The decade following the end of the First World War was characterized by renewed competition between transatlantic operator companies. The pre-war race for the size and speed of liners, which had already led to the emergence of giant passenger ships, has entered a new stage. Cunard Line, White Star Line, French Line and even the German North German Lloyd dreamed of the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic, which at that time was held by the aging Mauritania.
The Germans began a new era - in 1929, the liner Bremen set off on its maiden voyage, thanks to which the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic changed its owner for the first time in 20 years. The Cunard Line and White Star Line were then hatching plans to build ships over 300 meters in length that could enter the race. French Line, which in the 20s relied not on speed, but on luxury and comfort, decided not to stand aside.
In February 1930, rumors spread among shipowners that France intended to build a superliner of grandiose proportions. It was supposed to be the first liner to be more than 300 meters long and have a gross tonnage of more than 60,000 gross register tons. In 1931, “from authoritative sources” information was received that the T-6 (the conventional name of the French airliner) would have three pipes of unprecedented height.
Initially, the future ship was planned to be made simply as an enlarged version of the company’s best steamship, the Ile de France, but then a project by our compatriot, shipbuilding engineer Vladimir Yurkevich, who once worked at the Baltic Shipyard and participated in the development of Russian battleships, cruisers and submarines, appeared . The project was revolutionary in some respects and was initially proposed by Cunard Line, but they rejected it. French Line reviewed the project, conducted a series of experiments with models that showed amazing results, and decided to build the future giant on its basis.
The liner was launched on October 29, 1932, with a huge crowd of people and in the presence of the French President. Finishing work continued for more than two years.
When the Normandy finally put to sea, it was discovered that her gross tonnage was 79,300 gross register tons. To the disappointment of the ship's owners, the capacity of the English Queen Mary standing at the outfitting berth was 2,000 register tons higher.
French shipowners could not come to terms with the fact that not theirs, but the Cunard liner would be the largest ship in the world. Therefore, in the winter of 1935-1936, during repairs, a large wheelhouse was built behind the third pipe of the Normandy, thanks to which the capacity of the liner was increased to 83,400 register tons. Moreover, the French kept this a secret until the construction of the Queen Mary was almost completed and there could be no talk of any changes.
On its very first voyage, the Normandy surpassed all the achievements of the best transatlantic liners in all respects: duration of passage, average speed, daily mileage. Normandie took the Atlantic Blue Riband from the then record holder, the Italian liner Rex. A blue pennant 30 meters long fluttered on the Normandy's mast - a meter for each knot. The crew members were each given a bronze medallion with the words “Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic - Normandy.” On the way back from New York to Europe, the Normandy broke its own record, showing a speed of 30.3 knots. In subsequent years, the liner covered this distance even faster : Its average speed was 31.2 knots.
In subsequent years, an extremely interesting and very tense race took place between the French liner and its main competitor, the Cunarder Queen Mary. The Atlantic Blue Riband passed from hand to hand.
The race was interrupted by World War II. On August 31, 1939, the Normandie was laid up in New York due to the looming threat of war in Europe. The next day, these fears were confirmed when Adolf Hitler's forces attacked Poland. The Second World War began.
The Normandy was moved to Pier 88 and only 200 of her crew remained. Her competitor, the Queen Mary, was also moored next to her on the south side of Cunard Line Pier No. 90. Next to them were the legendary ships of the time - Ile de France, Rex, Aquitaine and the new giant. Queen Elizabeth." For a short time, the only three liners whose tonnage exceeded 80,000 tons were moored next to each other.
Normandy, Queen Mary, Aquitaine.
In June 1940, France surrendered to Nazi Germany. After this, the Normandy was immediately seized by the US Coast Guard.
Three record holders: Normandy, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth.
On December 7, 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war on the side of Great Britain. On December 12, the Normandy was accepted (with promised compensation) for service in the US Navy. On Christmas Eve, the Normandie was renamed the Lafayette. It was decided that the Normandy should be converted into a transport ship, like the Queens of the Cunard Line. Due to the lack of a large enough dry dock, conversion began right at Pier 88.
In February 1942, work on the conversion of the airliner entered its final stage. On February 15, the ship was supposed to go to sea.
On February 9, ship supplies were taken on board. At 14:30, the first flame ran across the pile of kapok life belts piled up in the central cabin of the Normandy. It took about a quarter of an hour after the fire started before the ship's fire patrol called the New York City Fire Department. This call was received at 14:49. The first city fire trucks arrived at the southern tip of Manhattan at the French Line pier within a minute and a half.
Powerful streams of water from the cannons poured onto the liner, shrouded in clouds of smoke, but the flames, fanned by a strong northwest wind, did not subside. By 15:30 it engulfed the promenade deck, and at that time the gigantic hull of the ship began to list to port. A few minutes later, the flames made their way to the boat and sun decks, and a little later the bridge was occupied. A huge amount of water continuously flooded the ship. Only from three fire boats standing alongside, 4,000 tons of water were supplied to the ship.
