three hundred and five feet (93 m), it was longer than the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, stood 46 ft wide, and towered 28 ft high. Passengers entered through 20 ft tall doors adorned with bronze medallions by artist Raymond Subes. The room could seat 700 at 157 tables, with Normandie serving as a floating promotion for the most sophisticated French cuisine of the period. As no natural light could enter it was illuminated by 12 tall pillars of Lalique glass flanked by 38 matching columns along the walls. These, with chandeliers hung at each end of the room, earned the Normandie the nickname "Ship of Light" (similar to Paris as the '"City of Light").

A popular feature was the café grill, which would be transformed into a nightclub. Adjoining the cafe grill was the first-class smoking room, which was paneled in large murals depicting ancient Egyptian life. Normandie also had indoor and outdoor pools, a chapel, and a theatre which could double as a stage and cinema.

The machinery of the top deck and forecastle was integrated within the ship, concealing it and releasing nearly all the exposed deck space for passengers. The air conditioner units were concealed along with the kennels inside the third, dummy, funnel.

Career
Normandie's maiden voyage was on 29 May 1935. Fifty thousand saw her off at Le Havre on what was hoped would be a record-breaking crossing. Normandie reached New York after four days, three hours and 14 minutes, taking away the Blue Riband from the Italian liner, SS Rex. This brought great pride for the French, who had not won the distinction before. Under the command of master Captain René Pugnet, her average on the maiden voyage was around 30 kn and on the eastbound crossing to France, she averaged over 30 kn, breaking records.

During the maiden voyage, French Line refused to predict that their ship would win the Blue Riband. However, by New York, medallions of the Blue Riband victory, made in France, were delivered to passengers and the ship was flying a 30 ft long blue pennant. An estimated 100,000 spectators lined New York Harbor for Normandie's arrival.

Normandie had a successful year but RMS Queen Mary, Cunard White Star Line's superliner, entered service in the summer of 1936. Cunard White Star said the Queen Mary would surpass 80,000 tons. At 79,280 tons, Normandie would no longer be the world’s largest. French Line increased Normandie’s size, mainly through the addition of an enclosed tourist lounge on the aft boat deck. Following these and other alterations, Normandie was 83,423 gross tons. Exceeding the Queen Mary by 2,000 tons, she would remain the world’s largest in terms of overall measured gross tonnage and length.

On 22 June 1936, a Blackburn Baffin, S5162 of A Flight, RAF Gosport, flown by Lt Guy Kennedy Horsey on torpedo-dropping practice, buzzed Normandie a mile (2 km) off Ryde Pier and collided with a derrick which was transferring a motor car belonging to Arthur Evans, MP, onto a barge alongside the ship. The aircraft crashed onto Normandie's stern. The pilot was taken off by tender, but the wreckage of the aircraft remained on board Normandie as she had to sail due to the tide. It was carried to Le Havre, France. A salvage team from the Royal Air Force later removed the wreckage. The pilot was Court-martialled and found guilty on two charges. Evans' car was wrecked in the accident, which was brought up in Parliament.

In August 1936, Queen Mary captured the Blue Riband, averaging 30.14 kn, starting fierce rivalry. Normandie held the size record until the arrival of RMS Queen Elizabeth (83,673 gross tons) in 1940.



During refit, Normandie was also modified to reduce vibration. Her three-bladed screws were replaced with four-bladed ones, and structural modifications were made to her lower aft section. These modifications reduced vibration at speed. In July 1937 Normandie regained the Blue Riband, but the Queen Mary took it back next year. After this the captain of Normandie sent a message saying "Bravo to the Queen Mary until next time!" This rivalry could have gone on into the 1940s, but was ended by World War II.

Normandie carried distinguished passengers, including the authors Colette and Ernest Hemingway; the wife of French President Albert Lebrun; songwriters Noël Coward and Irving Berlin; and Hollywood celebrities such as Fred Astaire, Marlene Dietrich, Walt Disney, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, and James Stewart. Normandie also carried the von Trapp family Singers of The Sound of Music from New York to Southampton in 1938, and from Southampton, the family went to Scandinavia for a tour before returning to America.

A planned running mate: The SS Bretagne
While the Normandie rarely was occupied at over 60% of her capacity, her finances were such that she did not require government subsidies every year. While she never did repay any of the loans that made her construction possible, she did cover her operating expenses almost exactly. The French Line considered a sister ship, the SS Bretagne, which was to be longer and larger, but war and limited finances prevented it. There were two competing designs for this ship, one conservative, one radical. The conservative one was basically Normandie with two funnels, possibly a bit larger as well. The radical one was from Normandie's designer, Vladimir Yourkevitch, and was super-streamlined with twin, side-by-side funnels just aft of the bridge. The more conservative design won out, but the outbreak of World War II killed the plan.

