SS Normandie
Normandie (Normandy in English) was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France. When launched in 1932 she was the ship of superlatives - the largest, fastest, and arguably the greatest ocean liner of all time. She was the first liner ever to surpass 60,000 tons (70,000 and 80,000 as well), first to surpass 1,000 feet in length, and the first ship to make an Atlantic crossing with an average speed of over 30 knots. She was also the most powerful steam turbo-electric propelled passenger ship ever built. The four Alsthom (France) asynchronous turbo engines, generating 160,000 HP/117,680 kW (200,000 HP/17100 kW at maximum power), are still the biggest engines ever built worldwide, with a 6.50 x 8.00 x 6.00 m single dimension.
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, restoration was deemed too costly, and she was scrapped in October 1946.
Origin
Normandie | |
| Owners: | Compagnie Générale Transatlantique |
| Builders: | Penhoët, Saint Nazaire, France |
| Laid down: | January 26 1931 |
| Launched: | October 29, 1932 |
| Christened: | October 29, 1932 |
| Maiden voyage: | May 29, 1935 |
| Fate: | Caught fire, capsized at Pier 88 in the New York Passenger Ship Terminal in New York City in 1942; wreck remained on site throughout WWII, and was sold for scrap on October 3rd 1946 |
| General Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Tonnage: | 79,280/83,423 gross tons |
| Displacement: | 71,300 tons (approx) |
| Length: | 1,029 feet (313.6 m) |
| Beam: | 119.4 ft (36.4 m) |
| Draft: | 37.00 ft |
| Height: | 184 ft |
| Power: | Four Turbo-electric, total 160,000 hp (200,000 hp max). |
| Propulsion: | Four 3- (later 4-) bladed, 23 tons each |
| Speed: | Designed speed 29 knots, could reach 32.2 knots |
| Passenger Capacity: | 1,972: 848 First Class (cabin), 670 Tourist Class, 454 Third Class |
| Crew: | 1,345 |
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 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 traveled to Europe for alcohol-fueled fun during Prohibition. Companies like Cunard and White Star Line planned to build their own super-liners to rival the newer ships on the scene. These new ships included the record-breaking Bremen and Europa, 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 first the plan was to construct a ship similar to French Line ships of the past, but instead the designers were approached by a man by the name of Vladimir Yourkevitch, who had been a ship architect in the Imperial Russian Navy before the revolution and 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. The French engineers were so impressed that they asked Yourkevitch to join their project.
Construction & Launch
Work began on the ship (not yet named Normandie) in January 1931, soon after the terrifying stock market crash of 1929. This was fortunate for the French: The competing White Star Line's ship – 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. 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 who later worked on the British rival Queen Mary 2), a few secondary parts of her came from other European countries - ie the ship's great rudder was built by Skoda Works in Czechoslovakia, while the steering mechanism, including the teak wheel, came from Edinburgh.
As construction went on, the growing hull in Saint-Nazaire had no name except for "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. Finally the name Normandie was decided upon after much speculation. In what may be a unique quirk of French nomenclature, the name carries no definite article. In France, ship prefixs are customarily masculine inherited from the French terms for ship which can be "paquebot", "navire", "bateau", "bâtiment", etc. (including le "France" which is not grammatically correct), but English-speakers usually refer to ships as feminine entities ("she's a beauty"), and the French Line carried many rich American customers. After discussion, the shipbuilders announced 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 from 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 hull 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. It was a great success and finally everyone could see Vladimir Yourkevitch's design in action. Hardly a wave was created by the streamlined design and everyone was very impressed with the performance of the ship. One of the most famous poster of Normandie was made by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre who was a Russian emigrant to France, like Yourkevitch himself.
Interior & Design
The luxurious interiors of Normandie were marvels of Art Déco and the Streamline Moderne style. Many of her sculptures and wall paintings made indirect or direct allusions to Normandy, the province of France for which she was named. Drawings and photographs from the era show a series of vast public rooms of great elegance. The children's dining room was decorated by Jean de Brunhoff, who covered the walls with Babar the Elephant and his entourage. Indeed, the interior was quite dazzling but perhaps the most dazzling was the first class dining room. Three hundred and five feet long, 46 feet wide and 28 feet high, this was by far the largest room afloat. It 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".
A popular feature was a cafe which led to the grand salon, one of the most popular rooms onboard 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 Rex), a chapel and a theater 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.
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. An early form of radar was installed to detect icebergs and other ships. She was the first liner to have a gyroscopic compass system.
Career
The maiden voyage came on May 29, 1935 after more fitting out and final touches. Fifty thousand people came to Le Havre to see the large ship off, on what was hoped would be a record-breaking crossing. And indeed it was. Normandie reached New York after just four days, three hours and fourteen minutes thus snatching away the Blue Riband from the Italian liner Rex. This prize was a source of great pride for the French. They had watched other countries gain this prestigious award year after year but had never had it themselves, until Normandie. Her average speed on the maiden voyage was around 30 knots and on the eastbound crossing to France she averaged over 30 knots, shattering records on the way.