The firefighters had little understanding of the ship's stability and, using powerful pumps, poured water anywhere. Many ship premises were partially flooded. To remove water, ejector pumps should have been used. However, they were not there. They used conventional drainage pumps, but floating debris quickly clogged the receiving screens and the pumps failed.
The designer of the Normandy, Vladimir Yurkevich, arrived at the scene of the accident and said that there was a chance to save the ship without letting it capsize if the kingstons were opened and the ship was allowed to lie on the bottom of the Hudson. But they didn’t even want to listen to him.
At night the roll increased. The fire went out. At approximately 2:45 a.m. on February 10, the Normandy slowly capsized to starboard and remained lying against the pier at an angle of 79°.
Twelve days after the fire, it was decided that all rooms would be inflated with air to restore buoyancy. But this meant that all the pipes, masts and superstructure would be cut off. Floating cranes were placed around the vessel to cut away all superstructures, pipes and masts. Divers sealed all areas of the ship.
In 1943, the ship was righted and on November 3, with a list of 2°, the hull of the Normandy was towed down the Hudson, where she would await her fate.
Many proposals have been made for the vessel. Some wanted to convert the Normandy into an aircraft carrier, but the idea was abandoned due to cost - it was cheaper to build new ones. President Roosevelt asked William Francis Gibbs, one of the nation's top naval designers, if the Normandy could be converted into a passenger liner. After discussing plans and costs, it was decided to scrap the ship's wreck.
In October 1946, Normandie was sold to Lipsett Inc for $160,000. This is where her story ends.
In the post I quote the book “100 Great Shipwrecks” and Wikipedia.
In the early 1930s, the French shipping company Compagnie Générale Transatlantique set out to build a flagship transatlantic liner that would allow it to compete with the British giants Cunard Line and White Line, then considered leaders in the shipping industry.
The design of the Russian engineer Vladimir Yurkevich was taken as a basis, who proposed a hull design that had hydrodynamic qualities unprecedented by the standards of that time. Already in January 1931, the first work on the construction of the vessel began, and in the spring of 1935, its trial sea trials were carried out.
Soon the liner, named "Normandy", set off on its first voyage along the Le Havre - New York line and, as a result, immediately became the owner of the prestigious Blue Riband award, setting a new record for the speed of passage North Atlantic: 4 days, 3 hours and 25 minutes.
Over the following years, the ship, which was secretly considered one of the most luxurious ships of its time, continued to make successful voyages - until August 31, 1939: due to the military threat looming over Europe, the liner was anchored in the port of New York.
A year later, when it became known about the surrender of France to Nazi Germany, the Normandy was arrested by the American Coast Guard, and in December 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, it was accepted into the US Navy. The authorities ordered to give the liner a new name - "Lafayette" - and convert it into a transport vessel.
The liner, named "Normandy", set off on its first voyage along the Le Havre - New York line and, as a result, immediately became the owner of the prestigious Blue Riband award, setting a new record for the speed of crossing the North Atlantic: 4 days, 3 hours and 25 minutes.
During the repair work, which lasted several months, a mistake occurred that became fatal in the history of the legendary ship: on February 9, 1942, one of the workers who was cutting the bulkheads of the ship accidentally set fire to a pile of life jackets lying nearby. The fire suppression system was turned off and the Normandy caught fire.
Although New York firefighters arrived on the scene within 12 minutes, they were not able to begin extinguishing the fire right away: due to the many workers rushing to leave the ship, they simply could not get on board.
After the fire was finally extinguished, it turned out that the water poured onto the boat deck began to accumulate on one side, which caused a dangerous list. By nightfall, the Normandy capsized on its left side and remained lying at the pier at an angle of 79 degrees.
It was only in 1943 that the ship was leveled and put back on the water: to do this, specialists had to cut off all the pipes, masts and superstructures of the liner. As a result, it was towed down the Hudson and abandoned until further decisions could be made.
At first, they planned to turn the Normandy into an aircraft carrier, then again convert it into a passenger airliner, but after assessing the cost, these ideas were abandoned. In October 1946, the ship was sold to Lipsett Inc. for $160 thousand, and its interior items were exhibited at various auctions for a long time.
At the beginning of World War II, the French passenger liner Normandie found refuge in the port of New York and was soon confiscated by the American government. After the tragedy at Pearl Harbor, the US Navy command was in dire need of large transports to transport troops. They decided to convert the Normandy into a military transport ship, and at the same time changed its name - the ship became known as the Lafayette. In February 1942, work on its re-equipment entered its final phase, and the ship was supposed to go to sea, but the unexpected happened. .. On the afternoon of February 9, a fire started on the ship. The fire broke out in the huge central salon, where bunks were installed for American soldiers and life belts piled up in disarray, and began to quickly spread throughout the ship. It was not possible to put out the flames. The ship began to list to port, and by midnight the list reached 40 degrees. And on February 10, at 2:39 a.m., streams of water poured into the interior and the ship lay on its side right at the pier. One of the top three largest and fastest ships in the world, capable of taking on board an entire rifle division with full armament, the ship was in the midst of war , when the American military command was in great need of troop transports, was put out of action.
