For the French RO-RO ship operating for Brittany Ferries, see MV Normandie.
Colorized photo of the Normandie at sea, c. 1935-1936
History
France
Name
Normandie
Namesake
Normandy
Owner
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique[1]
Port of registry
Port of Le Havre[1]
Route
Le Havre-Southampton-New York
Builder
Chantiers de Penhoet, Saint-Nazaire, France[1]
Laid down
26 January 1931
Launched
29 October 1932
Christened
29 October 1932
Completed
1933
Maiden voyage
29 May 1935[2]
In service
1935–1942
Out of service
1942
Identification
Call sign FNSK[1]
Fate
Caught fire, capsized February 1942. Scrapped October 1946
General characteristics
Type
Ocean liner
Tonnage
79,280 GRT (1935–1936)
83,423 GRT (post-1936)
Displacement
68,350 tons (loaded)
Length
313.6 m (1,029 ft) o/a
293.2 m (962 ft) p/p[1]
Beam
35.9 m (117 ft 10 in);[1]
Height
56.1 m (184 ft)
Draught
11.2 m (36 ft 7 in) (loaded)
Depth
28.0 m (92 ft) to promenade (strength) deck
Decks
12
Installed power
Four turbo-electric, total 160,000 hp (200,000 hp max).[3]
Propulsion
Four 3 bladed on launch – later 4 bladed
Speed
29.5 kn (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph) designed
32.2 kn (59.6 km/h; 37.1 mph) recorded on trials
Capacity
1,972: 848 First Class (cabin), 670 Tourist Class, 454 Third Class
Crew
1,345
SS Normandie was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat, crossing the Atlantic in a record 4.14 days, and remains the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built.[4][5]
Normandie's novel design and lavish interiors led many to consider her the greatest of ocean liners,[6][7] and she would go on to heavily influence the French arm of the Streamline Moderne design movement (called the style paquebot, or "ocean liner style").[citation needed] Despite this, she was not a commercial success and relied partly on government subsidy to operate.[7] During service as the flagship of the CGT, she made 139 westbound transatlantic crossings from her home port of Le Havre to New York City. 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 the Second World War, Normandie was seized by U.S. authorities at New York and renamed USS Lafayette. In 1942, while being converted to a troopship, the liner caught fire and capsized onto her port side and came to rest, half submerged, on the bottom of the Hudson River at Pier 88 (the site of the current Manhattan Cruise Terminal). Although salvaged at great expense, restoration was deemed too costly and she was scrapped in October 1946.[8]
SSNormandie was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). She entered service...
2001, p. 97 Offrey, Charles; 303 Arts, recherces et créations:SSNormandie/SS France/SS Norway: France, the Last French Passenger Liner; p. 45 Le Goff...
liner style", and was influenced by the design of the luxury ocean liner SSNormandie, launched in 1932. As the Great Depression of the 1930s progressed, Americans...
never completed SSNormandie, an ocean liner in service 1935–39 MV Normandie, a channel ferry built in 1992 French frigate Normandie, an Aquitaine-class...
and illuminated glass ceilings for the ocean liners SS Île de France in 1927 and the SSNormandie in 1935, and for some of the first-class sleeping cars...
August; she lost the title to SSNormandie in 1937 and recaptured it in 1938, holding it until 1952, when it was taken by the new SS United States. With the...
result of various maritime disasters involving fire, including SS Morro Castle and SSNormandie, William Gibbs specified that the ship incorporate the most...
Anastasio allegedly organized the arson sabotage of the French luxury liner SSNormandie. Early in 1942, a few months after the U.S. entered World War II, the...
docks, Luciano allegedly said, was manufactured by the sinking of the SSNormandie in New York harbor, supposedly directed by Anastasia's brother, Anthony...
1964) was a Russian Naval engineer, and a designer of the Ocean Liner SSNormandie. He worked in Russia, France, and the United States. Vladimir Yourkevitch...
this use of "mothballed" may have been reports that the ocean liner SSNormandie was "packed in mothballs" when in September 1939 it was 'interned' by...
in the Battle of the Atlantic, and in February 1942 the ocean liner SSNormandie, a captured French ship that was being refitted as a troop ship in New...
copious amounts of glass, including interiors for: the SS Paris, the SS Ile de France, the SSNormandie, Orient Express railroad cars, Peace Hotel (Shanghai)...
World War II. She became the largest ship in the world in 1942 when SSNormandie burned and sank at her moorings. Transatlantic service was not resumed...
New York waterfront free from saboteurs after the destruction of the SSNormandie. This spectacular disaster convinced both sides to talk seriously about...
Saint-Nazaire, where many transatlantic ships were built, including SSNormandie and SS France, a museum showing transatlantic interiors was installed in...
Notable construction and renovation fires Fire Date Probable cause Refs SSNormandie 1942 sparks from a welding torch, during conversion to troopship Saint...
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