Ship History


 RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE                                                                                                                                                                                                                           S/S NORMANDIE 1932

The S/S Normandie was the masterpiece of CGT French Line and is often acclaimed as the ultimate ocean liner. She was launched in 1932 to great acclaim and immediately became the largest ocean liner in the world and on her maiden voyage claimed the coveted Blue Riband for France. After an acclaimed heyday in the 1930s as the great rival to Britain’s Queen Mary, the Normandie sadly was destroyed in New York by fire during conversion by the American’s into a troopship during the Second World War. Thus was lost the most iconic of all ocean liners and a timeless legend. A ship of the beauty of the great Normandie will never been seen gracing the world's oceans again. She was a true transatlantic masterpiece and certainly deserves the title of "The Most Beautiful Ocean Liner in the World".

 

Design and Construction (1927 – 1935):

 

Shortly after the First World War, the French government had recognised that since the drawing up of their earlier mail contract with CGT French Line in 1913, the world had somewhat changed. The contract was therefore amended and it allowed the line to build two more ships rather than the three that it had originally called for. The first ship was required by the terms of the contract to enter service by 1927, and ultimately became the famous Ile de France. A second ship was scheduled to enter service no later than the summer of 1932 and there were those CGT French Line officials who thought that the ship should be a further development of the Isle de France, a little longer, and perhaps a little wider but otherwise very similar. However the associate managing director of CGT French Line, Pierre de Malgavie, had other ideas. He and others wanted something more ambitious, no less than a ship which was superior to anything the British, Italians or Germans might produce in the fast approaching 1930s. Therefore this ship would be faster and more beautiful than anything afloat. In the end it was decided to take the approach put forward by Pierre de Malgavie and the stage was set.

 

In the final years of the 1920s the Normandie was conceived against the backdrop of the development of super “Ships of State” by Britain, Germany and Italy. It was these vessels that would showcase the artistic and engineering achievements of their respective countries and fly the flag of their nations to the world. If the ships could also gain the coveted Blue Riband of the North Atlantic then this would add to the prestige of the ship and their shipping line and country.

 

By 1929 designs were well advanced for the new French ship. A new huge dry dock was being built at the Penhoet shipyard, St NAvaire to cater for the vast size envisaged for the new build. Meanwhile a Russian naval architect by the name of Vladimir Youkevitch, now living in France, approached CGT French Line with his revolutionary streamlined hull design that he had developed when working in the Baltic shipyards building Russian warships but which had been refused by the Russian Shipping Board. However the Penhoet shipyard had misgivings about his design and ordered tests to be carried out. Fortunately his design won hands down and it was chosen.

 

Then despite the Wall Street Crash, CGT French Line saw no reason to delay construction of their new superliner and so awarded the contract to the Penhoet shipyard, St Navaire, France on the 29th October 1930. The ship was given the shipyard number of T6. On the 26th January 1931 the first plates were laid down on the slipway and construction began. Thus began the race between the ship that would become Normandie and the British Queen Mary also then under construction in Glasgow. The Normandie while a showcase of French achievement was however a product of international cooperation. Her hull was designed by a Russian, her rudder frame and shaft were built in the Skoda Works in Prague, her boilers were built in Germany, her turbine blades in Sheffield and her propellers in South London.

 

By late 1931 the effects of the Depression were really kicking in and work in Glasgow on the future Queen Mary was suspended. However the French government decided to continue building the Normandie. In 1932 CGT French Line announced that she would be launched on the 29th October 1932. On the 18th October 1932 the line announced that the captain of the new ship would be Rene Pugnet, formerly captain of the Paris. On the 19th October 1932 with great fanfare it was announced that the new liner would be called Normandie in keeping with the new policy to name future French liners employed on the transatlantic service after French provinces. On the 22nd October 1932 the last of the scaffolding surrounding the immense hull was removed as launch day approached and preparations for the launch were made.

 

29th October 1932 – Launch Day arrives amid a buzz of excitement. A special train conveyed President and Madame Lebrun from Paris and they were met by Penhoet and CGT French Line officials. A celebratory lunch was held. Meanwhile nearly 200,000 people had descended on St Nazaire to watch the launch. With Madame Lebrun on the launch platform, the “La Marsellaise” was played and Madame Lebrun swung the bottle of champagne against the hull and said the immortal words: “I baptize thee Normandie” and blew the ship a kiss. After a moment’s pause the newly christened ship rushed down the slipway and into the waters of the River Loire and met her natural element for the first time amid a cacophony of ship’s whistles and cheers from the assembled crowd. Safely afloat, tugs took charge of the Normandie and gently guided her into her fitting out berth.

