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150-542: SS France was a Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, or French Line) ocean liner , constructed by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard at Saint-Nazaire , France, and put into service in February 1962. From the time of her construction in 1960 until the construction of the 345 m (1,132 ft) RMS  Queen Mary 2 in 2004, the 316 m (1,037 ft) vessel was the longest passenger ship ever built. France

300-496: A "Yellow", was killed in a fight with drunkards. Local company officials seized on this the opportunity to neutralize the strike: Jules Durand, secretary of Le Havre charcoal union, was accused by false witnesses bought by the company of having had his union vote for the assassination of Louis Dongé. The strike he had been leading for three weeks then came to an abrupt end. In Paris, the press ignited. Conservative newspapers ( Le Temps , L'Aurore , Le Capitaliste , etc.) denounced

450-698: A "return to barbarism" and demanded energetic measures against the trade unionists. The government declared itself ready to "resort to illegal measures" against insurrectional strikes. At the end of the trial, Jules Durand was sentenced to death. The whole left mobilized, from the socialist Jean Jaurès to the anarchist Sébastien Faure , including the trade unionist Georges Yvetot and Paul Meunier. Across France, crowds marched against "class injustice" and hundreds of public meetings were organized. Internationally (Italy, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, etc.) strikes and rallies were carried out in support of Durand. Under pressure, President Armand Fallières commuted

600-461: A 75,000-ton replacement for their ships RMS  Queen Mary and RMS  Queen Elizabeth . (This ship would eventually be the 68,000-ton Queen Elizabeth 2 .) Further, the United States Lines had put into service in 1952 SS  United States , which had broken all speed records on her maiden voyage, with an average speed of 35.59 knots (65.91 km/h; 40.96 mph). At first,

750-516: A casino and hotel off the coast of the south-east United States. Though he purchased the ship for $ 24 million, this proposal was never realised, and others were rumoured to have floated, including bids from the Soviet Union to use her as a hotel ship in the Black Sea , and a proposal from China to turn her into a floating industrial trade fair. In the end, the ship was sold in 1979 to Knut Kloster,

900-501: A controlling stake in the company, renaming it to STX Europe . The same year, the French government purchased a 33.34% stake in the shipyard. After the bankruptcy of STX Corporation in 2016, STX France was put up for sale, and the Italian state-owned shipyard Fincantieri showed interest in acquiring STX France. In September 2017, after difficult negotiations and a brief nationalization of

1050-447: A cost of US$ 80 million. Norway was registered in Oslo , given the call sign LITA (literally meaning "small"), and was re-christened on 14 April 1980. She was the only purpose-built transatlantic ocean liner that was remodeled to be employed exclusively in luxury cruise service. Her hull form, bow design, and accommodation layout had been designed specifically for the rigors of crossing

1200-405: A group of French trade unionists who anchored France in the entrance to the port, blocking all incoming and outgoing traffic. The 1,200 passengers aboard had to be ferried to shore on tenders, while approximately 800 of the crew remained aboard. The strikers demanded that the ship be allowed to continue to serve, along with a 35% wage increase for themselves. Their mission failed, and the night of

1350-480: A liner, to save fuel costs, crossings took six days/nights. Some, like ship historian John Maxtone-Graham , believe that France was purposely built to serve as both a liner and a cruise ship, stating: "Once again, the company had cruise conversion in mind... for cruises, all baffle doors segregating staircases from taboo decks were opened to permit free circulation throughout the vessel." However, others, such as ship historian William Miller, have asserted that France

1500-566: A new boiler was not possible but boiler parts were available to make the needed repairs. In Bremerhaven she was used as accommodation for NCL crew training to take their places on the line's new Pride of America . NCL originally planned for Norway to sail empty from Germany to Miami, but a pre-inaugural cruise was added, with only a limited number of passengers allowed to sail. Starting from Oslo , Norway, stopping at Southampton , England, and ending in New York City. A 6-day cruise to Bermuda

1650-530: A publicly funded liner was controversial, leading to raucous debates in the French parliament. The dealing lasted three and a half years, and though the letter commissioning the construction was finally signed by the Chairman of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Jean Marie, on 25 July 1956, debate about the form, cost and construction schedule for France went on for a further year. Beyond

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1800-512: A time, the Pacific coast. From the beginning of the 20th century, it offered crossings between Marseille and Algiers , creating a tourist circuit in North Africa in the 1920s. In the 1930s, the company briefly became involved in aviation through Air France Translatlantique . Other than operating ocean liners, the company also had a significant fleet of cargo ships . The cargo service was started in

1950-407: A total of 1,860,000 nautical miles. The mothballing of France was met with dismay by much of the French population, resulting in a song by Michel Sardou , titled "Le France". The chorus of the song being "Never call me "France" again / France has let me down" ("Ne m'appelez plus jamais "France"/ La France elle m'a laissé tomber"). The French Communist Party and the trade unions of Le Havre approved

2100-534: A total of thirty-two liberty ships . The French government also funded the building of some freighters. For the reconstruction of the France and in particular of its ports, the Transat transported many tons of freight. The transport of goods became its main activity in this period. On April 14, 1947, the company fell victim to another disaster. Grandcamp , one of its Liberty ships, detonated its cargo of ammonium nitrate in

2250-476: A traffic of goods was also set up on this route, in particular cereals, fruits and wines, which compensated for the losses caused by the competition of the aircraft for the passenger traffic. The company has also served Corsica since July 6, 1880, using the liner Ville de Madrid on the route Marseille – Ajaccio – Bône – Algiers. In 1882, the company inaugurated routes entirely dedicated to Corsica extending to Sardinia from Marseille and Nice . Although

2400-483: A troopship in February 1942. The largest ship in of the company was thus found to be unusable after only four years of commercial service. Île-de-France , for its part, like a certain number of the company's ships, benefited from the resistant fiber of its General Staff, which managed to make it sail on behalf of the forces of Free France and the United Kingdom. In the war, the liner transported 300,000 soldiers, both in

2550-456: A two-year interlude provided by Gaston de Pellerin de Latouche, who himself died in 1920, the presidency was taken over by John Dal Piaz , who had already enjoyed a brilliant career within the company under Eugène Péreire. Following the war, the company's priority was to rebuild its fleet. As war reparation, it acquired a few minor ships (three small liners and three freighters) which never really brought in any profit. The building of SS Paris

2700-486: A well-maintained rival still operating 5-star luxury cruises and transatlantic crossings for Cunard . In spite of this, the cutbacks continued and problems mounted even as the ship continued to sail with full occupancy. A turbocharger fire erupted on Norway as she entered Barcelona in 1999, which took her out of service for three weeks. During one of the following cruises to Norway she broke down in Bergen with leaks to one of

