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A model of the first ship over 1,000 ft long - the incomparable Trans-Atlantic passenger liner SS Normandie at the Science Museum, South Kensington, 15 November 2008.

In the late 1920’s French Line wanted a super-liner to compete with Cunard’s planned RMS Queen Mary. The result was a design in total contrast to the rather conservative Queen Mary. The Normandie had a very advanced and innovative hull designed by a Russian émigré (Vladimir Yourkevitch) who had first gone to Cunard but been rejected because his ideas were considered too radical but which was adopted by Normandie’s chief designer Marin-Marie.

Moreover, the majority of the Normandie’s passenger accommodation was to be first class with the most lavish and luxurious furnishings, at the expense of the plainer Second and Third Classes. Also, the Art Deco style was of the slickest kind. In contrast, the Queen Mary had much more Second and Third Class accommodation which was finished to a high standard and its Art Deco style was more restrained.

The Normandie was built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, being launched in 1931 and completed in 1935. She was the largest ship ever built with 160,000 shp (200,000 shp max) turbo-electric drive (advanced for that time) and four screws, giving her a maximum speed of 30 kts, though she recorded 32.2 kts on her trails. She measured 1,029 ft x 118 ft x 36.7 ft, and weighed 79,280 tons gross as built.

However, when the Queen Mary entered service a year later, her weight was revealed as 81,235 tons so to regain her record of the largest ship in the world the Normandie added passenger accommodation to increase her weight to 82,799 tons gross (though some sources state 83,423 tons); she was once again the world’s biggest ship (though overtaken in 1940 by Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth at 83,673 tons).

On the Normandie’s maiden voyage she gained the Blue Riband of the Atlantic from the Italian super-liner Rex. But in 1936 the Queen Mary, although on paper slower because of her more conventional hull, gained the Blue Riband, only for the Normandie to win it back in 1937 and then for the Queen Mary to win it again in 1938 (which she held until the SS United States won it in 1952).

Interestingly, although a huge critical success, the undoubtedly very impressive Normandie had to rely on subsidies from the French Government as she was rarely over 60% capacity. The 1930’s saw a boom in American tourists coming to Europe but they preferred the less-intimidating but still luxurious Second Class and Third Class accommodation of the Queen Mary and its less formal, more relaxed ambience. The Queen Mary was very well patronised and did not need subsidies.

An even larger and more advanced stable mate to Normandie was proposed (designed by the same Russian émigré), the Bretagne, but that was abandoned when WWII broke out, when the Normandie found itself stranded in New York.

Just after Pearl Harbour, the USN took over the ship and renamed her USS Lafayette and work began on converting her to a troop ship. Unfortunately, in 1942 a fire broke out during the conversion and the ship overturned because of the huge amount of water pumped on board. She was then scrapped.

Although it was first thought that the fire was the result of sabotage by the enemy, an inquiry found it was caused by an accident caused by a welder. However, subsequent research has revealed some very suspicious events, which included organised crime. The Normandie had an extensive fire prevention system which had been disconnected; Vladimir Yourkevitch was in New York at the time of the fire and arrived at the scene only to be barred from it whilst his warnings that the ship was in danger of capsizing because of the amount of water being poured on board were ignored by the authorities in charge, as was Yourkevitch’s suggestions for an alternative rescue plan; moreover, it seems a large pile of life vests filled with inflammable kapok gas had been placed next to the welders torch and the extensive varnished wood panelling in the 1st class lounge which hadn’t yet been removed.