 

The launch of the Normandie was celebrated across France. It also too added further impetus to Britain and Cunard Line to get the construction of the future Queen Mary back on track and work recommenced in February 1934. However much work was still needed on Normandie to transform her into the luxurious passenger liner, including the installation of her engines and machinery and the fitting out of her interiors. Between 1928 and 1933 while Normandie was being built several other significant liners had entered service including: P&O’s Viceroy of India, Strathnaver and Strathaird. Furness, Withy & Co.’s Queen of Bermuda and Monarch of Bermuda, Ward Line’s Morro Castle and Oriente, the President Hoover and President Coolidge of Dollar Line, and the Panama Pacific Line’s trio: California, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The notable fact about each of these ships is that they all were powered by turbo-electric machinery. The success of these liners had convinced CGT French Line also to use turbo-electric machinery on the Normandie.

 

Another innovation was a device on Normandie’s bridge, invented by Maurice Punte, for detecting ships and icebergs up to four miles distant. This was done by means of radio waves that swept the horizon in 45 degree arcs, and when an obstacle was detected it rebounded to a receiver, and an amplified bleep could be heard in a telephone. Thus the Normandie laid claim to being fitted with the first rudimentary radar.

 

Sadly due to a decline in transatlantic trade, the new Head of CGT French Line, Marcel Olivier, announced that the completion of the Normandie would be delayed by a year until Spring 1935. In February 1934 work recommenced on the British ship (later to become the Queen Mary) and as a result this compelled the French to redouble efforts on the Normandie.

 

Work was also carried out installing her magnificent interiors. It was these luxurious saloons and cabins that would make the Normandie “the ultimate ship of state”. It was the intention of the French government that she should truly represent France and in effect be the finest showcase of the arts, crafts and sciences of France. Earlier CGT French Line vessels including Paris, Ile de France, Lafayette and Champlain had already been decorated in the art deco style and prestigious liners of other nations such as Italy’s Conte di Savoia, and Germany’s Bremen and Europa, had also adopted this sleek and elegant style so well suited to the ocean liner. But in was on board the Normandie that the art deco style and the “ocean liner style” would reach their dramatic climax.

 

Click here to find more about THE INTERIORS OF THE NORMANDIE

 

In terms of the external appearance of the Normandie she followed the example of the Champlain and had a streamlined superstructure with clean uncluttered decks. Of the three enormous funnels, the third after one was a dummy and contained a series of dog kennels. The funnels were streamlined, their height decreasing from forward to aft, and they were slanted at 10 degrees. The two forward funnels were specially designed to prevent any boiler deposits from falling on the deck. The two pole masts were also raked, at 5 degrees, and were placed forward and aft of the funnels.

 

While the Normandie had been fitting out, work had been progressing in harbours on both sides of the Atlantic to accommodate the great liner. The harbour at Le Havre, her homeport, was dredged and a new dock contructed. It was over 2000 ft long and would allow both the Normandie and Ile de France to be berthed there at the same time if required. A new railway station, Gare Maritime, a massive art deco style structure of reinforced concrete, was built nearby to accommodate passengers arriving by train from Paris. Meanwhile in New York, five new piers were being built of over 1000 ft in length to accommodate not only the Normandie but other prestigious liners of the period then being built by other nations.

 

By September 1934 fitting out was well advanced and CGT French Line announced the date of her maiden voyage as the 29th May 1935. Then on the 5th May 1935 the Normandie departed on her sea trials. Thousands of people packed the waterfront at St Nazaire to see her. On her first speed trial she reached 24 knots. On her second speed trial she reached 30.156 knots. It was at this moment that Captain Pugnet announced that some of her boilers still were not lit! A third speed trial resulted in a speed of 32.125 knots. She had performed magnificently however there were concerns about vibration affecting the aft part of the ship. At the end of her sea trials she steamed into Le Havre for the first time on the 11th May 1935.

 

On the 20th May 1935, President Albert Lebrun, hosted the first gala event on board the Normandie. 2000 guests attended. They inspected the vast new Gare Maritime as they disembarked from their trains from Paris and made their way on to the glittering new liner. Further festivities were held over the following days culminating in a glittering charity gala in aid of the Seamen’s Fund and the unemployed. This event, which eventually became a tradition, included the special round trip train from Paris to Le Havre, dinner, entertainment in the theatre and Grand Lounge, followed by a ball. On the morning of her maiden voyage the Normandie welcomed travel agents from all over France and neighbouring countries.