2850-407: Is above all an innovative ship: it was the first liner of the company to be equipped with electric lighting and promenade decks. At the same time, the need arose to renew the postal agreement of 1861, before its expiration in 1885. The commission responsible for it renewed it in 1883, on the condition that the company quickly equipped itself with four liners capable of speed greater than 15 knots. This

3000-570: Is showcased in exhibitions. In 1855, the Péreire brothers , Emile and Isaac, founded the Compagnie Générale Maritime in Granville, Manche . Already owners of many railway companies, they were a part of a current of French industrialists who founded large companies under the leadership of Napoleon III . In the 1850s, the need for a French merchant fleet was pressing. The Pereires were also at

3150-457: Is the birth of the liner SS  France which was launched in 1960 in the presence of President Charles De Gaulle , then put into service in 1962. The ship was intended to be large and fast. However, the company made the mistake of devoting 80% of its capacity to the tourist class while air transport gains 80% of those travelers crossing the Atlantic, and less wealthy passengers quickly preferred

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3300-524: The Chantiers et Ateliers de Saint-Nazaire (later better known as the Chantiers de Penhoët). Engineers from the Scottish shipyards of John Scott came to provide their expertise to French workers and architects. In reality, at the time, the shipyards only built the hulls of their ships; the engines inside those ships were purchased from Le Creusot . In 1862, two years ahead of schedule, SS Louisiane started

3450-494: The Fall of France in June 1940 was all the more painful for the company. The new regime quickly reorganized the management of the company, removing Jean Marie (president since 1939) in favor of Henri Cangardel. The war had already damaged the company's fleet. SS Champlain was sunk by a mine. Moreover, with the war having interrupted all traffic on the Atlantic, the majority of the activity of

3600-504: The Great Depression began. The company's revenues plummeted, its expenses increased, and the it found itself on the verge of bankruptcy. This forced it to appeal to the state, in particular to renegotiate its postal agreement. Indeed, the T6 could in no case be completed in 1932, as agreed. The State agreed to assist the company, on the condition that it became a semi-public company. The company

3750-672: The Musée national de la Marine in Paris . After this they were returned to Le Havre and presented to the Musée Malraux , and now face the front of the harbor. When France was commissioned in 1956 the French Line asked for a ship which was to be the longest ever built, as well as one of the fastest. But beyond the technicalities, the ship was also to be an ocean-going symbol of France and thus had to be artfully designed. Her 316-meter (1,035 ft) hull

3900-664: The Panama and Suez Canals , she was forced to sail around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope . That same year, with the destruction of the Seawise University (former RMS Queen Elizabeth ) by fire in Hong Kong , France became the largest passenger ship in service in the world. As the opening years of the decade progressed, the cruise market expanded, seeing the construction of smaller, purpose-built cruise ships which could pass through

4050-527: The Prohibition in the United States which pushed American passengers to travel on French liners in order to consume alcoholic beverages, John Dal Piaz died in June 1928 after a short illness. The company selected the industrialist André Homberg to succeed him. Shortly before his death, Dal Piaz had laid the foundations for a program to rejuvenate the fleet from which his successor inherited. In particular, on

4200-619: The Texas City disaster , killing at least 581 people in the deadliest industrial disaster of that period. In 1950, the company acquired the Compagnie générale transsaharienne , which operated land and air transport across the Sahara. In the area of passenger traffic, the recovery was taking place gradually. At first slow at the end of the 1940s, it grew stronger the following decade. In 1952, SS Liberté and SS Île-de-France carried more passengers than

4350-582: The United Arab Emirates for repairs and to take on new crew and supplies before continuing to Indian waters. Upon learning of the ship's destination, Gopal Krishna, an environmentalist and an anti-asbestos activist, filed an application before the Supreme Court of India to ensure that the ship, containing asbestos, complied with the Court's 14 October 2003 order which sought prior decontamination of ships in

4500-565: The forecastle , behind the whaleback, the two cargo kingposts were removed and giant davits were installed to hoist two two-deck, 11-knot tenders , built by Holen Mekaniske Verksted in Norway, used to transfer passengers between Norway and island docks where the harbour would not accommodate the ship's 9-meter (35 ft) draft. Based on a World War II landing craft design, these tenders were named Little Norway I and Little Norway II , and were each themselves registered as ships, making Norway

4650-461: The "Ship amongst Ships", NCL severely cut back on her maintenance and upkeep. She experienced several mechanical breakdowns, fires, incidents of illegal waste dumping, and safety violations for which she was detained at port pending repairs. Despite the cutbacks, the ship remained extremely popular among cruise enthusiasts, some of whom questioned the owner's actions in light of the continuing successful operation of Queen Elizabeth 2 , which had become

SS France (1960) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4800-465: The "imperial" cruise for celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of Napoleon I and the around-the-world cruises in 1972 and 1974. However, the ship, built for the cold climate of the North Atlantic, was not designed for tropical heat, and full-time operation as a cruise liner proved costly. Following the 1973 oil crisis , the operation of SS France became even less profitable. In February 1974,

4950-399: The 1900s. The ocean liners of CGT were often symbolic works of art of their time; they were intended to represent an image of France abroad. The quality of services aboard, such as that of meals and wines, had attracted wealthy clientele, including Americans at the time of the Prohibition in the United States . Years after the company's demise, its heritage continues to attract collectors and

5100-463: The Atlantic and in the Indian Ocean. After France was liberated , Henri Cangardel was again replaced by Jean Marie. Of the large liners, only Île-de-France survived ( Paris burnt out shortly before the conflict), and it had to undergo a major overhaul after its war service. In all, the company lost 13 liners and 40 freighters, representing 60% of each of the two categories. Two thirds of the fleet

5250-548: The CGT has established itself as a leading French company. In 1910, coal burners in Le Havre went on strike. In response, the company posted inflammatory posters on the quays, mobilized the anti-revolutionary corporate union, the "Yellow", and demanded that the police protect the freedom to work. Incidents multiplied: confrontation with the police, nocturnal sabotage, fights between strikers and non-strikers, etc. On September 10, Louis Dongé,

5400-621: The Caribbean and dry dock periods, she sailed many cruises to Western Mediterranean, Western Europe coast, Northern Europe, the British Isles and the Norwegian fjords. Her official farewell cruise was a 17-day transatlantic cruise from Miami stopping at New York; Halifax , Nova Scotia ; St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador ; Greenock , Scotland; Le Havre, and ending in Southampton. But a decision

5550-517: The Cunard Line, or new liners such as SS  United States or SS  Andrea Doria . Faced against them, the company responded only with SS  Flandre , a smaller liner intended to replace De Grasse , and with its sister ship, SS  Antilles , which was assigned to the Central American route. Gradually the profits decreased as the ships aged. The building of a new large-scale liner