The absurd death of the Normandy still conceals many mysteries and continues to attract the attention of historians and specialists. The cause of the fire has not yet been clarified, but some facts indicate sabotage by German agents or... American gangsters!
BEAUTIFUL FRENCH WOMAN WITH RUSSIAN PEDIGREE
From the moment when the Normandy liner was launched on October 29, 1932, the European press never ceased to amaze readers with the magnificent characteristics of this ship. Its size, beauty of lines and elegance of interior decoration evoked well-deserved admiration from the whole world. The Normandy set off on its first transatlantic voyage from Le Havre to New York on May 29, 1935 and immediately won the famous Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic speed prize, crossing from Europe to America in four days, 3 hours and 14 minutes. On the voyage between Southampton and New York, the Normandy improved the record of the Italian liner Rex, reaching an average speed of 29.92 knots, and on the return trip it was the first of the transatlantic liners to overcome the 30-knot mark. In subsequent years, during a fierce rivalry with the flagship of the English fleet, Queen Mary, Normandy made this journey even faster, reaching an average speed of 31.2 knots. Only in August 1939 did the Queen Mary manage to achieve championship, showing a speed of 31.69 knots.
The Normandy, built at the Pignot shipyards in Saint-Nazaire, is considered the pride of French shipbuilding in the 1930s. However, the French was only chic interior decoration. The main credit for the birth of such an outstanding vessel belongs to Russian emigrants, shipbuilding engineers. The hull was built according to the design of Yurkevich and Petrov, the power plant was designed by engineer Arshaulov, and the propeller group was manufactured according to the Kharkovich system.
The dimensions of the liner were striking: length - 313.75 meters, width - 35.9 meters, average draft - 11.16 meters, height from the keel to the pipe cut - 55.2 meters. Its displacement was 79,280 tons, which was 30 thousand tons more than the flagships of the German passenger fleet "Bremen" and "Europe", and in terms of power plant power - 160 thousand horsepower - "Normandy" was superior to "Bremen". The ship's holds contained 11,800 tons of cargo. Its 12 decks accommodated 1,972 passengers and 1,345 crew. Passengers on the Normandy were surrounded by unimaginable luxury and comfort: the ship had tennis courts, a real garden with songbirds (!), shopping mall with department stores, a 400-seat theater and even Catholic Church. And in one of the huge chimneys there was a special room with enclosures for the dogs of first class passengers, who were taken for a walk on a special deck. All this, as well as the extraordinary wealth of internal and exterior finishing made the Normandy the most expensive ocean liner in the world. Its cost was 55 million dollars, which was 22 million more than the cost of the famous Queen Mary.
For all its outstanding qualities, the Normandy, designed by Russian engineers, became the embodiment of the national prestige of France in the pre-war years. Commenting on the record set by Queen Mary, the creator of Normandy, Yurkevich, wrote: Queen Mary beat Normandy - this is the conclusion of the general public, greedy for sensations. But at what cost has this been achieved? The power of the Queen Mary vehicles was 25 percent greater than the power of the Normandy vehicles, and the speed gain was a fraction of a knot! Yes, with such power, the Normandy would have developed 34 knots!”
But the war prevented the establishment of a new record.
FORCED PARKING
On September 1, 1939, the Normandie was supposed to leave New York for Le Havre. But going to sea did not take place: on August 30, by order of President Franklin Roosevelt, German, French and even English ships were detained in US ports and subjected to thorough inspection.
“We must be sure that no ship leaves the port with weapons on board,” port officials told the stunned captains.
Later the meaning of this action became clear. Intending to officially maintain neutrality, the US government secretly supported Great Britain and France and, in anticipation of future events, under all sorts of pretexts, detained the German liner Bremen in the New York port until the approach of British warships. And when the Bremen finally went to sea on August 31, the Royal Navy cruiser Berwick immediately rushed after it. And the next day Germany attacked Poland and World War II began.
Although Great Britain and France officially declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, they were in no hurry to enter into active fighting. While in Western Europe The nine-month “Phantom War” dragged on; 14 French ships, including the Normandie, continued to remain in US ports. Most of the crews were written off from them, and only the minimum crew necessary to maintain the systems and mechanisms of the ships in working order remained on board. The defeat of France during the 1940 campaign and the signing of an armistice by the government of Marshal Petain did not affect the fate of these ships.