Popularity
Although a critical success in her design and decor, the Normandie ultimately proved to be unpopular with North Atlantic passengers. Two of the ship's greatest attributes, in reality, turned out to be two of her biggest faults.

Part of the ship's problem lay in the fact that the majority of her passenger space was devoted solely to first class, which could carry up to 848 people. Less space and consideration were given to second and tourist class, which numbered only 670 and 454 passengers respectively. As a result, the consensus among North Atlantic passengers was that she was primarily a ship for the rich and famous. In contrast, Cunard White Star had placed just as much emphasis on decor, space and accommodation in second and tourist class on the Queen Mary as it had in first, thus accommodating a travel trend that had become popular during the 20's and the 30's, the American tourist. Many of these passengers could not afford first-class passage, yet wanted to travel with much of the same comfort as those in first. Thus, second and tourist class, became a major cash cow for shipping companies at that time. The Mary would accommodate this and thus she had great popularity among North Atlantic travelers in the late thirties.

Another of the French Liner's greatest triumphs also turned out to be one of her greatest flaws: her decor. Normandie's slick and modern art deco interiors proved to be somewhat intimidating and uncomfortable for her travellers. It was also here that Queen Mary triumphed over her French rival. Although decorated in an art deco style, the Queen Mary was more restrained in her appointments and was not as radical as her French counterpart, proving ultimately to be popular with her passengers.

As a result, throughout her service history, the Normandie rarely topped more than 60% occupancy, and at many times travelled with less than half her complement of passengers. Her German rivals, the Bremen, and the Europa, Italian rivals the Rex and Conte de Savioa also suffered from this problem; despite their innovative designs and luxurious interiors: they never made a profit for their respective companies, relying on heavy government subsidies. The Normandie, however, did not require government subsidies in service, with her income covering her operating expenses almost exactly.

In contrast, the Queen Mary, and Cunard White Star's Britannic III, Georgic II, Mauretania II, and much older Aquitania, along with the Holland America Line's SS Nieuw Amsterdam (1937), were among the few ships on the North Atlantic to make a profit, carrying the lion's share of North Atlantic passengers in the years preceding the Second World War.

World War II
The war found Normandie in New York. Looming hostilities in Europe had compelled Normandie to seek haven in New York harbor, where the US government interned her on 3 September 1939, two days after Germany invaded Poland. Soon the Queen Mary, later refitted as a troop ship, docked nearby. Then the RMS Queen Elizabeth joined the Queen Mary. For two weeks the three largest liners in the world floated side by side. Normandie remained in French hands, with French crewmembers on board, led by Captain Herve Lehude, into the spring of 1941.

On 15 May 1941, after the Fall of France, the U.S. Treasury Department detailed about 150 Coast Guardsmen to go on board the ship and Pier 88 to defend against possible sabotage. When the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) became a part of the Navy on 1 November 1941, Normandie's USCG detail remained intact, mainly observing while the French crew maintained the vessel's boilers, machinery, and other equipment, including the fire-watch system. On 12 December 1941, five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Coast Guard removed Captain Herve Lehude and his crew and took possession of the Normandie under the right of angary, maintaining steam in the boilers and other activities on the idled vessel. However, the elaborate fire-watch system which ensured that any fire would be suppressed before it became a danger was abandoned.

Lafayette conversion


On 20 December 1941, the Auxiliary Vessels Board officially recorded President Franklin D. Roosevelt's approval of the Normandie's transfer to the US Navy. Plans called for the vessel to be turned into a troopship ("convoy unit loaded transport"). The Navy renamed her USS Lafayette, in honor both of Marquis de la Fayette, the French general who fought on the Colonies' behalf in the American Revolution, and the alliance with France that made American independence possible. The name was a suggestion of J.P. "Jim" Warburg, advisory assistant to Colonel William J. Donovan, Coordinator of Information, which was passed through multiple channels including the Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), and Rear Adm. Randall Jacobs, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation; the name La Fayette (later universally and unofficially contracted to Lafayette) was officially approved by the Secretary of the Navy on 31 December 1941, with the vessel classified as a transport, AP-53.

Earlier proposals included turning the vessel into an aircraft carrier, but this was dropped in favor of immediate troop transport. The ship remained moored at Manhattan's Pier 88 for the conversion. A contract for her conversion to a troop transport was awarded to Robins Dry Dock and Repair Co., a subsidiary of Todd Shipyards, on 27 December 1941. On that date, Capt. Clayton M. Simmers, the 3rd Naval District Materiel Officer, reported to the Bureau of Ships (BuShips) his estimate that the conversion work could be completed by 31 January 1942, and planning for the work proceeded on that basis.