5700-648: The First Class Smoking Room was lost in the construction of an outdoor buffet restaurant, and the Patio Provençal on the Sun Deck was filled in with a top-side swimming pool . This last addition created an odd space on Norway , where a tunnel-like space remained around the tank of the pool, into which the original exterior windows and doors of the surrounding cabins, which once looked into the Patio Provençal, still opened, all in their original 1960s colours. On

5850-553: The French government waived the compensatory subsidy which allowed the liner to continue to sail. Edmond Lanier, its main advocate, retired in September 1973, and died in October of the following year. At the same time, in September 1974, when France finished its last crossing at Le Havre, the crew mutinied. The ship was finally decommissioned at the end of October. The last liner of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique stopped sailing. At

6000-686: The Indian coast in mid-July. This also cleared the way for her scrapping at Alang , in Gujarat , pending an inspection of the on-board asbestos by experts from the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB). After GPCB chairman, K.Z. Bhanujan, said the Board had constituted an experts' committee for inspection, Blue Lady was docked in Pipavav , Amreli district . On 2 August 2006, after a five-day inspection,

6150-550: The New York route. The greatest involvement of the company in the war, however, was in the area of military operations. Thirty-seven ships, or two-fifths of the fleet, were requisitioned. Following the example of the British and Germans, the company designated a number of its large liners to serve as auxiliary cruisers. This was the case for SS La Provence , SS La Savoie , SS La Lorraine and SS La Touraine , which were requisitioned at

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6300-517: The North African route with liners like SS  Lamoricière . In order to diversify the company's activity, Dal Piaz created in 1925 the Société des Voyages et Hôtels Nord Africains in order to offer tourist motor car circuits to customers. The system reached its peak in the late 1920s. While the company was experiencing a success and massively increased its clientele, taking advantage in particular of

6450-428: The North Atlantic, year-round. In her remodeling for cruise service, she was given more passenger capacity, and larger and more numerous public spaces for cruise-type recreations. Mechanically, the four screw propulsion plant was reduced to two screws. And in a bid for economy she was given a complete set of bow/stern thrusters to give her the flexibility she needed to bring her into harbour and to dock without resorting to

6600-542: The Panama Canal. In the 1973 oil crisis the price of oil went from US$ 3 to $ 12 per barrel. When the French government, at the end of the Trente Glorieuses , realised that keeping France running would necessitate an additional ten million dollars a year, it opted instead to subsidize the then Concorde supersonic aircraft currently in development. Without this government money, the French Line could not operate, and it

6750-578: The Pereire brothers to file a petition of bankruptcy and to resign from the company's board. However, the company survived. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the uncertain beginnings of the French Third Republic further reduced the traffic and profits of the transatlantic route while competition from other shipping companies increased. In 1873, as the company was recovering, it suffered its first major accident. SS  Ville du Havre collided with

6900-479: The SS Normandie , the United States ceded to the company a liner taken from Germany, SS  Europa , which was renamed as SS Liberté . An accident in the port of Le Havre before its overhaul resulted in it being half-sunk. The Liberté, completely overhauled at the Chantiers de Penhoët, only entered service in 1950. In order to replace the large number of cargo ships lost in the war, the company notably received

7050-411: The United States. Finally, the liners and freighters, which continued their commercial service, brought back to Europe many goods necessary for the war effort. The war resulted in a large number of losses for the company. Submarine warfare, in particular, took a heavy toll. Thirty ships were lost in the conflict. The company struggled to replace them with hastily bought freighters to continue supporting

7200-481: The activities of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique had always been centered around the oceans, it could not ignore of the technological progress made at the beginning of the twentieth century in the area of civil aviation. This new tool quickly appeared to be very valuable in the company's postal activities. Thus, in 1928, John Dal Piaz had a seaplane catapult installed on SS  Île-de-France , which enabled mails to be delivered to their recipients one day before

7350-512: The aftermath of the terrorist attacks, the ship's owners decided to place her back into service, operating bargain-basement cruises from Miami , after a brief cosmetic refit that failed to address her mounting mechanical and infrastructure problems. On 25 May 2003, after docking in Miami at 5:00 a.m., Norway was seriously damaged by a boiler explosion at 6:37 a.m. that killed eight crew members and injured seventeen as superheated steam flooded

7500-452: The air travel. At the same time, the company underwent major changes in its leadership. Jean Marie, whose retirement was scheduled for 1961, must be replaced. Its managing director, Edmond Lanier, was expected to take over, but it was the president of Messageries Maritimes , Gustave Anduze-Faris, who took up the post, before retiring himself in 1963. He was replaced by Pierre Renaud, who left in 1964. Lanier then became president and stayed in

7650-471: The aircraft providing a fast transport, and the ocean line providing a voyage that was comfortable for more passengers. The figures seemed, at first, to prove him right. The number of passengers was increasing, and the share of the aircraft remained moderate. However, the fleet of the company was by then old, and of lower number than what was abroad. This made it difficult to compete, in particular, with RMS  Queen Mary and RMS  Queen Elizabeth of

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7800-491: The beginning of the 1970s, far faster, and increasingly more comfortable and fuel-efficient commercial jet aircraft such as the Boeing 707 , DC-8 , and Boeing 747 had made long-distance transoceanic air travel more popular than the ocean liners, putting financial stress on European ship lines like the CGT that had derived much of their revenue from the trans-Atlantic market. Owing to this shift in trans-Atlantic travel trends, France

7950-671: The boiler room and blasted into crew quarters above through ruptured decking. No passengers were injured. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that "the probable cause of the boiler rupture on the Norway was the deficient boiler operation, maintenance, and inspection practices". On 27 June 2003, NCL/Star decided to relocate Norway , and she departed Miami under tow, although at first NCL/Star refused to announce her destination. She headed towards Europe and eventually arrived in Bremerhaven on 23 September 2003. NCL announced that constructing

8100-445: The bow and the stern of the ship had been removed, with little of the ship's famous profile still recognizable. By September 2008, most of what remained above the waterline had been cut away, and the ship's demolition was essentially completed by late 2008. In 2009 the tip of the bow of Blue Lady was returned to the country of her birth as one of a catalogue of auction pieces removed from the ship before scrapping commenced. The auction

8250-430: The cessation of activity remained fairly brief. The French government insisted that the postal service be maintained. After a massive wave of departures for the United States, the number of passengers dropped dramatically. France was put to rest while smaller ships such as SS  Espagne (originally assigned to Central America route), SS Chicago , SS Rochambeau and older ships such as SS La Touraine replaced it on

8400-442: The company in 1862. Several aged liners were, once replaced on the New York route, assigned near the end of their career to this route. However, several large ships of the company, such as Cuba , Columbie , and Antilles , also served on it. This route also gradually became very popular, especially after World War II, with the company's freighters, which brought back to France large quantities of rum, sugar and bananas. In 1879,