EXEMPTION AMERICAN STYLE
Strange events occurred on May 15, 1941. On this day, the coast guard simultaneously occupied all French ships and placed armed guards on them, ostensibly to protect them from possible sabotage. Simultaneously with this act, articles began to appear in the American press that openly discussed the possibility of converting the Normandy into an aircraft carrier or troop transport. And the popular Life magazine even published a diagram of the Normandy, converted into an airborne landing ship. “In this form, the Normandy will be able to carry 40 cover aircraft and 10 thousand soldiers. Part of her flight deck - the longest in the world - can be reserved for marching and shooting training,” the magazine wrote categorically.
The New York Herald Tribune of July 16, 1941 shed light on these strange events. “Officials in Washington believe that the Normandy is too valuable a vessel to sit idle, and that the US government badly needs it and is ready to buy it. These individuals also stated that the United States had long wanted to take possession of the Normandy, but did not dare to do so for fear of worsening relations with France,” the newspaper wrote in an editorial.
And six months later, America simply took the liner for itself; on December 12, 1941, American sailors occupied the Normandy without any explanation, unceremoniously expelling the remnants of the French crew from it. And on December 16, the ship, confiscated by the American government, was officially introduced into the US Navy.
Having renamed the Normandie the Lafayette, the military began converting the liner into a military transport. In February 1942, the conversion work was basically completed, and on the 15th the transport and landing ship was supposed to go to sea.
THE DEATH OF "LAFAYETTE"
On February 9, they were taking ship's equipment on board, when suddenly at 14:30 a heart-rending cry was heard on the main deck: “Fire!” The first flames ran along a pile of kapok life belts, piled in disarray in the central salon of the ship, and after 19 minutes, fire trucks and ambulances from all over New York, sirens blaring, rushed to the southern tip of Manhattan to the French Line pier. The port firefighters showed excellent training: they arrived at the scene a minute and a half after the call and immediately began extinguishing the fire.
Firefighters sent powerful streams of water onto the ship, shrouded in clouds of smoke, but the flames, fanned by a strong northwest wind, did not subside. Although the port's fire boats also came to help, by 3:30 p.m. the fire had engulfed the former promenade deck. Around the same time, the giant ship began to list to port. Within minutes, flames engulfed the boat and sun decks, and soon the pilothouse and command bridge were ablaze.
Worker Andrew Sullivan, who found himself at the very center of events, describes what happened: “I was in the grand salon checking the condition of the linoleum. Several welders were working here with acetylene torches, cutting out steel columns. About forty feet away were bales of what I thought were packing shavings or hemp. A man stood next to them and blocked them off with shields from the sparks flying from the burners. Despite these precautions, I sensed that something was burning! And he immediately rushed to the exit. All this took no more than 10 seconds, but then it seemed to me as if the entire deck under my feet immediately burst into flames, and I heard a cry: “Fire! Fire!"
Attempts to extinguish the fire on our own were unsuccessful. The automated fire system was not working, so the three thousand people inside the ship were given the order over loudspeaker: “Abandon ship!” However, it was not so easy to accomplish it. Most of these people were not familiar with the internal structure of the liner, did not have specific responsibilities in case of fire, and all of them turned out to be completely helpless in the face of the fiery elements. Burnt and wounded people appeared. A line of stretchers stretched from the pier, covered in black smoke, to the ambulances that continued to arrive at the port.
The fire spread with such incredible speed that over 200 people were cut off by a wall of fire and crowded on the bow hanging over the pier. They had to be removed using fire escapes, but many threw themselves into the icy water without waiting for help. The rescue of people in the interior was complicated by the fact that shortly after the fire started, the electricity was cut off and the telephone connection was out of order.
On the evening of 9 February, rescue chief Admiral Andrews told the assembled correspondents that 128 workers had suffered severe burns and were taken to the city hospital, and 92 of them were likely to die. At the same time, he made the first official statement about the cause of the fire: “One gas cutter cut a candelabra in the main salon from a column, and sparks from under his cutter accidentally fell on a pile of kapok life belts. Kapok is very flammable, which is why the fire spread so quickly across the deck, which was littered with belts.”
A few minutes after the interview, the Lafayette, already listing 12 degrees, broke all the mooring ropes connecting it to the pier. The frightened Admiral Andrews ordered the seams to be opened and the ship to be scuttled, hoping that it would land on the ground on an even keel. But it was too late. Thousands of tons of water, poured by firefighters onto the upper decks, began to accumulate in the left half of the hold, and the huge ship, having lost stability, began to quickly fall on its side.
By 23:30 the ship's roll had already reached 40 degrees and continued to increase. And on February 10, at 2:39 a.m., muddy streams of dirty water and liquid silt from the bottom of the Hudson poured into the holds of the most expensive liner in the world. The agony lasted six minutes, and at 2 hours 45 minutes, with a roar and hiss, shrouded in thick clouds of Smoke and steam, the ship capsized on its side right at the New York pier, closing the approach to the two largest piers of the port. The starboard side, which had risen above the water level, still continued to burn...