Capt. Robert G. Coman reported as Lafayette's prospective commanding officer on 31 January 1942, overseeing a skeleton engineering force numbering 458 men. The complicated nature and enormous size of the conversion effort prevented Coman's crew from adhering to the original schedule; crew familiarization with the vessel was an issue, and additional crew members were arriving to assist the effort. On 6 February 1942, a request for a two-week delay for the first sailing of Lafayette, originally scheduled for 14 February, was submitted to the Assistant Chief of Naval Operations. On that day, a schedule extension was granted due to a design plan change: elements of the superstructure were to be removed to improve stability, in work that was expected to take another 60 to 90 days. However, on 7 February, orders came from Washington that the reduction of the top-hamper had been abandoned and Lafayette was to sail on 14 February as planned. This abrupt reversal necessitated a frantic resumption of conversion work, and Capts Coman and Simmers scheduled 9 February meetings in New York and Washington to lobby for further clarification of conversion plans; ultimately, these meetings would never take place.

Fire and capsizing
At 14:30 on 9 February 1942, sparks from a welding torch used by Clement Derrick ignited a stack of life vests filled with flammable kapok that had been stored in the first-class lounge. The woodwork had not yet been removed, and the fire spread rapidly. The ship had a very efficient fire protection system, but it had been disconnected during the conversion and its internal pumping system was deactivated. The New York City fire department's hoses did not fit the ship's French inlets. Before the fire department arrived, approximately 15 minutes after fire broke out, all onboard crew were using manual means in a vain attempt to stop the blaze. A strong northwesterly wind blowing over Lafayette's port quarter swept the blaze forward, eventually involving the three upper decks of the ship within an hour of the start of the conflagration. Capt. Coman, along with Capt. Simmers, arrived about 15:25 to see his huge prospective command in flames.

As firefighters on shore and in fire boats poured water on the blaze, the ship developed a dangerous list to port due to water pumped into the seaward side by fireboats. The ship's designer Vladimir Yourkevitch arrived at the scene to offer expertise, but he was barred by harbor police. His suggestion was to enter the vessel and open the sea-cocks. This would flood the lower decks and make her settle the few feet to the bottom. With the ship stabilised, water could be pumped into burning areas without the risk of capsize. The suggestion was rejected by port director Admiral Adolphus Andrews.

Between 17:45 and 18:00 on 9 February 1942, authorities considered the fire under control, and began winding down operations until 20:00. Water entering the ship through submerged openings and flowing to the lower decks negated efforts to counter-flood, and Lafayette's list gradually increased to port. Shortly after midnight, Rear Adm. Andrews ordered Lafayette abandoned, and the ship continued to list, a process hastened by the 6,000 tons of water that had been played on her. New York fire officials were concerned that the fire could spread to the nearby city buildings. Lafayette eventually capsized during the mid watch (02:45am) on 10 February, nearly crushing a fire boat, and came to rest on her port side at an angle of approximately 80 degrees. Recognising that his incompetence had caused the disaster, Admiral Andrews ordered all pressmen barred from viewing the moment of capsize in an effort to lower the level of publicity.

One man died in the tragedy — Frank "Trent" Trentacosta, 36, of Brooklyn, a Robins' employee and a member of the fire watch. Some 94 USCG and USN sailors, including some from Lafayette's pre-commissioning crew and men assigned to the receiving ship Seattle, 38 fire fighters, and 153 civilians were treated for various injuries, burns, smoke inhalation, and for exposure.

Saboteur (Film)
The ruined Lafayette after the fire can be seen briefly in the 1942 movie Saboteur. The ship is not identified in the film, but the title character smiles when he sees it, suggesting that he was responsible. Alfred Hitchcock, the director, later said that "the Navy raised hell" about the implication that their security was so poor.

Investigation and salvage
Enemy sabotage was widely suspected, but a congressional investigation in the wake of the sinking, chaired by Congressman Patrick Henry Drewry (D-Virginia), concluded that the fire was completely accidental. The investigation found evidence of carelessness, rule violations, lack of coordination between the various parties on board, lack of clear command structure during the fire, and a hasty, poorly-planned conversion effort.

Members of organized crime have retrospectively claimed that they indeed sabotaged the vessel. The alleged arson was organized by mobster Anthony Anastasio, who was a power in the local longshoreman's union, for the purpose of providing a pretext for the release from prison of mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Luciano's end of the bargain would be that he would ensure that there would be no further "enemy" sabotage in the ports where the mob had strong influence with the unions.