8550-427: The company obtained agreements for the operation of a route off-center in relation to its main activities, that which connected Marseille to Algiers . Requiring different ships, designed for short crossings, it quickly became prosperous, and several ships were assigned to it, such as Ville d'Alger which, in the 1930s, won the speed record on this route, and SS  Lamoricière , which sank on this route. Gradually

8700-522: The company switched from using paddle wheels to using propellers for its vessels, partly because they were more fuel efficient. Taking advantage, among other things, of the American Civil War and the weakening of the American fleet, the company succeeded in conquering new markets. The Péreires notably set up a service specifically intended for emigrants. An economic and financial crisis in 1868 forced

8850-499: The company was relocated to the North African route. However, not all ships fell to the Vichy regime . Remaining in New York, Normandie was under close surveillance by the American authorities who feared a possible sabotage. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor , the US government requisitioned the ship to support the war effort. It accidentally caught fire and capsized during its conversion into

9000-503: The company witnessed a great disorganization: the shipping routes multiplied in an anarchic way. A great part of the initial capital was thus used up. After this near-bankruptcy, the Péreires understood that, like the Cunard Line , they would be better of focusing on an ocean liner service financed by postal agreements. Napoleon III, seduced by the concept, proposed a number of agreements at

9150-460: The company, for a number of reasons. The Spanish–American War , an economic crisis, and changes in customs legislation, as well as an epidemic of cholera in France partially reduced the passenger traffic, while new, increasingly imposing liners were emerging abroad, such as SS  Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and RMS  Oceanic . Added to this were several maritime disasters, notably the abandonment at sea of SS City of Saint-Nazaire (1897) and

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9300-450: The company. Charles-Roux took advantage of several trips to the United States to meet with many wealthy industrialists and gain their customer loyalty to the company. In the same vein, he decided on a change of policy by targeting a new clientele. The race for speed seemed to be an increasingly irrelevant idea, the prices of coal making high speeds unprofitable. Charles-Roux and most engineers, who agreed with him on this point, considered that

9450-548: The construction of RMS Queen Mary 2 , a gangway to the dry-docked ship collapsed, killing sixteen people. On 4 January 2006 Aker Yards purchased the Marine Division of Alstom , which included the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard. In March 2007 Aker ASA divested its interest in Aker Yards, with South Korean STX Corporation acquiring a 39.2% stake in Aker Yards in October. By 3 November 2008 STX Corporation had acquired

9600-411: The conversion of France into a cruise ship, many alterations were made to her exterior decks. Most notably, vast areas of deck space were opened up, and extended at the stern. A large lido deck was created at the very aft, built so wide, to accommodate as many sunbathing passengers as possible, that it cantilevered over the hull below, which narrowed in towards the stern at that point. The terrace off

9750-532: The country of export before they could be allowed entry into Indian waters. On 17 May 2006, Kalraj Mishra expressed his concern to the Indian Parliament over possible hazards Blue Lady presented, and requested that the government put a halt to the ship's entry. As the Indian Supreme Court had lifted any ban on the ship's entry, Blue Lady had come from Fujairah , UAE, and was anchored 100 km off

9900-502: The cruise industry and started a building frenzy as competitors began to order larger ships. As cruise competition attempted to take some of Norway's brisk business, Norway herself was upgraded several times in order to maintain her position as the "grande dame" of the Caribbean . In September and October 1990, two decks were added atop her superstructure , adding 135 new suites and luxury cabins. While many ship aficionados consider that

10050-412: The cruise industry. France had been built as an ocean liner: for speed; long, narrow, with a deep draft, as well as an array of cabin shapes and sizes designed in a compact manner more suitable for fast intercontinental travel than relaxed cruising. But Norway proved popular, and made the notion of the ship being a destination in itself credible. Her size, passenger capacity, and amenities revolutionized

10200-578: The deep waters of the Atlantic , which make the sailing of large ships in and out of the shipyards easy. The shipyard was owned by Alstom from 1976 onwards, became Alstom-Atlantique, and was later part of Aker Yards when Aker Group acquired the Alstom Marine business in 2006. In 2008, the South Korean company STX Corporation acquired Aker Yards, and the shipyard became part of STX Europe (formed by

10350-400: The disappearance of the cargo ship Pauillac which, it was revealed, had been bought at a low price from another company and was in poor condition. Worse still for the company was the sinking of its SS La Bourgogne in 1898, which claimed 568 lives. The biggest disaster known to the company, it made a strong impression on public opinion, which quickly judged that the company was responsible for

10500-550: The distinctive funnels affixed to the upper decks, the superstructure completed, life boats placed in their davits, and the interiors fitted out. France then undertook her sea trials on 19 November 1961, and averaged an unexpected 35.21 knots (65.21 km/h; 40.52 mph). With the French Line satisfied, the ship was handed over, and undertook a trial cruise to the Canary Islands with a full complement of passengers and crew. During this short trip she met, at sea, Liberté which

10650-437: The end of the nineteenth century, it is significantly larger than its predecessors (190 meters, 13,000 tons). The company gradually acquired wealthy customers, while innovations also appeared. La Provence was the company's first liner to be equipped with wireless telegraphy. This allowed passengers to communicate with the mainland, but above all to receive news from the world while aboard. An onboard daily newspaper, L'Atlantique

10800-482: The expensive tugboat operations that were standard procedure in the heyday of the transatlantic express liners. When her refit was completed, and on her maiden call to Oslo, Senior Steward Wesley Samuels of Jamaica , in the presence of King Olav V , hoisted the United Nations flag as a sign of the ship's international crew. She began her maiden voyage to Miami that same year, amidst speculation about her future in

10950-820: The experts declared the ship safe for beaching and dismantling in Alang. This prompted a fury of controversy over the legality of such an act, including a press release from the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking that critiqued the technical report, alleging that the Technical Committee was under undue pressure to allow the ship to be beached, and had failed to follow the Basel Convention and the Supreme Court of India's order that ships must be decontaminated of hazardous substances such as PCBs and asbestos, and, in any case, must be fully inventoried and formally notified prior to arrival in

11100-496: The first of these ships, Sovereign of the Seas , was delivered, and was the first mega cruise ship in the world. Subsequent deliveries to RCCL included Monarch of the Seas , Majesty of the Seas , Nordic Empress , Legend of the Seas , Splendour of the Seas , Rhapsody of the Seas , and Vision of the Seas . In 2003, the shipyard also delivered Crystal Serenity to Crystal Cruises and Queen Mary 2 to Cunard. During