 

The CGT French Line Service Years (1935 – 1939):

 

On the 29th May 1935 the legendary Normandie set sail from Le Havre bound for New York on her maiden voyage. However she was slightly delayed due to the huge quantity of US bound mail that suddenly descended on the port. But just after 6pm with a great blast from her whistle, accompanied by salutes from the Ile de France, Paris and the United States Lines’ Manhattan, the Normandie eased away from her berth and the maiden voyage had begun.

 

Later that night she anchored in Southampton Water in a blaze of lights, her funnels floodlit and her name in huge illuminated letters between the second and third funnels. Tenders brought out the embarking passengers, the Mayor of Southampton and the press. Soon she set sail once more and at 10 the following morning she passed the Bishop’s Rock lighthouse, the eastern point from which the speed across the Atlantic was calculated. As she sped across the North Atlantic she gradually increased her speed. On the final day of the voyage she encountered fog. Captain Pugnet however was undeterred, radioed every ship in the area, and thus safe in the knowledge that no vessel  was in the way maintained full speed. At 11.02 am on the 3rd June 1935 Normandie passed the Ambrose Lighthouse and gave a tremendous blast on her whistle. She had crossed the Atlantic in a record time of 4 days, 3 hours and 2 minutes at an average speed of 29.98 knots and thus had gained the coveted Blue Riband. Although the French played down any speculation that the record attempt had been planned, it was clear to most that this was indeed the case and the ship had set out from Le Havre with the intention of making a record breaking crossing. Normandie anchored off Quarantine and huge numbers of press boarded the liner. As the liner made her slow approach up the Hudson river towards her berth, the waters of the harbour and the skies above Manhattan buzzed with excitement as a multitude of craft turned out to welcome the great new liner. Eventually at 3.55 pm Normandie tied up at her berth in New York for the first time. For the following four days while in port the Normandie was a huge news story. Several glittering events and parties were held on board, each one of them attended by the cream of New York society and stars of Broadway and Hollywood. Famous American orchestras and dance bands played on board including the exotic Xavier Cugat. The ship was also opened to the public on one occasion.

 

As news reached Europe, the Master of the Italian liner Rex (the previous holder of the Blue Riband), Cdr. Francesco Tarabotto congratulated the Normandie and her crew on their magnificent achievement:

 

Our sincere admiration for a splendid ship and a remarkable performance on her maiden voyage enables us to relinquish with a smile our possession of the Blue Riband of the North Atlantic won two years ago.”

 

Normandie departed New York on the 7th June 1935 bound once again for Le Havre on what turned out to be another record breaking voyage. Her average speed for the voyage was 30.31 knots and it was the first time any liner had crossed the Atlantic at faster than 30 knots average.

 

Her maiden voyage was an outstanding success. However to CGT French Line’s concern, the Normandie was not attracting the upper classes of the British travelling public, who in the main remained loyal to British liners. As a result CGT French Line created a gap in her transatlantic schedule to enable her to be promoted to the British market via a “British Isles Cruise” from the 19th – 22nd July 1935. She arrived in Southampton on the 21st July and was swarmed by thousands of visitors.

 

Sadly the vibration problems continued to plague the ship and on the 28th October 1935 after she arrived back in Le Havre she was taken out of service in an attempt to find a solution. What resulted was an extensive and lengthy refit. Her propellers were replaced with new ones of a four bladed design. The Bridge wings were enlarged and extended forward by three feet. The large illuminated letters spelling out her name between the funnels were removed. In the Grand Dining Room six of the twelve lighting towers were removed to create more space in the room. The two deck high Tourist Class Lounge was removed and replaced with 32 new cabins. A new Tourist Class Lounge was built aft on Boat Deck, thereby eliminating the elegant terrace deck. A sports deck, for Tourist Class was created on the deck above the new lounge. Thus the magnificent view aft over Normandie’s wake, which First Class passengers had previously enjoyed from the exclusive Café-Grill, was now the privilege of Tourist Class passengers! From their new Sports Deck, Tourist Class passengers also had an unobstructed view on to the private verandas of the Deauville and Trouville Suites! The lounge was brought on by a need to stiffen the stern of the ship to reduce vibration. This refit also resulted in a new larger gross tonnage for the Normandie of 83,423 grt to the consternation of Cunard Line and their new Queen Mary. Therefore the Normandie remained for a while longer as the largest, longest and fastest liner in the world. A sea trial proved that the vibration had been removed. Unfortunately just before the Normandie re-entered service one of her new propellers fell off and new replacements had to be made but as a temporary measure she had to return to service with her old propellers!  So on her first transatlantic voyage she still had a measure of vibration but when she arrived back in Le Havre her new propeller was ready to be fitted and finally a vibration-less Normandie was a reality.