AN INGLORY END
The Normandy sank in a rectangular bucket, with the 76-meter-long bow resting on a granite ledge, and the rest in the liquid silt and mud of the Hudson. The huge rudder of the ship, having broken out 5 piles, was buried one and a half meters under the base of the pier. It took 22 months and $5 million to raise the vessel.
First, all protruding parts and superstructures were cut down to the main deck. After this, divers began work and sealed 16 cargo hatches and 356 port portholes. Once all this was done, workers and divers began strengthening and sealing bulkheads and decks, shutting off thousands of pipelines. Only on August 2, 1943, water was pumped out of the ship’s hull, and the Normandy was completely raised only on September 15.
Until the end of the war, the ship stood in the Brooklyn docks, and in 1946 the US government sold the Normandy to a private company at the price of scrap metal for only ...162 thousand dollars. In 1947, the pride of the French passenger fleet was cut into pieces and melted down.
TO CALM THE PUBLIC
Correspondents from New York newspapers appeared near the burning ship before agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Their reports from the scene of the accident allowed them to accurately reproduce the sequence of events. They reported that the death of the Normandy was observed by its creator, the Russian shipbuilding engineer Yurkevich, and its former captain Punie. Both of them were constantly on the pier until the very end and witnessed its tragic and inglorious death - the only case in the entire history of shipping. “It felt like my heart was breaking in my chest,” Yurkevich later recalled. Captain Punier immediately called several experienced bilge operators from the team, who knew the bowels of the Normandy like the back of their hand, to the scene. They all immediately offered their services to Admiral Andrews, but he arrogantly rejected help: “Our rescuers and firefighters know their job no worse than the French!” And at a press conference held in the evening, the admiral told reporters about the alleged cause of the accident and confidently stated: “There is no suspicion of sabotage!”
The next day, Yurkevich also held a press conference in his office, at which he explained the main technical reasons for the death of the Normandy, which had recently been presented as an unsinkable ship, and gave clear answers to journalists’ questions. His statement indirectly confirmed the official version of the cause of the tragedy, and the New York Herald Tribune newspaper on February 11, 1942 made the statement: “Negligence played into the hands of the enemy as effectively as sabotage.” And two months later, the Senate Committee on to the navy published the findings of his commission. “The causes and consequences of the fire are the result of carelessness on the part of the Navy,” the report said. According to the US Senate, responsibility for the disaster lay entirely with the leadership of the country's navy. It would seem that we can put an end to this, but...
ENEMIES ALL AROUND
The official investigation conducted by the American authorities did not establish the exact cause of the fire on the Normandy. The opinions of Navy and FBI experts on this issue differed. The first assumed that the fire started accidentally, from a spark that fell on a pile of kapok life belts. The second attributed the fire to sabotage by intelligence agents of Nazi Germany. The authors of the book “Sabotage: The Secret War Against America” - American journalists Michael Sayers and Albert Kann - came to the same conclusion. In the first edition of this book, published in the fall of 1942, they write: “The FBI knew that Nazi agents had been secretly monitoring the Normandy for a long time.” Two weeks before the fall of France, on June 8, 1940, the German secret service sent a coded shortwave radio message to its agents in the United States. This message, transmitted from Hamburg, was intercepted by a radio station in Centerport on Long Island, decrypted and read: “Thank you for the messages. Watch the Normandy. Following the instructions received, German spies began to closely monitor the Normandy. German spy Kurt Frederick Ludwig sent regular reports to his superiors, written in sympathetic ink. Some of them were intercepted. Here is one of them, sent on April 15, 1941: The Normandy is still at Pier 88 North (88th Street North). Ludwig regularly visited the bay embankment to observe the Normandie. The FBI agent tasked with tracking the German spy describes one of Ludwig's walks in his report: “On June 18 (1941), the subject walked from 59th Street to 12th Avenue. He looked at the piers. When the object approached the pier where the Normandy was located at 50th Street, it stopped for a while. He seemed to be carefully studying the ship. Then he walked again, turning back. At 42nd Street, the subject boarded the ferry to Weehawken, went up to the upper deck and continued to examine the Normandy. The FBI agent further reports that upon arriving in Weehawken, Ludwig wrote notes in a small black notebook for 20 minutes.
Considering the cause of the fire to be sabotage by German intelligence agents, Sayers and Kann provide in their study a number of facts confirming this version.
1. During the week preceding the fire on February 9, four fires occurred on board the ship, which were extinguished.
3. The city fire warning system was turned off on the ship 22 days before the disaster, which was unknown to the US Coast Guard.
4. On board the ship being converted there was a certain number of hostile (pro-German) workers, and their personal data was not thoroughly checked.