11250-455: The following routes: Le Havre – New York with calls at Brest , Saint-Nazaire , and the Isthmus of Panama , with three additional services for Guadeloupe , Cayenne , and Mexico . In return, the government would provide the company with an annual subsidy. In 1861, an imperial decree changed the company's name to Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, to better correspond to its new roles. To meet

11400-422: The head of a credit organization, Société Générale de Crédit Mobilier , which became the main shareholder. The Compagnie Générale Maritime was thus officially founded on February 24, 1855, and Adolphe d'Eichthal became its first president until 1861. The company was founded upon the takeover of the “Terreneuvienne”, a cod fishing company founded two years previously which owned many sailboats. The first years of

11550-410: The idea of two 35,000-ton running mates was considered to replace Ile de France and Liberté . Charles de Gaulle , later President of France , opined that it would be better for French national pride, then flagging due to the then ongoing Algerian War of Independence , to construct one grand ocean liner, in the tradition of SS  Normandie , as an ocean-going showcase for France. The idea of such

11700-399: The importing country. No such notification had been made by either Malaysia (last country of departure) nor Germany (country where the ship became waste). The Platform on Shipbreaking also announced that it was prepared to launch a global campaign against Star Cruises and their subsidiary Norwegian Cruise Lines for corporate negligence in this case. Photos from Alang revealed that Blue Lady

11850-496: The larger liners of the time. This recipe quickly proved effective, and this type of vessels quickly established itself alongside larger, faster liners which formed the flagship of the fleet. In the summer of 1913, a new postal agreement was reached, requiring the building of three new liners before 1932. The building of the first, SS  Paris , was immediately started in Penhoët, and was clearly bigger than its predecessor. The ship

12000-429: The loyalty of a wealthy clientele. In 1927, Île de France was completed and put into service. It was a liner slightly larger than Paris , but more up to date. The first class occupied a greater place on the ship, while the class reserved for immigrants was drastically reduced in size. The particularly luxurious liner attracted the public, who nicknamed it "Rue de la Paix de l'Atlantique." John Dal Piaz also provided

12150-399: The luxuries, the French Line had to also face the realities that transatlantic passenger trade was forecast to decline due to increased air travel. Also, ship operating costs were increasing, mostly due to the price of crude oil. Consequently the new ship would be larger than Ile , but smaller and cheaper to operate than Normandie . She would also only be a two-class liner, which would, like

12300-536: The new decks spoiled her original clean, classic lines, the new private veranda cabins on the added decks were instrumental in keeping Norway financially viable during the later years of her operation; they became a common feature throughout the cruise industry. She received additional refits in 1993 and 1996 in order to comply with new SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea ) regulations. Competition eventually overtook Norway , even by newly built ships in NCL's lineup itself. No longer

12450-399: The number that the five largest ships in the fleet had taken aboard in 1938. The Antilles routes and North African route, despite the growing importance of air transport, managed to benefit from a stable customer base. The management of the company, and in particular its president Jean Marie, remained however convinced that aircraft and ocean liner were called upon to serve complementary roles:

12600-422: The off-season. As for the postal agreement, it was renegotiated in a way that is more favorable to the company. At the same time, the building of T6 , which in the meantime became Normandie , was controversial. There were those who believed that the money could be better used elsewhere. However, the investment already made was such that the company would lose a lot if the work was stopped before completion. While

12750-503: The only passenger ship in the world to carry ships. The two tenders were removed after the ship's retirement and moved to Norwegian's private island at Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas ; they remained in service as of 2015. Compagnie G%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale Transatlantique Contrary to what its name suggests, the company was not content with operating just in the North Atlantic route. It also offered service to Central America and even, for

12900-540: The owner of Norwegian Caribbean Line for $ 18 million for conversion into the world's largest cruise ship. Hundreds of weddings had been celebrated on France over her transatlantic career; just before she was renamed Norway , one last marriage was performed aboard the ship at the quay in Le Havre. By August of that year Norway was moved to the Lloyd shipyards in Bremerhaven , Germany, where she underwent renovations at

13050-464: The part of the scrappers. It was stated that as of early September 2006 the ship's owner had signed contracts with various buyers, including auctioneers and a French museum, to sell the artworks. Other fittings were to be sold by the ton. Gopal Krishna again moved an application seeking compliance with the Basel Convention, and three days later the Indian Supreme Court decided that the scrapping

13200-629: The performance of its competitors (it narrowly failed to conquer the Blue Riband ). It arrived however at the right time to allow the replacement of the boilers of SS La Normandie , and especially to take advantage of the World Columbian Exposition to be held in the United States in 1893. In 1894, it was also used for luxury cruise service in the Mediterranean, notably to Istanbul. The late 1890s, however, were particularly unfavorable for

13350-473: The position for nearly ten years. For several years now, the company had been mostly operating freighters. However, for President Lanier, the defense of SS France as a symbol of the company was essential, while the ship's operational deficits widened from the mid-1960s onward. Various solutions were considered but the regular transatlantic route was losing profits, and the ships which crossed it became more and more rare. Several cruises were organized, including

13500-408: The press, while the company got back on its feet, and the controversy subsided. The following year, significant competition began against the Cunard Line and its liner RMS  Queen Mary , it and Normandie having similar level of performances. The company thus found itself on the front of the competition, directly confronted with one of the most prestigious shipping company in the world. With

13650-428: The propeller seals delaying sailing until repaired. Destined for retirement, Norway sailed out of Manhattan 's west side piers for the last time on 5 September 2001, on yet another transatlantic crossing to Greenock , Scotland, and then on to her home port of Le Havre. Her passengers learnt of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington six days later, while in mid-ocean. As the cruise industry reeled from

13800-421: The recently built SS  Rotterdam , be able to be converted from a segregated, class-restricted crossing mode to a unified, classless cruising mode, thereby allowing the ship to be more versatile in its operations. Despite these requirements, she was still to be the longest ship ever built, as well as one of the fastest, meaning not only an advanced propulsion system, but also a hull design which would withstand

13950-475: The renaming of Aker Yards). After the bankruptcy of STX Corporation, the shipyard was acquired by the French government and reverted to its original name of Chantiers de l'Atlantique. The current Chantiers de l'Atlantique yard evolved from the Ateliers et Chantiers de Saint-Nazaire Penhoët , Saint-Nazaire, France , famous for building the transatlantic liners: France , Île de France , and Normandie . It

14100-515: The requirement that its fleet be built be in France, the company must find local shipyards. With the building of six ships having started abroad (in particular SS Washington , the first liner of the New York route for the company), the Péreires were well aware of the prices charged. However, the prices offered in France by the La Seyne-sur-Mer shipyards were significantly higher. Thus the two entrepreneurs acquired land near Saint-Nazaire and founded