 

In August 1936 the Normandie briefly lost her Blue Riband title to the Queen Mary. On the 31st August 1936 the Queen Mary also broke the eastbound record. That winter the Normandie was again refitted. CGT French Line had every intention of winning back the Blue Riband from their great rival, the Queen Mary. Extra steam nozzles were installed in her boiler room to boost power output, the size of pipes that supplied steam to her turbines was increased and once again her propellers were replaced.

 

On the 19th March 1937, the Manhattan piers were host to a mighty array of record breaking liners, along with the Normandie were the Europa, Rex, and Beregaria.  Departing from among these illustrious contemporaries, the new Master of the Normandie, Captain Thoreaux decided to put her new mechanical refinements to the test. Once again she recaptured the Blue Riband and maintained on several occasions a speed of 33 knots. Five months later, on the 2nd August, she sailed into New York proudly flying the Blue Riband penant once more, having made the crossing in just 3 days 23 hours and 2 minutes, and this despite having to steam through a storm with winds of 70 mph. Her return to Europe again was another record breaking crossing, this time even faster than her crossing in March.

 

In February 1938 Normandie sailed on a cruise to the Caribbean and South America. For this cruise she operated as a one class ship with a passenger capacity limited to 1000 passengers. While there were other luxurious liners employed on cruises at that time nothing compared to the Normandie. It was the cruise event of the season and a broadcast from the Grand Salon was carried across America. She departed New York on the 5th February 1938 and made stops at Nassau and Trinidad before arriving at Rio de Janeiro for a 5 day stay. On her return to New York, Normandie called at Martinique. On the 12th February 1938 a “crossing the line” ceremony was held and it also was the first time that the Normandie had crossed the line!

 

In July 1938 Normandie made her 100th transatlantic crossing. In August she once again relinquished her Blue Riband to the Queen Mary. Sadly although the congratulatory message said “until next time” the Normandie had in fact lost the Blue Riband forever as events would later show. The rivalry between the Queen Mary and the Normandie had begun from the earliest stages of building the two ships and lasted throughout their time in service together and it had captured the public imagination. Though the Normandie had now relinquished the Blue Riband, she retained the allure of the glamour ship, the ship whose passenger lists were studded with the most glittering of international celebrities. However her overpowering luxury did put some people off sailing her with many choosing the Queen Mary or Normandie’s fleetmate the Ile de France. As a consequence though the Normandie did manage some impressive passenger loadings (1,831 being the largest number ever carried on board her during a crossing in 1937) she often sailed well below capacity. Whilst it was the Normandie that had all the glamour and Parisian chic, it was the Queen Mary that had the high passenger loadings.

 

In 1939 Normandie undertook another cruise to Rio de Janeiro following on from the highly successful one in 1938. The stay in Rio would coincide with the first day of the Rio Carnival. The cruise as usual had all the excitement and glamour of the previous one. On board was Lee Shubert, the theatrical impresario, during the stay in Rio he went to the city’s premier nightclub, Casino Orca. It was there that he heard a singer, Maria do Carmo Miranda da Conha, perform. He was so impressed by her beauty and unique talent that he signed her and took her back to New York on the Normandie. Her name was shortened to Carmen Miranda and thus a Hollywood legend was born.

The 1939 Rio Cruise was perhaps the Normandie’s last glittering moment in the limelight before the world descended into the chaos of the Second World War which would change things forever.

 

Back in Le Havre in April 1939, the Normandie was undergoing dry docking when on the 19th April a fire broke out on her fleetmate, the Paris, which was being readied for a voyage to New York. Sadly she capsized and blocked the entrance to the dry dock. Her masts had to be cut to enable the Normandie to leave dry dock. In 1939 there was growing talk of war in Europe and the fact that the destruction of the Paris had turned out to be sabotage and the fact that many of Normandie’s passengers sailing westbound were refugees and others fleeing the Nazis and the brewing trouble in Europe.  However that summer CGT French Line announced that they intended to build a sister ship to the Normandie, slightly larger and more powerful, and that construction would begin in 1940. This was probably in light of the construction by Cunard of a sister ship to the Queen Mary (which later became the Queen Elizabeth).

