SS Normandie: The Greatest Ocean Liner?

the Normandie 60 million luxury liner comes to  America on its maiden crossing of the Atlantic   an event that occasioned a marine  demonstration that will live in history by the early 1920s the world economy was  rebounding from the devastation of world   war one and passengers were returning to ocean  travel shipping companies were thriving but the   feverish one upsmanship of the pre-war  era was slow to resume this period also   saw a major change to the business models  shipping lines had relied on for decades   in 1921 new immigration laws greatly limited the  number of European immigrants allowed to enter   the United States steerage passengers once the  backbone of the industry were reduced to just a   trickle overnight but their numbers were quickly  replaced by a boom in the growing tourism industry   these changes put the rapidly aging pre-war  liners at a major disadvantage it was only a   matter of time before a wave of new liners better  suited for the changing market would emerge   somewhat surprisingly it was Germany who first  introduced challengers for the bluer band with   Bremen and Europa large fast and radically modern  they set a new standard passengers and competitors   quickly took notice and they were soon joined by  Italy's Rex Britain and France were slower to   introduce new generations of liners but once  Bremen captured the Blue Riband away from the   Mauritania both countries responded to the  challenge decisively with liners that would   eclipse both Bremen's speed and her size while  these ships were conceived during the feverish   optimism of the 1920s it's incredible that they  were ever constructed once the Great Depression   paralyzed both nations economies the plans that  emerged for the French Line's new thousand-foot   liner would be enormously expensive and the costs  were prohibitive without government support but   funding an ultra-luxurious ocean liner that most  french citizens wouldn't even be able to afford   to sail on while many of the country were starving  and on unemployment were obviously controversial   but at the same time nationalism was on the rise  all over Europe and the majority opinion was that   the French government had to fund such a program  to maintain the upper hand over a rising Germany   so the ship was deemed a point of national  prestige in the chamber of deputies in Paris   agreed on July 3rd 1931 to grant a loan  of 120 million francs to the french line   and a commitment to assist with further measures  to ensure the line's long-term viability   two further pieces of legislation made  the french line a national corporation   with combined public and private ownership and  established a new convention for calculating   postal subsidies for the line finally in 1933  the national parliament passed measures to   account for the line's building costs interest  payments and taxes for the new ship making her   officially a national flagship of France with a  virtually unlimited budget the French Line had   what they needed to build a liner that would be an  awe-inspiring representation of the greatest art   culture and design the French nation had to  offer it was a challenge they met with great enthusiasm Normandie's builders recognized that  if they were going to achieve 30 knots   they had to design a hole that would reduce drag  as much as possible where cunard bet everything on   Mauritanius turbines the French Line would bet it  all on whole design this responsibility fell on an   unlikely junior designer Vladimir Yourkevich began his career designing battleships in   imperial Russia but relocated to Paris after the  revolution he found work as a laborer at Renault   but eventually found his way back into naval  architecture in the yards of san jose by 1928.   Yorkovich's supervisors were impressed  with his initial proposed hole designs and   ordered models for testing at a facility near  versailles but a backlog of naval orders and   issues with the tank led to significant delays  after 16 months Yorkovich and his staff finally   relocated to Hamburg Germany where they carried  out excessive testing on a 28-foot paraffin model   only after the design was deemed unimprovable  did Yankovich report his final design   they yielded a slightly perplexing appearance out  of water with a distressingly pear-shaped midship   this shape though strange at the time provided  a reserve of buoyant displacement that permitted   an astonishingly efficient bow which utilized  the same bulbous forefoot as germany's bremen   any awkwardness disappeared when she took her  rightful place in the water where many of her   contemporaries such as the Queen Mary would crash  through the water with an enormous bow wave and   massive weight Normandie would glide effortlessly  it's hard not to be astonished when you compare   the two and Normandie's owners took great pride in  pointing out the differences her exterior design   accentuated sense of power grace and speed her  three oval-shaped funnels were given a 10 degree   rake and diminished in height to give a sense  of motion her paint scheme further accentuated   her sleek lines with white banding that sharply  tapered to a fine point at the tip of her prow   the giant white whale back on her bow was as much  functional as it was decorative providing space   to hide her winches chains and other machinery  the hidden deck machinery throughout the ship   gave her wide open passenger decks that added to  her clean sleeping lines superstructure was also   uniquely large for the time extending along  71.5 percent of the ship's overall length   every line was carefully curved to  maintain an ultra aerodynamic appearance   powering the giant ship sufficiently to  enable a 30 knot service speed was a challenge   finally a compromise was reached with turbo  electric propulsion the transfer of power   from her steam