14250-455: The revenues of the company. This did not prevent the liners from taking part, in the off-season, in cruises, such as the Mediterranean cruises of SS  La Provence , the around-the world cruise of France , or the cruise of Normandie to Rio de Janeiro . The demand for routes to Central America and the West Indies were also heavily exploited. The route to Mexico was the first, opened by

14400-531: The rigours of the North Atlantic at high speed. Hull G19 was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, in Saint-Nazaire , France, her keel being laid down on 7 October 1957. She was built in a pioneering manner: rather than constructing a skeleton which was then covered in steel hull plating, large parts of the ship were prefabricated in other cities (including Orléans , Le Havre and Lyon ). The hull

14550-458: The route to Mexico, the company's first success. This route's creation was particularly awaited by the government, within the framework of the second French intervention in Mexico . Two years later the New York – Le Havre line service was begun, with the paddle-steamer SS Washington providing postal service. It was later joined by SS France (first of this name) and SS Impératrice Eugénie . In 1867

14700-468: The sailing ship Loch Earn , with a loss of life of about 226 people. The company's situation seemed catastrophic. It was at this time that the Péreire brothers were called, in 1875, to take over the company's helm again in order to ensure its recovery. The same year, however, Émile died. So it was Isaac and his son Eugène who led the recovery. In particular, they extended their activity by taking advantage of

14850-578: The same time, the company was living its last hours as a passenger ship business. Since the middle of the 1950s, it has devoted an increasingly important part of its activity to freight traffic. In 1976, the company merged with the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes de Marseille to form the Compagnie Générale Maritime. The CGM operated as a container ship business. In 1996, CGM merged with Compagnie Maritime d’Affrément, becoming CMA CGM , one of

15000-431: The same year, it was confirmed that the tip of Blue Lady's bow had been cut, a ceremonial move done to most ships that end up in Alang just before their full-scale breaking. It was confirmed on 20 January that Blue Lady had commenced scrapping. Scrapping began on the forward part of the sun deck. The suites added during the 1990 refit were gone by March, briefly returning the ship to her pre-1990 profile. By 12 July 2008

15150-459: The sentence to seven years' imprisonment. The mobilizations did not weaken, and Durand was released on February 16, 1911. However, he went insane in his captivity. Shocked by his detention and sentencing, he experienced delusion of persecution, no longer recognized his relatives and banged his head against the walls. He was placed in a mental asylum until the end of his life in April 1926, and his innocence

15300-425: The ship to a scrap yard, the ship was to be towed to India for demolition. In light of protests from Greenpeace , potentially lengthy legal battles due to environmental concerns over the ship's breakup, and amidst charges of fraudulent declarations made by the company to obtain permission to leave Bremerhaven, her owners cancelled the sale contract, refunded the purchase price, and left the ship where she was. Norway

15450-509: The ship was completed, in 1935, Cangardel, Olivier, as well as the engineer Jean Marie, engaged in a difficult media exercise with a lot of conferences to extol the merits of the ship. Commanded by Captain Pierre-Louis Thoreux, the liner made a speed record and won the Blue Riband on its inaugural crossing. For the first time, France possessed the largest liner ever built, and also the fastest. The prestige thus acquired managed to satisfy

15600-576: The ship's slipstream , where they would be caught by the wind and carried away from the passenger decks below. In addition, each stack had a device that filtered solids from the outlet, returned it into the depths of the ship and then disposed of it into the ocean. Despite the modern appearance of France , she was painted in the traditional CGT colours, used since the 19th century, of a black hull with red boot-topping and white superstructure, and funnels in red with black cap-bands. The ship's exterior remained unchanged during her thirteen years of service. In

15750-416: The ship's arrival at its destination. The arrival of Henri Cangardel in the management sphere of the company, in 1933, accentuated this gaze towards the sky. Cangardel had, in fact, been commissioned a few years earlier to participate in the study of the Compagnie générale aéropostale . He thus became friends with great pilots like Jean Mermoz and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry . In 1933, the company Air France

15900-490: The ship's hull, and the tourist class pool on an upper deck, but covered with an immovable glass dome. The latter, perhaps, was the more aggravating in hot weather. She also had limited outdoor deck space, with much of what was available protected behind thick glass wind-screens, useful on the North Atlantic, but frustrating when blocking cooling breezes in the tropics. Nonetheless, France's cruises were popular, and her first world cruise took place in 1972. Too large to traverse

16050-611: The shipyard by the French government, the involved parties reached an agreement, with Fincantieri acquiring a 50% stake in STX France, and the remainder being held by the French Naval Group and the French government. A month later, it was announced that the Saint-Nazaire shipyard would regain its original name, Chantiers de l'Atlantique. In 2022, a new crane entered service during the construction of Celebrity Ascent , replacing

16200-431: The song, which also became an anthem for the defender of the ship. The ship sat in the same spot for approximately four years, with the interiors, including all furniture, still completely intact. There were no plans to scrap the ship, or to sell it. In 1977 Saudi Arabian millionaire Akram Ojjeh expressed an interest in purchasing the vessel for use as a floating museum for antique French furniture and artworks, as well as

16350-402: The speed of liners had reached a plateau which can only be exceeded by technological change. The White Star Line had, moreover, made the same observation a few years earlier by putting into service its " Big Four ". The last projects of the former leadership came to fruition in these years, in particular the liner SS  La Provence . The third ship built according to the postal agreement of

16500-407: The start of World War II in 1939, the company was called upon to participate in the war effort. For safety, large liners like SS Normandie and SS Île-de-France were stationed in the port of New York. Then the conflict became a war of attrition, but the traffic resumed normally for most of the minor ships of the company, despite Germany's maritime operations, particularly those underwater. However,

16650-454: The start of the conflict to ensure the blockade of Germany. The last two were however quickly returned to postal service. As the conflict spread to the Middle East, the fleet's presence in the Mediterranean became necessary. Several ships such as SS Charles-Roux and SS France were transformed into hospital ships in order to collect the wounded. The latter was also used to bring troops from

16800-534: The superstructure a full-length outdoor promenade deck was designed into both sides of the Pont Canots. Unlike on many other ships, this deck did not wrap completely around the ship, being blocked at the forward end by cabins built in behind the bridgescreen. One of France ' s most distinguishable features were her funnels, designed not only to be eye-catching but functional as well. They were constructed with wings on each side to carry exhaust fumes outwards into

16950-470: The takeover proved to be the ship's last day of service for the CGT. It took over a month for the stand-off to end, and by 7 December 1974, the ship was moored at a distant quay in Le Havre, known colloquially as quai de l'oubli – the pier of oblivion. By that time France had completed 377 crossings and 93 cruises (including two world cruises), carried a total of 588,024 passengers on trans-Atlantic crossings, and 113,862 passengers on cruises, and had sailed