The ship was stripped of superstructure and righted in 1943 in the world's most expensive salvage operation. One of the largest operations of its kind in history succeeded in righting Lafayette on 7 August 1943. She was reclassified to an aircraft and transport ferry, APV-4, on 15 September 1943 and placed in drydock the following month. Extensive damage to her hull, however, deterioration of her machinery, and the necessity for employing manpower on other more critical war projects prevented resumption of the conversion program, with the cost of restoring her determined to be too great, and her hulk remained in the Navy's custody through the cessation of hostilities with the Axis.

Lafayette was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 October 1945. President Harry Truman authorized her disposal in an Executive Order on 8 September 1946, and she was sold as scrap on 3 October 1946 to Lipsett, Inc., an American salvage company based in New York City, for US$161,680. After neither the US Navy nor French Line offered a plan to salvage her, Yourkevitch, the ship's original designer, proposed to cut the ship down and restore her as a mid-sized liner. This plan also failed to draw backing. She was cut up for scrap beginning in October 1946 at Port Newark, New Jersey, and completely scrapped by 31 December 1948.

Legacy
Designer Marin-Marie gave an innovative line to Normandie, a silhouette which influenced ocean liners over the decades, including the Queen Mary 2. The ambience of classic transatlantic liners like the Normandie (and her chief rival, the Queen Mary) was the source of inspiration for Disney Cruise Line's matching vessels, the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder.

The SS Normandie also inspired the architecture and design of the Normandie Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The hotel's roof sign is one of the two signs that adorned the top deck of the Normandie but were removed from it during an early refitting. It also said to have inspired the nickname 'The Normandie' given to the International Savings Society Apartments in Shanghai, one of the most fashionable residential buildings in the city's 20s and 30s heyday and home to many stars of China's pre-Communist film industry.

Items from Normandie were sold at a series of auctions after her demise, and many pieces are considered valuable Art Deco treasures today. The rescued items include the ten large dining-room door medallions and fittings, and some of the individual Jean Dupas glass panels that formed the large murals mounted at the four corners of her Grand Salon. One entire corner is preserved at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Also surviving are some examples of the 24,000 pieces of crystal, some from the massive Lalique torchières that adorned her Dining Salon. Also extant are some of the room's table silverware, chairs, and gold-plated bronze table bases. Custom-designed suite and cabin furniture as well as original artwork and statues that decorated the ship, or were built for use by the French Line aboard Normandie, also survive today.

The eight-foot-high, 1,000-pound bronze figural sculpture of a woman named "La Normandie", which was at the top of the grand stairway from the first class smoking room up to the grill room cafe, was found in a New Jersey, USA, scrapyard in 1954 and was purchased for the then new Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. It was first displayed outside in the parterre gardens near the formal pool and later indoors near the then Fontainebleau Hilton's spa. In 2001, the hotel sold the statue to Celebrity Cruises, which placed it on board their new ship the Celebrity Summit. A photo of the statue of "LA NORMANDIE" can be seen along with other interior SS Normandie photos at the website:.

The statue "La Paix", which stood in the First Class Dining Room, now stands in the Pinelawn Memorial Park, a cemetery in New York. The medallions from the enormous doors leading into the First Class Dining Room were removed and later installed on the smaller front doors of Our Lady of Lebanon Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn Heights, New York.

Pieces from the Normandie occasionally appear on the BBC TV series Antiques Roadshow and also on its American counterpart. A public lounge and promenade was created from some of the panels and furniture from the SS Normandie in the Hilton Chicago. The dining room "Normandie" on the Carnival Cruise ship Carnival Pride was also inspired by this French ocean liner as per the ship's designer Joseph Farcus.

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Sources and further reading

 * Streater, L, 2005 5 volume series of books from construction to salvage, Marpubs
 * Boks, W. Holland: photo of the model boat SS Normandie 1935.
 * Streater, L, 2005 5 volume series of books from construction to salvage, Marpubs
 * Boks, W. Holland: photo of the model boat SS Normandie 1935.
 * Streater, L, 2005 5 volume series of books from construction to salvage, Marpubs
 * Boks, W. Holland: photo of the model boat SS Normandie 1935.
 * Streater, L, 2005 5 volume series of books from construction to salvage, Marpubs
 * Boks, W. Holland: photo of the model boat SS Normandie 1935.
 * Streater, L, 2005 5 volume series of books from construction to salvage, Marpubs
 * Boks, W. Holland: photo of the model boat SS Normandie 1935.
 * Streater, L, 2005 5 volume series of books from construction to salvage, Marpubs
 * Boks, W. Holland: photo of the model boat SS Normandie 1935.
 * Boks, W. Holland: photo of the model boat SS Normandie 1935.