turbines to her propellers was  electrical rather than mechanical which allowed   more flexibility in the layout of her machinery  the new engine design offered a great deal of   operational flexibility and allowed the ship to  run efficiently at lower speeds when needed she   also had a large power reserve with her engines  rated to run at only 75 to reach her maximum 30   knot speed her power systems however were not  perfect and Normandie suffered vibration issues   for all of her short career these issues were  initially so severe that passengers in cabins   directly over her screws had to be moved to other  cabins on the second night of her maiden voyage   vibration issues were extremely common at the time  especially for ships competing for the blue ribbon   but obviously the french line was eager to remedy  the situation during her first annual layup   many solutions were suggested and implemented  strengthening elements were added throughout   the ship and her first class terrace was replaced  with a tourist class lounge to increase her size   and weight finally it was suggested that the  issue might stem from her propeller design   and a new set of four-bladed propellers were  ordered to replace her previous three-bladed set   upon testing at her full-service speed company  officials were thrilled to find that these   alterations greatly reduced the problem the  press was sent gleeful notices proclaiming that   the issues had been solved with the ship set to  sail the following day the captain soon received   a confusing report from the chief engineer a diver  sent on a routine inspection of the hull reported   that all three propellers were in good shape this  was an alarming report for a four propeller ship   it was soon confirmed that her port central  tail shaft was indeed missing its propeller   at some point during her triumphant vibration  free trial they must have lost the propeller   likely just after the engines were stopped as the  loss would almost definitely have been detected   during operation without any replacement  four-bladed propellers available Normandie   was dry-docked overnight and two of her original  three-bladed propellers were hastily installed   when she reached her service feed on the following  day's voyage her vibration issues were as bad as   ever confirming the suspicion that they stemmed  from a flaw in her original propeller design   those minor issues aside the Normandie's hull  and engine design were absolutely revolutionary   and deeply impressive her innovative  design allowed her at 160 000 horsepower   to challenge what the queen mary could  only achieve at 200 000 horsepower   but the marvels that Normandie are remembered  for stretch well beyond her power and whole normandy was unprecedented in every way and  her first class spaces were appointed with art   luxury and an attention to detail  that will likely never be rivaled   like only a small handful of ships before her  normandy's boiler uptakes were divided allowing   large passenger spaces that flowed uninterrupted  from one end of the ship to the other   apparently if you knelt on the stage of her  theater you would have an uninterrupted view   all the way through her rear windows nearly 500  feet away speaking of her theater normandy was the   first ship to ever boast a full proper theater  that could accommodate both live performances   and movie screenings it's hard to overstate the  opulence of her public spaces they were aggressively   elegant with nearly every surface covered in  gold glass marble fine woods and works of art   her decor was themed to represent the Normandie  region of France and her designs were a classic   interpretation of art deco an exuberant style  popular in the 1920s and 30s that combined   modern styles with fine craftsmanship and high-end  materials the movement borrowed the bold geometric   forms of cubism the bright colors of fovism and  was heavily influenced by styles from china japan   india persia ancient egypt and mayan art  her grand salamance was three decks high   not just a small well or balcony like on other  liners the entire room occupied the full height   it featured absolutely massive 20-foot lighting  fixtures glass walls and a coffered gilt ceiling   the room was designed to recede dramatically into  a shimmering light hundreds of yards away it was   an absolutely breathtaking room of light and glass  that surpassed anything built before or since   the French Line's publicists love pointing  out that the room was larger than the hall   of mirrors at high every single first class cabin  was decorated differently with over 400 completely   separate design scheme you could sail on the ship  hundreds of times without staying in a cabin that   looked the same as your last voyage something  that's almost completely unthinkable today   I could go on and on about her winter garden with  live plants and birds her massive embarkation haul   her air conditioning the one-of-a-kind sculptures  paintings and bronze work but this video would be   several hours long suffice to say traveling on the  Normandie was undoubtedly an unrivaled experience   every detail was thought out to make sure that  from port to port you were bathed in luxury   except for those who wound up in one  of those vibration cabins in the rear   unless you're into that normandy was  constructed in san jose with the designation   t6 many names were considered including Doumer and La Belle France until they decided on Normandie   she was launched on october 29th 1932 to great  fanfare and nerves as she was by far the largest   object ever transported from land to sea up  until that point the wave produced when she   hit the Loir River swept several spectators  away but thankfully no one was injured she was   christened by Madame Margarite LeBron the wife of  Albert LeBron the President of France at that time   her fitting out process