 

On the 23rd August 1939 the Normandie set sail from Le Havre bound for New York on her 139th transatlantic voyage. However as things turned out she would be leaving her homeland forever never to return. She arrived in New York on the 28th August and had been scheduled to return home the next day. Eventually as the threat of war loomed her return voyage was postponed indefinitely. No one knew at the time but that was the end of the career of the legendary Normandie and indeed the end of a Golden Era of Ocean Travel.

 

The Final Years (1939 – 1947):

 

Eventually CGT French Line realised that Normandie might have to stay in New York for years rather than days or months due to the looming war in Europe and as a result ordered her to be mothballed. Her luxurious fittings and furnishings were covered with protective drapes and most of her crew were sent home to France. Her engines were turned over once a month. By early 1940 her skeleton crew was further reduced to just 115. But the Normandie remained laid up in her fading peacetime colours.

 

On the evening of the 7th March 1940, Cunard Line’s new Queen Elizabeth (the partner ship to the Queen Mary), and perhaps a ship that may have turned out to be more of an equal to the Normandie, made her dramatic maiden arrival into New York from her builders in Glasgow after her secret dash across the North Atlantic untried and untested. Her sister the Queen Mary was already in New York so for the first and only time ever the three greatest Queens of the sea were berthed alongside each other. But for the Normandie sadly already in exile her reign was over.

 

The Cunard Queens soon left for their trooping duties and Normandie remained gradually fading away. The American government however grew more concerned that Nazi sympathisers might try to sabotage her and so in May 1941 she was placed under the protection of the US Coast Guard. On the 11th December 1941 the United States of America declared war on Germany in light of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. On the 12th December the USA seized possession of the Normandie. Her interiors were stripped of all their furnishings and fittings which were placed in storage for return after the war. It was decided to convert her for use as a troopship like the Cunard Queens and it was hoped to have her carrying over 14,000 troops by January 1942. She was repainted in camouflage grey and her name was removed from her bow and stern. She was renamed the Lafayette although this was never painted on her and everyone continued to call her Normandie. Meanwhile her once luxurious public rooms were being transformed into mess halls, canteens, and sleeping quarters with standee bunks. However the haste led to shortcuts being taken which would later lead to tragic consequences.

 

On the 9th February 1942 as the Grand Lounge was being converted a fire broke out. Soon the fire caught hold and most of the superstructure was in flames despite the best efforts of the fire engines that had turned up. A huge pall of smoke began to drift across Manhattan and large crowds of people gathered around Normandie’s berth at Pier 88. Everyone stood in horror as the pride of France went up in smoke. Amongst the crowd was the ship’s hull designer, Vladimir Vourkevitch, who frantically tried to persuade the US Navy personnel to let him on board so that he could open her sea cocks so that she would sink on to the seabed and stabilise with no risk of capsizing. However the US Navy turned down his requests and said that they had everything under control. However he knew that his beloved Normandie was dying and that the US Navy did not know what they were doing and were pouring too much water into her hull. Normandie did die. Normandie began to list. On the 10th February 1942 the US Navy ordered the evacuation of the shipas the list increased. Finally her mooring lines snapped and she rolled over on to her side and sank into the River Hudson.

 

Plans for the salvage of the Normandie began and the first stage was to remove everything that hindered her natural buoyancy. Gradually over the following weeks her spectacular funnels were cut away and then the superstructure was cut down. It was only the 15th September 1942 when the remains of the once great Normandie were again afloat. Proposals were put together for her to be used as an aircraft carrier and troopship.

 

On the 3rd November 1942 she was towed from her berth for the first time in four years. However it was discovered that the damage was much greater than first anticipated. All her machinery had been ruined beyond repair. Nevertheless her hull was made sound and in January 1944 she was towed to a berth in Brooklyn and there she waited for the US Government and US Navy to decide her fate. The hulk of the once great Normandie was gradually forgotten until June 1945, a month after VE Day, when the head of the US Maritime Commission offered to resell her back to France. It was not until October 1945 that the French Ambassador responded by saying that CGT French Line did not intend to repurchase the Normandie but instead would discuss with the US Government suitable replacement tonnage as compensation. The US Government was far from pleased with this response. Despite further attempts to sell the hulk little interest was expressed and it was put up for sale as scrap. It was bought by the Lipsett Corporation and on the 28th November 1946 with the name Lipsett branded on the hull it was towed by 12 tugs to Port Newark where scrapping commenced. By the 7th October 1947 all that remained of the once beautiful Normandie was a section of steel that had been part of her double bottom.

 

Thus ended the life of the Normandie and her legend was born.

        (c) Cruise Ship History Collection 2018 including www.thecunarders.co.uk                                                                                                                                                                              A Edward Elliott