5. Any unauthorized persons could easily enter the ship without any permission. All they needed was a badge indicating the name of the contractor or subcontractor for whom they worked.
GANGSTERS-PATRIOTS
Many years have passed since then. From time to time, articles devoted to the tragic death of the Normandy and recollections of a few eyewitnesses appeared in the maritime historical press. They still included two versions of the cause of the fire: a spark from a gas cutter and sabotage by German intelligence agents. But in January 1975, the authoritative English magazine on the history of the fleet, Notical Magazine, published a sensational report about the cause of the fire.
"Normandy" was burned by the American mafia!
It said the mob burned the French liner Normandy in New York Harbor in 1942 because Lucky Luciano wanted to demonstrate to the US Navy the urgent need to protect ports. east coast USA. Charged with murder, Luciano was placed in the "Country Club" - a prison in the city of Albany, which bore this name because of the preferential conditions of detention and the comfort of prisoners. He was promised release at the end of the war, provided that his people would assist the authorities, and then he would leave for Europe. The mafia kept its word - throughout the war, not a single act of sabotage was recorded in US ports.
It is known for certain that during World War II, US Navy intelligence almost openly collaborated with Charles Luciano, who had enormous and unquestioned authority among Italian emigrants and workers of New York. It is also known that Luciano warned the counterintelligence of the US Navy about the impending sabotage and offered his services to prevent them, in order to thereby reduce his prison term. Apparently, the sailors did not heed the gangster’s proposal, and Luciano decided to demonstrate his capabilities to them. It is quite possible that while the leader of the New York mafia was in prison, his people did this without any risk or much trouble.
December 1, 1930 at the John Brown shipyard, located in the county of Clydebank, the ceremonial laying of the vessel took place "Queen Mary"- one of the most grandiose passenger ships. For this significant date, we have prepared a review of the most interesting ships that have left their mark on the history of shipbuilding.
Royal William
Royal William was one of the first passenger ships to cross Atlantic Ocean. She was launched on April 27, 1831 in Quebec. The ship sailed between Quebec and the Atlantic colonies several times until the route was closed due to a cholera epidemic in 1832. Royal William was later sold to the Spanish Navy, where she served for quite a long time.
Great Eastern
Great Eastern (Leviathan) was launched in 1858. The 211-meter steamship was considered the largest ship until 1899. It reached a speed of 14 knots, had a displacement of 32,000 tons, and its engines produced a power of 8,000 hp. From 1864 the ship was converted into a transatlantic cable layer, and in 1888 it was sold for scrap for £16,000.
Servia
The world's first steel liner, Servia, made its maiden voyage in 1881. Due to some innovative technologies (such as electric lighting), many historians call it the first "modern" airliner. The 10,300-horsepower ship reached a speed of 17 knots. The designers focused specifically on passenger transportation, reducing the volume of the cargo compartment and offering customers incredibly comfortable conditions for staying on board the ship. In 1902, the ship was removed due to breakdown.
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
The first four-funnel liner, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, was launched on May 4, 1897. It marked the beginning of an era of new, more modern and powerful passenger ships. The liner won the Atlantic Blue Riband for the first time for Germany for the fastest voyage from Europe to America. During the First World War she was converted into a warship. Kaiser Wilhelm was sunk in 1914.
Titanic
The legendary liner Titanic was launched on April 10, 1912. It reached a maximum speed of 24 knots. The displacement of the 269-meter giant was 52 thousand tons. However, the fate of the liner was tragically cut short on its first voyage: the Titanic sank on April 14 after colliding with an iceberg.
Normandie
The transatlantic liner Normandie began its maiden voyage on May 29, 1935. The ship, which displaced 71,000 tons, is still considered the most powerful turbo-electric ship ever built. Featuring an innovative body design, a refined interior and impressive technical specifications, many experts recognized it as the best liner. On February 9, 1942, the liner caught fire from a spark in one of the cabins. It was later sold for scrap.
Queen Mary
On September 26, 1934, the legendary Queen Mary liner was launched. However, only 18 months later the 160,000-horsepower car set off on its first voyage. The liner crossed the Atlantic in 3 days 23 hours 57 minutes with an average speed of 30.63 knots, and on one of its subsequent voyages won the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic. On March 1, 1940, the order was given to prepare the liner for military service. After the war, it returned to the transatlantic route, but was not nearly as profitable. On December 10, 1967, the liner took its place in Long Beach Harbor and is now a museum.
Voyager of the Seas
Cruise ship Voyager of the Seas It is often called a “floating hotel” because of the amount of entertainment it can offer its clients: cabins for every taste, shops, restaurants, sports fields, a climbing wall, an ice skating rink and much more. It is 311 meters long, has a power of 75.6 MW, a speed of 22 knots, and a maximum capacity of 3,840 passengers.