With the Blue Riband hers, Normandie had a successful year but come 1936 a new ship was on the scene. The RMS Queen Mary, Cunard's superliner entered service in the summer of 1936. They had announced the Queen Mary would surpass 80,000 tons. At 79,280 gross tons, Normandie would in that case lose the prestigious title of being the world’s largest liner to her British rival. Therefore, the French Line decided to increase Normandie’s size, mainly through the addition of an enclosed tourist lounge on the aft boat deck. Following these and a few other alterations, Normandie was re-measured at 83,423 gross tons. Exceeding the Queen Mary by some 2,000 tons, she would remain the world’s largest. However in August of that year, the Queen Mary stole the Blue Riband from the Normandie averaging 30.14 knots, thus starting a fierce rivalry.
In July of 1937 Normandie regained the Blue Riband once more, but the Queen Mary took it back the next year. After this the captain of Normandie sent a message to the British liner saying "Bravo to the Queen Mary until next time!" This rivalry could have gone on into the 1940s but was unfortunately put to a halt due to World War II, proving that there would be no next time.
Demise
The outbreak of war found Normandie in New York Harbor. Soon the Queen Mary docked near Normandie. She would later be refitted to become a troop ship. In addition, the newly launched RMS Queen Elizabeth docked nearby, so for a time the three largest liners in the world were docked side by side. Soon the Queens left and Normandie was left alone. In 1940, after the Fall of France, the United States seized the ship.
By 1941 the United States Navy decided to convert Normandie into a troopship, and renamed her U.S.S. Lafayette, in reference to the historical American-French alliance. The ship was moored at Manhattan's Pier 88 for the conversion. On 9 February 1942, sparks from a welding torch ignited a stack of thousands of lifevests filled with kapok, a highly inflammable material, that had been stored in the first-class dining room. 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 the New York City fire department's hoses did not fit the ship's French inlets. All on board fled the ship. As firefighters on shore and in fireboats poured water on the blaze, the ship developed a dangerous list to port. About 2:45 a.m. on 10 February, Normandie capsized, crushing a fireboat. A shot of the capsized ship makes a brief cameo appearance towards the end of Alfred Hitchcock's film Saboteur.
The ship was righted in 1943 by the world's most expensive salvage operation, but a year capsized in the harbor had damaged the ship's hull and mechanical systems badly. It was subsequently determined that the cost of restoring the liner was too great. After neither the US Navy nor the French Line offered to do so, the ship's designer, Vladimir Yourkevitch, made a last-ditch proposal to cut the ship down and restore her as a mid-sized passenger liner. This, too, failed to draw backing, and the former Normandie was sold a mere 161,680$ to Lipsett Inc., a salvage company, and scrapped on October 1946.
Influences
The S.S. Normandie inspired the architecture and design of the Normandie Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was designed by Félix Benítez, a Puerto Rican engineer as a tribute to his French wife, Moineau, whom he met aboard the French ocean liner.
At first, the three chimneys should have been classic cylindric-shaped, but Marin-Marie, a French designer working on the Normandie project, decided to use a modern aerodynamic shape instead. The last chimney was a dummy needed for the ship's balance and actually used as the dog kennel. The main masts location, which was usually in front of the bridge, was changed in order to enhance visibility.
Marin-Marie gave an innovative line to Normandie, a silhouette which was since used in each and every following ocean liners including the Queen Mary 2.
Views of the S.S. Normandie
References
- Ardman, Harvey. "Normandie, Her Life and Times," New York, Franklin Watts, 1985
- Brinnin, John Malcolm. The Sway of the Grand Saloon : a Social History of the North Atlantic. New York : Delacorte Press, 1971
- Coleman, Terry. The liners : a history of the North Atlantic crossing. Harmondsworth, England : Penguin Books, 1977
- Fox, Robert. Liners: The Golden Age. Die Grosse Zeit der Ozeanriesen. L'Age d'or des paquebots.[trilingual text ] Cologne: Konneman, 1999.
- Kludas, Arnold. Record breakers of the North Atlantic - Blue Riband Liners 1838-1952, Chatham Publishing, London, 2000.
- Maddocks, Melvin The Great Liners. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1978.
- Maxtone-Graham, John. The Only Way to Cross. New York: Collier Books, 1972.
- Boks, W. Holland: photo of the model boat SS Normandie 1935.
- Lange Eric & Villers Claude (directed by, original footages by Jean Vivié) A Bord Du Normandie (on board Normandy). Produced by Lobster. France 2005.