Cruising The Past Cruise News French Line NORMANDIE – Part One
French Line NORMANDIE – Part Two
French Line NORMANDIE – Part Three
These are probably the finest video available of trans-Atlantic liner service in the late 1930s. Excellent color footage of the French Line’s famous SS NORMANDIE.
Her novel design and lavish interiors led many to consider her the greatest of ocean liners.Despite this, she was not a commercial success and relied partly on government subsidy to operate. During service as the flagship of the CGT, she made 139 transatlantic crossings westbound from her home port of Le Havre to New York and one fewer return.
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 chief rival.
During World War II, Normandie was seized by the United States authorities at New York and renamed USS Lafayette. In 1942, the liner caught fire while being converted to a troopship, capsized and sank at the New York Passenger Ship Terminal. Although salvaged at great expense, restoration was deemed too costly and she was scrapped in October 1946.