17100-456: The time, which the Péreires refused, judging them to be too weak. The route to the Americas was thus given to Louis Victor Marziou, who experienced a crisis in 1860. It was at this moment that Isaac Péreire chose to renegotiate the agreement with the French government. In 1860, the signed an agreement The company contracted to create a fleet and to provide liner service and carry mail for 20 years on

17250-682: The tragedy. At the same time, the company was struggling to renovate its fleet. At the end of the 19th century, SS La Touraine , flagship of the fleet, was clearly outdated. The necessary renewal of the postal convention, to adapt to the new demands of the market, hardly came, and was only carried out at the turn of the years 1897/1898. It was only then that the building of new ships SS La Lorraine and SS La Savoie could be started; they entered service in 1900 and 1901 respectively. Although much larger than La Touraine , with 170 meters and 11,000 tons, they still struggled to compete by their size with ships such as RMS  Celtic . A final growing problem

17400-581: The transatlantic route, this involved replacing SS France and SS Rochambeau . For the latter, SS  Champlain and SS Lafayette , both medium-sized ships, were ordered and expected to be completed in 1932. SS Colombia was put into service on the Central America route. In addition, many freighters were built. Finally, studies were made to design a new ship for the New York route, then named "super Île-de-France" or "T6." Loans were made to cover these numerous expenses. These projects were launched when

17550-447: The virtual absence of competition to open, in 1879, a service in the Mediterranean between Marseille and Algiers. In that same year, the company became public . At the beginning of the 1880s, the need arose to build new, more current ships. The first, ordered under the name Ville de New York , was put into service under the name of Normandie then quickly renamed La Normandie . With its 145 meters length and its 6,500 gross tonnage, it

17700-410: The war effort. The surviving ships were, for their part, in poor condition. The biggest loss was that of SS La Provence , the second largest ship of the company, which sank in 1916 with more than 1000 victims. As soon as the war ended, a vast and costly reconstruction program had to be launched. A new era dawned for the company, a feeling reinforced by the death, in 1918, of Jules Charles-Roux. After

17850-612: The world's largest container shipping companies. The presidents of the CGT were: The main route served by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique is the Le Havre – New York route, inaugurated in 1864 and operated almost continuously until 1974. It was on this route that the most advantageous postal agreements were negotiated, that the passengers were the most numerous, and the liners the most prestigious. The company's flagships, from SS La Champagne to SS Normandie to SS France , were built for this route, which brought in more than half of

18000-417: Was added. By 1985 St. Maarten , Netherlands Antilles was added. In 1987 her new itinerary was introduced: a 7-day cruise from Miami stopping at St. Maarten, St. John , USVI; St. Thomas and Great Stirrup Cay. Her Western Caribbean cruises later introduced were 7-days stopping at Cozumel , Mexico; Grand Cayman , Cayman Islands ; Roatan and NCL's private island Great Stirrup Cay. Between regular cruising in

18150-430: Was already the case for La Normandie . The four new ships were SS La Champagne , SS  La Bourgogne , SS La Gascogne , and SS  La Bretagne , assigned to the New York route in 1886, while a large part of the company's older ships were reassigned to the Central America route. Despite this major renewal, the company's fleet was facing increasing competition from foreign vessels. The success of these four ships

18300-415: Was announced that France would be withdrawn from service on 25 October 1974. In response the crew decided to take matters into their own hands: an eastbound crossing on 6 September 1974, her 202nd crossing, was delayed several hours while the crew met to decide on strike action. Rather than strike immediately in New York, it was decided to strike six days later outside Le Havre. The ship was commandeered by

18450-404: Was built for this purpose and allowed the construction of tankers exceeding one million tonnes, but it remained mainly unused except for the construction in 1975–1976 of the sister ships Gastor and Nestor and then again idle until construction of Cunard's liner Queen Mary 2 . Between 1985 and 1998, the shipyard built several cruise ships for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL). In 1987

18600-461: Was created for passengers. At the same time, the company embarked more on its cargo service by putting into service a fleet of increasingly large freighters, on the route to North Africa, but also that of New York, and especially that from Central America, which brought in a number of exotic products. The weight of goods transported by the company tripled between 1903 and 1913. The company also increased its transportation of emigrants. Although France

18750-467: Was created, but the problem concerning the transatlantic route, for which no connection by plane was yet possible, remained. Chantiers de l%27Atlantique Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France . It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes , at the mouth of the Loire river and

18900-400: Was designed with a traditional tumble-home, but with a flared stem line at the bow, which ended in a bulbous bow beneath the waterline, evoking similar lines on Normandie . Also similar to Normandie , France was equipped with a whaleback on her bow. Deckhouses on France's superstructure were built of aluminium, to reduce the ship's weight and thereby conserve fuel in operation. Within

19050-473: Was expected to be completed in 1916, but the First World War greatly delayed its completion. This decade under the governance of Charles-Roux was on the whole particularly prosperous: the revenues from the main routes almost doubled between 1905 and 1913. However, the operating costs also increased, with the number of ships no fewer than 84 ships. Its results remain comparable to those of its competitors, and

19200-469: Was finished in 1921 to provide the company with a new flagship. Several ships were built between 1921 and 1924, including SS Cuba , bound for Central America, and SS  De Grasse . A good number of freighters were also built in this decade, bringing the number of ships in the fleet to a hundred at the end of the 1920s. After the war, the flagships of the company, in particular Paris , benefited from an influx of migrants from Central Europe, while winning

19350-425: Was for a time placed in the hands of Raoul Dautry , before being handed over to two men chosen by the government: Governor General Marcel Olivier, who was appointed as president, and Henri Cangardel who became its Administrator and Chief Executive Officer. A consolidation of finances was undertaken. The oldest liners, like SS France , were sold for scraps, and others like SS Paris were chosen to carry out cruises in

19500-419: Was forced to take increasing advantage of subsidies from the French government. Using the ship's versatile design to its full potential, the CGT began to send France on cruises in winter, which was off-season for the Atlantic trade. One design flaw was revealed when the ship reached warmer waters: her two swimming pools , one each for first and tourist class, were both indoors; the first class pool deep within

19650-485: Was fully welded, leading to weight savings, and two sets of stabilisers were fitted. She was blessed by the Bishop of Nantes , Monseigneur Villepelet, and launched on 11 May 1960, at 4:15 pm, by Yvonne de Gaulle , wife of the president, and was named France , in honour both of the country and of the two previous CGT ships to bear the name. By 4:22 pm France was afloat and under command of tugs. President De Gaulle

19800-416: Was held on 8 and 9 February. Initially put on public display at Paris Yacht Marina, Port de Grenelle, Paris 15e, in 2018 the tip was acquired by the city of Le Havre and put on display near the fishing port. In January 2010 one of the two sets of neon letters which sat atop the superstructure of France before her conversion was restored and put on display. The letters, which spell "France", were displayed at

