SS Normandie
660 12th Avenue ,
New York,
NY
10019
660 12th Avenue ,
New York,
NY
10019
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Last located at Pier 88 at W. 48th Street, today part of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. The SS Normandie had her maiden voyage on 29th May 1935, sailing from Le Havre-Southampton-New York winning the Blue Ribbon for a journey across the Atlantic in 4 days, 3 hours and 2 minutes. She was operated by the French Line Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, based in Le Havre, and made 139 voyages to New York and had a capacity for 1,972-passengers with personnel of 1,345 crew.
She was fitted out with lavish Art Deco and Streamline Moderne style interiors to the plans of interior designer Pierre Patout. The huge dining room could seat 700-diners in a room decorated with Lalique glass columns. There was also a fully equipped theatre which also served as a cinema, located on the 12th deck (top deck) behind the bow and under the forward funnel. It was decorated in a plain Streamline Moderne style with troughs of concealed lighting. All seating was on a single floor. The projection box was located at the rear of the stage above the dressing rooms, which resulted in it being a rear projection operation. The stage was said to be larger than many London theatres.
On September 3, 1939 the day World War II broke out, the SS Normandie was in port at New York, Pier 88 and was taken over by the US Federal Government. On December 20, 1941 it was transfered to the U.S. Navy and renamed USS Lafayette to be converted into a troop ship. It was while the conversion was being carried out on February 9, 1942 that a spark from a welder set alight a pile of life vests which quickly spread out of control. In the hours that followed 6,000 tons of water were played onto the stricken liner which capsized at an angle of 80 degrees. She was stripped of all internal superstructure and was righted on August 7, 1943. Taken to a dry dock in October 1943, it was soon decided that any restoration was impossible due to the extensive damage to her hull and machinery. On October 3, 1946 she was sold as scrap and taken to Port Newark, New Jersey and had been completely scrapped by December 31, 1948.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
Webmanster: Wrong City, the home port of this ship was at La Havre in France
Perhaps CT should have a new county called “Ships at sea”.
True, it was based in Le Havre, France (mentioned in the overview), but its last port of call and final resting place was New York (1939-1946)
I remember seeing it capsized when we took the Dayliner to Bear Mountain. I used to play Normandie when taking a bath by sinking a toy boat.