[PRCo] Re: car restoration work

[John Swindler]

>Fred Schneider commented:
>
>And then there was the Normandy which rolled over at a pier in New York 
>thanks to
>our Navy's incompetence.
>

Not so, Fred, at least not in this case.  It happened at a commercial port.


In January 1942 the U.S. War Department took her over and by 9 February her 
conversion into a troopship was nearly completed. But on that date, while 
she was being loaded with supplies, a spark from a welder's torch ignited a 
bale of lifejackets. The fire spread rapidly, and a series of mistakes by 
the ship's crew and firefighters led to the ship's turning on her port side 
and sinking at her berth. The stern slipped under Pier 88, while the bow 
moved close to the adjacent Pier 90. Refloated in September 1943, she was 
then towed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Plans to convert her into an aircraft 
carrier were abandoned as too costly, and she remained in Brooklyn for the 
balance of the war. Unwanted and unusable, she was scrapped in Newark, NJ, 
in 1946-47, the last pieces of steel being removed by rail on 6 October 
1947.


Try this website for postcard views

http://www.greatships.net/normandie.html


This might be of some interest to some.  Unfortunately, while still 
transportation related, guess we can't even claim any link to Pittsburgh 
steel mills that were served by Pittsburgh Railways.

John S.



When the French Line decided to supplement the revolutionary Ile de France 
of 1926 with a record-breaking super-liner in early 1930, they turned to 
naval designer Vladimir Yourkevitch to design the new ship. It was intended 
that the ship would be France’s contender for the Blue Ribband of the 
Atlantic, and it would be a floating showcase for the talent of French 
artisans and craftsmen. In designing the ship, Yourkevitch incorporated 
turbo-electric engines and the relatively new and innovative bulbous bow. 
The French Line also announced with much fanfare that new ship would be the 
first liner to exceed 1000 feet in length, and it would have a gross tonnage 
of 60,000 tons—making it the world’s largest ship.

Construction on the liner—designated as “T 6”—commenced in early 1931 at the 
Penhoet shipyards at St. Nazaire. As was traditionally the case with the 
naming of a liner, there was much speculation about the name of the new 
liner. It was widely thought the ship would be named after the recently 
assassinated French President Paul Doumer, but the widow of the slain leader 
had requested the name “Doumer” not be used. It was just prior to the 
launching that it was revealed the new ship was to be called Normandie. On 
October 29, 1932, Madame Lebrun—wife of the French President—launched the 
new ship. By this time, however, the economic depression that was gripping 
the world economy made it necessary to halt construction on the new liner. 
When construction on Normandie resumed, her maiden voyage had been delayed 
until spring 1935.

When construction was completed on Normandie, she was the longest and 
largest ship afloat—measuring 1,028 feet in length with an initial tonnage 
of 79,280. To the pride of her owners and countrymen, she claimed the Blue 
Ribband from the Italian Liner Rex on her maiden crossing in May 1935. Keen 
on keeping the title “longest, largest, and fastest” ship in the world, it 
did not escape her owner’s attention that the British had announced the 
tonnage of their new super-liner Queen Mary that was nearing completion at 
81,235. So during the winter refit in 1935, a deckhouse was added to her aft 
deck increasing her final tonnage to 83,423, allowing her to maintain title 
of world’s largest ship. And though she eventually lost the Blue Ribband to 
Queen Mary in August 1938, her top speed of 31.2 knots was only a fraction 
slower than Queen Mary’s record-breaking speed of 31.6 knots.

Though she was the world’s largest ship, the enormous size of Normandie did 
not mean she carried more passengers than any ship had ever carried. Her 
grandeur meant that each passenger had more space. The dimensions of her 
dining-salon—walled in molded glass, air-conditioned and decorated by the 
foremost artists and craftsmen of France—were breath taking. The sun deck, 
clear of all obstructions, stretched two city blocks in length. She was 
equipped with a permanent theater, seating nearly 400, and a beautiful 
chapel. Staterooms aboard Normandie—virtually all with luxurious bath or 
shower facilities—afforded a new scope for the kind of gracious living that 
French Line passengers had come to expect while on board ship.

Her cruiser bow and the turtleback extending over the foredeck enabled 
Normandie to take the roughest seas smoothly, without loss of speed. Her 
electric drive reduced vibration to an absolute minimum—though she was 
plagued with terrible vibration because of inappropriately designed 
propellers during her early crossings. Radios onboard allowed her to be in 
constant touch at all times with both Europe and America. Normandie was 
truly a wonder-ship that one could not see without wanting to travel 
onboard.

Regrettably the service career of what is arguably the most superb liner to 
ever sail was tragically short. Scheduled to sail the day before war started 
in Europe, she was detained at New York as U.S authorities checked to ensure 
she did not have munitions or arms aboard. She would spend the remainder of 
her days in New York, and with the fall of France to the German armies, her 
fate seemed uncertain. However, with America’s entry into the war, the U.S. 
Coast Guard seized Normandie in May 1941. In December, the U.S. Navy took 
control of the vessel and renamed her USS Lafayette.
On February 9, 1942, while undergoing the major refit to accommodate 
thousands of U.S. troops, sparks from a workman’s welding torch set her 
ablaze. Firemen were able to extinguish the blaze, but tragically the liner 
capsized as a result of the tons of water used to fight the fire. She would 
be salvaged, but ultimately was scrapped at Port Newark, New Jersey—truly an 
ignominious end for perhaps the greatest liner to ever sail.

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