Queen Mary 2
In 2003, the Queen Mary 2 became the largest liner in the world. The 17-deck vehicle is capable of speeds of up to 30 knots and can accommodate 2,620 passengers. In tribute to modern standards, the ship is equipped with a huge number of shops, restaurants and entertainment centers.
Allure of the Seas
Allure of the Seas, which set off on its first voyage three years ago - on December 1, 2010, is still the largest cruise ship. It offers its 6,296 passengers an incredible variety of services, including a theatre, carousels and an ice skating rink. The liner is equipped with folding (telescopic) pipes that allow it to pass under low bridges. average speed the machine reaches 27 knots. A reliable security system has already shown its best side several times, successfully extinguishing small fires.
After the First World War, Great Britain regained its status as mistress of the seas. Germany was defeated, France and Italy had no time for that - they were licking their wounds after the war. Russia thanks to the revolution of 1917 and unleashed with the help of the same Great Britain and France civil war automatically dropped out of the game for four years (and we never actually appeared on the transatlantic “front”).
In the early 20s, Great Britain virtually monopolized the market for high-speed shipping across the Atlantic. That is, virtually all the top flights were in the hands of the British crown. In the cheaper, but also more in demand “low-cost” sector of this market, the British began to be squeezed out by their old “colleagues” - Germany, Italy, France. New players also appeared, such as Sweden and Holland. But the Germans and French also sharpened their “teeth” for the blue ribbon. It was a very prestigious thing. In the end, by placing even one or two ships in this sector of the market, one could count on an influx of passengers on cheaper flights. Moreover, in this class, the European maritime powers essentially fought among themselves - the British willingly gave up this market, while suppressing at the same time any attempts by “foreigners” to work on their colonial lines - to Australia and India.
As a result, the British relaxed - the blow was dealt a crushing blow. In 1929, North German Lloyd launched the Bremen liner. Until 1930, Bremen was the fastest ship on the Atlantic. In 1930 - a new record and again - Germany - until 1933 Europa became the record holder. In 1933, the Italians set the record - their Rex “produced” 28.92 knots. And in 1935, the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic appeared next to the French tricolor - the SS Normadie thundered like a bolt from the blue. Of course, in 1935 it was the largest passenger ship in the world and the fastest ship in the world - 31.2 knots. The speed record will be broken next year - RMS Queen Mary will return the blue ribbon to the British, and RMS Queen Elizabeth will surpass it in size only in 1940.
So - SS Normandie. This is what no one expected from the French. In fairness, it should be noted that the French have always been in the background of the world maritime history. Both in terms of military and civil shipbuilding.
The Normandy stood out not only for its speed and size - it stood out primarily for its characteristic French sophistication in everything. It was not for nothing that Ilf and Petrov noted this fact - the Germans or the British build a ship, and then make a hotel inside. And the French first build a hotel, and then build a ship around it.
When creating the interiors of Normandy, the experience of the Ile de France, which entered the ocean in 1927, was used. The liner was not a record holder in terms of speed and size, but it amazed the world with its interiors - made in the Art Deco style, they amazed the world with their sophistication and beauty. This style in naval architecture and interiors will last until the 60s of the twentieth century. At the end of its career, Ile de France will become famous - it will lift on board the passengers of the sinking Italian liner Andrea Doria - this will happen in 1956.
Actually, the same people who worked on the interiors of Normandy worked on the Ile de France. But the work on the hull was headed by engineer V.I. Yurkevich. Main feature The Normandy hull had a small bow bulb - this design was used for the first time in world shipbuilding. Although, to be fair, it should be noted that despite the bulb-shaped shape of the underwater part of the bow, the stem remained virtually straight. But such “rudiments” will later degenerate into a full-fledged bow bulb, which is found on almost all modern ships, and in recent years it can also be found on river vessels. The first to make a full-fledged bulb would be the Japanese - many warships the imperial fleet will already have a full-fledged bow bulb.
The shape of the underwater part of the Normandy hull made it possible to increase speed without a sharp increase in the power of the vehicles, which in turn made it possible to reduce fuel consumption and reduce its reserves to increase the number commercial premises. The result was not long in coming - on the very first voyage the French airliner showed what it was capable of. In 1936, Queen Mary would break his record, but in 1937 the French would again take the blue ribbon from the British. There was also competition in terms of tonnage - the Qureen Mary would briefly take the place of the record holder, but in 1936-1937 the Normandy regained the title of the largest ship - a covered promenade built on the upper deck would increase the displacement by 4,000 tons. The French record was broken only in 1940 by the British - then Queen Elizabeth entered service.