lasted three years and  during her trials she reached a top speed of   32.125 knots upon her completion she was 79  280 tons 1029 feet long 184 feet in height   and had a beam of 117 feet a year later  she would be modified to be 83 423 tons   she could accommodate 1972 passengers and 1345  crew she left Le Havre on her maiden voyage on May 29   1935 four days three hours and two minutes later  she reached New York and claimed the Blue Riband   she sailed into New York harbor flying a  brilliant 30-foot blue pennant and passengers   were presented with commemorative medallions  it's estimated that over a hundred thousand   spectators watched her arrive in New York  and the liner was instantly a household name   but Cunard's Queen Mary a ship roughly equivalent  in size and speed was nearing completion and would   sail her maiden voyage the following year their  famous rivalry would define both ships careers   Normandie was neither a breakout success or  the abject failure some make her out to be   her first year of service was her most successful  but once the Queen Mary entered service Normandie   saw a drop in popularity this was for a few  reasons the biggest being that Normandie was   a first-class ship not particularly well  suited to the current market she was an   ultra glamorous ship at a time when ostentatious  displays of wealth were falling out of fashion   while her second and tourist class accommodations  were tasteful and comfortable they were small   and largely an afterthought at the same time  Queen Mary's builders took note of the growing   popularity of tourism and recognized that this new  market appreciated accommodations that didn't feel   like the bare bones third-class found on older  ships they devoted just as much care and space   to the new tourist class as they devoted to their  first-class spaces and the general public took note   but the Queen Mary wasn't Normandie's only  competition Cunard White Star's Britannic   Georgic and even the older Aquitania were popular  and offered less class conscious experiences   for passengers looking for a more relaxed and  affordable crossing one of the biggest downsides   of sailing on the Normandie were paradoxically the  appointments that made her so impressively grand   many passengers felt that she was just too much  oppressively formal uncomfortably opulent like   spending four days living in a fine art  museum it's impressive to walk through   but not necessarily to live in the queen mary  on the other hand, was less grand more homely   and more approachable she carried over the styles  and traditions many passengers were familiar with   older vessels and while she was certainly  luxurious and grand her general atmosphere   was more relaxed and comfortable all of this made  Normandie less popular among the general public and   gave her an intimidating reputation as a ship  exclusively for the ultra-rich and she often   sailed only half full Normandie was not exactly the  financial disaster she sometimes made out to be   she never required government subsidies while  in service earning enough to cover her operating   costs and generating 158 million francs in revenue  while she didn't recover her building costs she   was only in service for four years and never had  a career long enough to recoup those expenses   Normandie's short career was somewhat routine but  she does belong to that exclusive club of ships   that in peacetime somehow managed to crash into  a plane when in 1936 an RAF torpedo bomber while   flying a drill attempted to buzz the liner but  flew too close and got caught in her crane lines   the pilot was uninjured but the plane was stuck  with the Normandie until it could be removed in   the halve despite Normandie's middling success  the French line began planning a running mate   she was to be named the SS Bretagne  details were sketchy but the ship was   to be at least 85 000 tons with some plans  putting her at over a hundred thousand tons   it's also claimed that her intended speed would  exceed an astonishing 35 knots two main design   schemes were put forward one designed by Vladimir  Yorkovich sported an ultra-modern parallel funnel   design but the french line opted for the more  conservative plan that largely followed the   Normanie with just two funnels not unlike Cunard's  plans for Queen Elizabeth but the outset of world   war ii shelf these plans and put a swift end  to Normandie's brief but spectacular career by late summer 1939 with tensions building  in Europe Normandie sought the safety of new   York Harbor and was docked at pier 88. on the  3rd of September 1939 the day France declared   war on Germany she was interned by the us  government though she remained in French   hands and kept her french crew into the spring  of 1940. she was soon joined by Queen Mary and   the Queen Elizabeth and for five months the three  largest liners in the world would sit idle on May   15th 1940 the United States Coast Guard issued  150 agents to protect the ship from sabotage   these agents remained in a supervisory role until  the united states was attacked at Pearl Harbor   and officially drawn into the war on December 12th 1941 the Normandie was officially seized under the   right of angary her french crews were relieved and  the coast guard took over maintenance of the ship   they took up several key duties including  maintaining steam in her boilers but they   inexplicably abandoned maintaining  her elaborate fire control systems   i'm sure that tidbit won't come back later she was  renamed the USS Lafayette on December 31st 1941. a   few plans were considered for the massive liner  there was even a proposal to turn her into an   aircraft carrier but they of course moved forward  with the most logical option to convert her to a   troop ship a delay for her scheduled first sailing  date was requested to give crews more time to plan   and execute the