19950-651: Was immediate, however, and revenue almost doubled in four years. The quality of life aboard these liners was also important and contributed to the better fame of the company. With the White Star Line having just put into service its fast RMS  Teutonic , and the Inman Line with its SS  City of New York , the company felt the need to respond. This was the cause of the building of SS  La Touraine in 1891. Slightly larger, and above all faster than its predecessors (19 knots on average), it however remained below

20100-399: Was in attendance at the launch, and gave a speech, announcing that France had been given a new Normandie , able to compete with Cunard's Queens , and the Blue Riband was within their reach. In reality, however, the 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) speed of United States could not be beaten. After the launch, the propellers were installed (the entire process taking over three weeks),

20250-496: Was made to keep Norway sailing bargain-priced Caribbean cruises out of Miami. This continued until her withdrawal in May 2003. NCL Chief Executive Colin Veitch announced on 23 March 2004 " Norway will never sail again". The ship's ownership was transferred to NCL's parent company, Star Cruises . Due to large amounts of asbestos aboard the ship. mostly in machine and bulkhead areas, Norway

20400-689: Was not allowed to leave Germany for any scrapyards due to the Basel Convention . After assuring the German authorities that Norway would go to Asia for repairs and further operation in Australia, she was allowed to leave port under tow. Norway left Bremerhaven under tow on 23 May 2005, and reached Port Klang , Malaysia on 10 August 2005. In fact, the ship was sold to an American naval demolition dealer for scrap value in December 2005. After eventually reselling

20550-422: Was not, in itself, a land of emigration, the company benefited from the increase in migrants; from 1907, it came in fifth in terms of the number of migrants transported to the United States, and the second in the reverse direction. In 1912 the company put into service a new liner, SS  France . Even though it remained clearly below its competitors in terms of size, it posted an average speed of 24 knots which

20700-484: Was officially recognized in 1918. When World War I broke out in August 1914, company's activity was abruptly stopped. Instructions were given to ships stationed in ports to remain there until further notice. However, customer pressure was high, with many Americans keen to leave Europe. The company finally made the decision to allow, at its own risk, two crossings for this purpose, using SS Chicago and SS France . However,

20850-449: Was on her way to the shipbreakers. France's maiden voyage to New York took place on 3 February 1962, with many of France's film stars and aristocracy aboard. On 14 December 1962, France carried the Mona Lisa from Le Havre to New York, where the painting was to embark on an American tour. She sailed the North Atlantic run between Le Havre and New York for thirteen years. But, by

21000-554: Was planned but cancelled at the last minute in favor of fixing some problems. She set sail on her first inaugural cruise from Miami , Florida , on 1 June 1980, a 7-day cruise with only two stops, one in Little San Salvador then followed by a stop in St. Thomas , USVI . The other days of the cruise were sea days as Norway was the destination itself. This remained her main itinerary from 1980 to 1982 until NCL announced Nassau , Bahamas

21150-499: Was purchased by Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) in 1979, renamed SS Norway , and underwent significant modifications to refit her for cruising . She was later renamed SS Blue Lady preparatory to scrapping, sold to be scrapped in 2005, with scrapping completed in late 2008. France was the French Line flagship from 1961 to 1974, combining regular five days/nights transatlantic crossings with occasional winter cruises, as well as two world circumnavigations. During her last years as

21300-569: Was renamed to its current name in 1955 by the merger of Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire and Ateliers et Chantiers de Penhoët . In 1961, it built the transatlantic ocean liner France , the world's longest passenger vessel only overall, but not at the waterline. After the construction of the last Compagnie Générale Transatlantique liner and the closure of the Suez Canal , the yard began building large tankers, including Batillus , Bellamya , Pierre Guillaumat and Prairial . A new dry dock

21450-487: Was sold in April 2006 to Bridgend Shipping Limited of Monrovia, Liberia, and renamed Blue Lady in preparation for scrapping. One month later she was again sold, to Haryana Ship Demolition Pvt. Ltd., and was subsequently left anchored in waters off the Malaysian coast after the government of Bangladesh refused Blue Lady entry into their waters due to the onboard asbestos. Three weeks later the ship began her journey, sailing to

21600-474: Was still partially afloat off the coast; her bow on dry beach at low tide, and the ship fully afloat at high tide. The photos also showed that neither NCL nor Star Cruises had removed any of the ship's onboard furniture or artworks as had been reported. Fans of France became concerned about the future of the art pieces, both due to the ship lying at anchor in a very humid environment without power for air conditioning, and due to lack of concern for preservation on

21750-404: Was sunk. For Jean Marie, the task was enormous. The Île-de-France being under restoration, and the other large ships of the company being sunk, the company could not ensure its transatlantic service. It therefore recovered ships that can be recovered, starting with SS  De Grasse , which was put back into service in 1947. SS Île-de-France joined it in 1949. In order to replace the loss of

21900-460: Was that of President Eugène Péreire, who was almost blind and deaf, and considered increasingly senile. He was finally ousted in 1904 and the board of directors was overhauled. It was the end of the reign of the Péreire family over the company. In 1904, Jules Charles-Roux became president and instituted a reorganization. The arrival of the new management led by Jules Charles-Roux led to a new policy of winning back customers who had turned away from

22050-435: Was the "last purposely designed year-round transatlantic supership." France was constructed to replace the line's other ageing ships including SS  Ile de France and SS Liberté , which were outdated by the 1950s. Without these vessels the French Line could not compete against their rivals, most notably the Cunard Line , which also had plans for constructing a new modern liner. It was rumoured that this ship would be

22200-425: Was therefore envisaged by Jean Marie. The company's fleet was aging. In 1959, after thirty-two years of service and despite great popularity, Île-de-France was scrapped. Liberté reached its 30th birthday in 1960. For Jean Marie, it was essential to give the company a new ship to proudly wear its flag while ensuring that it carried the number of passengers that previously required two to three ships to carry. This

22350-416: Was to be postponed, stipulating that the Technical Committee, which earlier approved the scrapping, was to write a new report to be submitted before the Court's final decision. That decision was reached on 11 September 2007, the 33rd anniversary of France's last day on the Atlantic, when the court ruled that Blue Lady was safe to scrap, a decision that was objected to by environmentalists. By 4 December of

22500-536: Was very appreciable at the time, and was 210 meters in length. Its luxury earned it the nickname "the Versailles of the Atlantic," and the ship quickly gained the loyalty of a wealthy clientele. To appeal to less wealthy passengers, the company also launched new ships such as SS Chicago in 1908 and SS  Rochambeau in 1911. Smaller and slower, these liners cost less to the company, which mainly operated them for migrants, to whom they often offered services superior to

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