The firefighters poured water on the blaze and ship started to list dangerously to the port side. The fire grew in intensity helped by a strong wind. Also, the New York fire department's hoses did not fit into the ship French inlets.
Unfortunately it was disabled during the conversion. Normandie used to have a very efficient fire protection system. The woodwork had not yet been removed, so the fire spread quickly. During the conversion, on February 9th, 1942, sparks from a welding torch used by a man named Clement Derrick ignited a stack of life vests. The ship remained moored at dock 88 in New York for the conversion.īut, she will never sail again. The plan was to convert the ship into a troop carrier. Roosevelt approved the transfer of the ship to the US Navy. A week after Pearl Harbour, she was taken over by the US Maritime Commission under the right of angary, a rule which gives a belligerent nation the right to seize property in times of war. Normandie was still manned by her French crew when she was taken into custody by the US Coast Guard when France was occupied in June 1940. It was the first time when a French ship won the distinction. It was a record crossing, and she conquered the Blue Riband from the Italian liner, Rex. She set off from Le Havre, France and reached New York four days, three hours and 14 minutes later. Normandie set sail on her maiden voyage on May 29th, 1935. This solution permitted the use of full power in reverse, and the system was easier to upkeep. She used a turbo-electric transmission with turbo-generators and electric propulsion motors built by Alstom of Belfort. When finished, SS Normandie was a very modern ship for the 1930s. It's the same period in which Cunard suspended the work on the Queen Mary. The building of the ship took place just after the stock market crash of 1929. It concealed some machinery, and it was integrated into the design to balance the overall appearance of the ship. Normandie reached a top speed of 32 knots during sea trials and performed an emergency stop in 1,700 meters.Īn interesting detail is the third funnel, which in fact was a dummy. The hull design was the work of Vladimir Yourkevitch, and she was superior to any other ship.
In May 1935, the ship was ready for sea trials.
The keel was laid down in 1931, while the launch took place a year later in 1932. The great ship took form at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard, being commissioned by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. SS Normandie was one of the most beautiful ocean liners ever built. The sad story of the most famous French ocean liner
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