complicated conversions  but these requests were ultimately denied   this gave crews less than two months to complete  the complicated project it would have been one   of the more impressive engineering feats  of the war if they managed to pull it off   but of course they didn't crews were completely  unfamiliar with the complicated ship and the   panic time frame led to a complete breakdown  in supervision judgment and common sense on the morning of February 9th 1942 the feverish  work of removing Normandie's luxurious fittings   was well underway in her vast public rooms which  featured mechanical firewalls that could divide   spaces and contain fires in an emergency these  were of course disabled and even if they were   operational they were blocked with massive piles  of flammable material including thousands of life   jackets that were filled with kapok a great  material for flotation that also happened to   be highly flammable because why not crews were  in the process of removing the four giant light   fixtures from her lounge these fixtures sat on  metal tripods that had to be cut with a torch   they removed three but the last was  surrounded by piles of flammable life jackets   they removed just enough to access the metal legs  and began cutting this process used an asbestos   shield to contain sparks but as the crew made  cuts on the final leg the shield was prematurely   removed and sparks quickly ignited the piles of  flammable life jackets all around them contrary   to regulations there were no fire extinguishers  nearby no fire hoses on hand and no fire watcher   they just had two buckets of water fire spread  quickly and crews broke into absolute chaos   a worker running to bring the two buckets of water  tripped and fell spilling the water well short of   the flames another worker ran to the promenade to  fetch a fire hose but they only got about a gallon   of water from its nozzle before pressure dropped  to nothing remember that whole disabling the   fire control system thing the new york city fire  department responded to the call 12 minutes later   the first fire boat on the scene was the  james duane by the time she arrived the   ship was completely overtaken with smoke forcing  all crews to evacuate her furnaces were shut down   leaving the ship without power to light  her interiors or power any water pumps   there were 3 000 men on board when the fire  broke out and the evacuation was complete chaos   with hundreds forced to make their way through the  blacked out smoke-filled passageways of the ship   many of them were completely unfamiliar with  incredibly only 200 were injured and there was   only one fatality Frank Trentacosta a 36-year-old  Brooklyn resident who is part of the fire watch   without any other options in facing winds that  helped spread the blaze throughout the ship   crews simply pumped as much water as they could on  the blaze and the ship began lifting dangerously   deport Vladimir Yorkovich Normandie's designer was  actually in New York City at the time and rushed   to help he knew the ship better than anyone  but he was barred from the scene by police   he urged them to open her seacocks and allow  the ship to settle in the shallow water but   he was ignored because this was a navy job  top heavy with thousands of gallons of water   the ship eventually capsized early the next  morning press was barred from the scene by   the navy who knew the incompetence of the  whole ordeal was not a great look for them   but the morning light revealed the extent  of the damage the Lafayette was a total loss   and the wreck would remain at pier 88 for  nearly two years until she was finally rided   fitting the Normandie the salvage was the  largest and most complex of the time costing   an estimated 5 million dollars she was finally  caught up in new jersey between 1946 and 1948 I think John Maxton Graham author of  the only way to cross summed her up   best in short the Normandie was unrealistic  impractical uneconomical and magnificent   circumstance helped make Normandie a mythical ship  she only completed four seasons while millions   sailed on Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth very  few people actually got to experience what it   was like to sail on the Normandie she never grew  old like a celebrity that died young all we have   are images of Normandie and her prime would she  have rivaled Cunard's Queens after the war would   she become a hotel somewhere in France or abroad  we'll never know and that's what makes her magical   people in general know the Queen Mary as that  old ship in Long Beach they know the Titanic for   being well titanic but if you ask the average  person about Normandie they'll say it's a place   or a famous battle but if you ask an enthusiast  about Normandie they will smile and say she was   the greatest ocean liner of all time but  was she really that great yeah i think so   from my perspective, all these ships are just an  idea I'll never sail on the Mauritania or the   Titanic the Bremen or the Normandie Queen Mary is  the only survivor and unfortunately in her current   state she's far from her service time glory  these ships live on now only in our imagination   and imagining the splendor of Normandie  is like imagining a beautiful dream

Channel: Big Old Boats

Views: 200,158

Keywords: SS Normandie, Normandie, French Line, RMS Queen Mary, Luxury Liner, USS Lafayette, USS Lafayette Fire, World War 2, Blue Riband, SS Normandie Fire, SS Normandie Wreck, Ocean Liner, Great Ocean Liner, Ocean Liner History, Big Old Boats, Normandie Ship, Normandie Sinking, Superliner, SS Normandie Horn, SS Normandie Whistle, ss normandie vs rms queen mary, ss normandie maiden voyage, ss normandie documentary, ss normandie interior, blue riband atlantic, ss normandie (ship)

Id: ZdNXggKwp4U

Length: 24min 31sec (1471 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 29 2021