Normandie during sea trials, 1935
The fate of the Atlantic record holder changed dramatically on August 31, 1939. The ship was detained in the United States under the pretext of rising tensions in Europe - on September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland. In general, the French did not object - the United States was a traditional ally of Europe (it would become known after the war that the issue of acting on the side of Nazi Germany was being decided in the United States), so leaving their transportable property overseas seemed the most optimal. The Normandy was moored at pier 88, the Queen Mary settled nearby at pier 90, and in 1940 the Queen Elizabeth joined them. The three record holders froze in anticipation. And if everything was clear with the fate of the queens, then what the hell was happening with Normandy.
In the spring of 1940, “three cheerful friends” Rundtstedt, Von Bock and Guderian, with the support of the no less “cheerful” Umberto of Savoy, crossed the border of France. As a result, France was divided into three pieces - two occupation sectors - Italian, German, etc. The "Southern Zone" is a territory free from occupation led by the pro-German government of Pétain. To spite him, a government was formed headed by Charles De Gaulle. De Gaulle's office was in Great Britain. And on June 22, 1940, the second Compiegne truce was signed in the Compiegne Forest.
Immediately the US government interned the Normandy and began converting the ship into a military transport (according to another version, the Normandy was transferred to the US Department of Defense voluntarily by the De Gaulle government). Work began in December 1941, immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
February 9, 1942 was the beginning of the end. A team of workers was working in the ship's hail room. The work was carried out quickly in a military manner, as a result of which fire safety standards were, to put it mildly, ignored. Sparks from welding sprayed towards a pile of life jackets. The dry cork tree burst into flames at that very moment. The ship's fire extinguishing system was partially dismantled, and there were no firefighters in the port. The fire immediately began to spread throughout the ship. Crews arrived 12 minutes after the fire, but they could not get inside. V.I. Yurkevich also arrived at the scene of the disaster. He offered to help the firefighters, but it was rejected. As a result, firefighters poured a huge amount of water from the left side. The ship tilted, and at 2:45 am on February 10, the roll reached a critical value - the ship lay on its left side on the bottom of the Hudson.
At the same time, work began on raising the vessel. All superstructures were cut off and all holes in the hull were sealed. In 1943, the hull was raised and, with a list of 2 O, towed down the Hudson - out of sight.
Until 1945, the Normandy corps was awaiting a decision from the authorities on what to do with it. There was even an idea to build an aircraft carrier on its base. But the project was declared untenable for economic reasons. In October 1946, Lipsett Inc purchased the Normandy hull for $160,000. In the same year it was cut into metal.
The French will make an attempt to re-enter the transatlantic market - in 1961 the steam turbine ship France was put into operation. But it was too late - the era of transatlantic liners was ending.
February 9, 1942
SS Normandie immediately after the fire, Pier 88
Photos of the SS Normandie taken immediately after the fire, as well as while the hull was being towed for scrapping 
1942, the liner immediately after the fire
view of pier 88
work has begun to lift the vessel. The superstructure has already been cut off.
the hull was sealed by divers
starboard propellers
towing the Normandy hull for scrapping
Competitors of the SS Normandie
SS Bremen
put into operation in 1929. As a result of arson in March 1941, the ship was completely burned out. The surviving mechanisms were sold for spare parts. As a result of the post-war division of the fleet, the ship went to Great Britain, but was dismantled for metal.
Commissioned in February 1930. Since 1941 it was used as a floating barracks. In 1945 he was interned by the US military administration. In 1946 it was transferred as reparations to the French Republic. The ship entered the transatlantic route in 1950 under the name Liberte. In 1962, after the France liner "Europe" entered service, it was sold to Italy for dismantling for metal.
Put into operation in 1932. Since 1940, she has been laid up in the port of Bari. In 1943, after the surrender of Italy, the ship was towed to Trieste. It was there in 1944 that the airliner was destroyed by an air strike by the British Air Force. In 1950, the ship was raised and dismantled for metal.
SS Ile De France
Commissioned in 1929. From 1940 to 1945 - military transport. In 1945 he returned to the transatlantic route. There is one bright page in the post-war history of the liner - in 1956, it boarded the passengers and crew of the sinking Italian liner Andrea Doria. In 1958, the ship was sold and taken to the port of Osaka. In 1960 it was used as a set for the disaster film "The Last Voyage". During filming, the ship was blown up and sank.
RMS Queen Mary
Commissioned in 1936. From 1940 to 1945 - military transport. In 1947, the liner returned to the transatlantic route. In 1967, the ship was sold to the USA. is now located in Long Beach Bay (USA, California). There is a museum and a hotel on board.
RMS Queen Elizabeth
Commissioned in 1940. From 1940 to 1945 - military transport. Since 1946, the liner has operated on the transatlantic route. In 1968, the ship was sold to Hong Kong, where it was used as a training vessel. In 1972, as a result of a fire, the ship sank to the bottom of Victoria Harbor. From 1974 to 1975, the ship's dismantling for metal continued. Part of the keel and turbine remain on the bottom to this day.
