A few years later, Normandy caused

After the upsurge of building large mail ships broke out in the countries on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1930s, the French were not spared by the Queen of England and Great Britain, German sisters Bremen and Europa, especially Mussolini's pride, the king. Just like the arms race between Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy and other countries in the construction of capital ships, during this period, the largest mail ship in the Atlantic was 56,000 tons (British Solemn and Bulungaria), and the French decided to end the tonnage competition once and for all-to build 80,000 tons of mail ships. Vladimir Iucovici, the chief designer of the French post shipping industry and a Russian who designed battleships for the navy of His Majesty the Tsar, was invited to undertake this glorious task. Iucovici has three hard indicators: the tonnage exceeds 80,000 tons; The length exceeds 1000 feet; The speed is over 30 knots. After considering various routes, Iucovici decided to adopt the beautiful Atlantic bow, the so-called "clipper bow". This can reduce the resistance when sailing at high speed. Major European shipping companies have their own networks in shipbuilding. CGT's old partner, Penhoet Shipyard in St. Nazaire, undertook the construction task of Normandy. There is also a technical problem. Since Mauritania and Lusitania, large mail ships have been driven by more economical and powerful steam turbines. But the steam turbine rotates in one direction. Therefore, these mail boats need to be equipped with a small set of auxiliary power to reverse. Normandy's unique innovation still uses high-power steam turbines, but instead of driving propellers, it drives a set of generator motors and then drives 80,000 tons of steel. Because the motor can run in the opposite direction, it has solved a problem that has puzzled the postal ship designer for more than 20 years. The technical problems have been solved and the economic problems have come. 1October 29th, the Great Depression broke out. During this period, three mail ships with a length exceeding 1000 feet are under construction or under preparation. Only the British White Star Company's Ocean was built at Harlan Wolf Shipyard in Belfast. However, this foolish behavior made the economic situation of White Star Company worse, which eventually led to its acquisition by British Canard Company at 1934. The ocean finally turned into a scrap iron shell and was sold. The big ship being built by the duck company at Clyde Bank has been ordered to be shelved until the economic situation improves. This is three years. This big MAC, code-named "Hull 534" during the shelving period, was the later Queen Mary. Because the economic structure was different from that of Britain and America, France was lucky during the Great Depression. But luck is temporary and relative. The global economy is depressed, and France cannot be immune to it. 193 1 1 CGT Shortly after the new ship started construction, the shadow of the Great Depression quietly descended on France. CGT was forced to seek financial support from the French government. At the expense of the French government's right to guide the company, CGT was funded and weathered the storm. The new ship code T6 was successfully built and named Normandy (this name was selected from Napoleon, Lindbergh, Benjamin Franklin, Neptune, beautiful France and many other names). 1932101October 29th, the third anniversary of Black Thursday (hehe, it doesn't seem to be a good omen), and the new ship was launched. On the coast, 200,000 spectators watched the launching ceremony of the French super ship, and French President Albert Rebl also attended the launching ceremony. Along the slide coated with 43 tons of soap and 2.5 tons of lard, the hull of Normandy slowly slid into the Loire River. Because the economy has not fully recovered, according to the shipowner's order, the outfitting work after Normandy was launched was relatively slow. Carpets, panels and works of art were installed on the ship. CGT convened a master of ship decoration design. Van der Boyang, a Dutchman who designed the grand three-story foyer for ile-de-france, and Paul Batu, a Frenchman who designed the marble restaurant, were invited to decorate the palace at sea again. The French may really want to build it into a palace. Many unprecedented luxury installations first appeared in Normandy-the playground and tennis court between the first and second chimneys; The first theater on the mail ship can perform movies and operettas; The first large indoor swimming pool; The first one uses soft lighting and indoor broadcasting system; It was the first person to popularize air conditioning in all cabins ... Not only at that time, but even today, Normandy was rated as the largest, most beautiful and most luxurious mail ship in history by the international passenger ship industry. The reason for this is that modern large cruise ships are already sightseeing tools, not transportation tools, and they are not as decorated as Normandy in many details. On May 29th, 1935, the most grand day came. 50,000 people gathered at Le Havel Pier to watch the ceremony of Normandy's maiden voyage to new york. The band played La Marseillaise and The Stars and Stripes. Countless ribbons and confetti are flying all over the sky. Amid people's cheers, the Normandy set sail. On its maiden voyage, its average speed reached 29.76 knots on the first day. According to the statistics after its arrival in new york Port, its average speed reached 29.98 knots. A new transatlantic record was born. When it slowly pulled into the French mail dock on 50th Street in new york, it proudly lifted a 30-foot-long blue ribbon-one foot represents the speed of a road section, announcing the arrival of France's accession to the blue ribbon era. The brand-new and luxurious Normandy soon won praise in the mail ship industry. Six days after its maiden voyage to the west, Normandy arrived in Southampton, England in a record of 4 days, 3 hours and 28 minutes, breaking the eastbound speed record set by Bremen in 1929 at a speed of 30.365438 knots. At this time, the "No.534 Hull" of Kanade Company is stepping up construction, and it was launched in September of 1935, and was named Queen Mary. The British proudly announced that the 8 1000-ton Queen Mary became the largest mail ship in the world. The French are naturally unwilling to lag behind. In the same year, CGT transformed Normandy into 83,423 tons, almost 2,000 tons more than the Queen Mary. Queen Mary decided to overtake it in speed and take back the blue ribbon for Britain, although its bow was not as beautiful as Normandy's. 1 936 July1day, the victory of the Queen Mary returned from new york is in sight. But a heavy fog on the southern coast of England delayed it. The passengers on the Queen Mary beat their chests, but the captain had a good idea. In August, he won the westbound blue ribbon with a record of 30. 14, 1936. After that, the battle of the blue ribbon was launched in these two luxury giant ships. The westbound speed is refreshed to 30.58 knots, and the eastbound speed is refreshed to 3 1.20 knots. In fact, in this peaceful competition before the war, although Normandy was the winner of speed, it lost to the shrewd British in management. Its luxurious and fashionable interior facilities and decorations scare away many conservative passengers. Ordinary passengers also consciously stay away from it, because they think it is the ship of movie stars and relatives. Tired of fame, Normandy rarely carried more than 60% passengers. Queen Mary is not satisfied with her relatively popular role. It launched a new sprint at 1938. The westbound speed is refreshed to 30.99 knots, and the eastbound speed is refreshed to 3 1.69 knots. The French decided to find another way. Also in this year, in view of the pitiful number of passengers traveling between Normandy and the North Atlantic, the fashion-first Normandy began a so-called "cruise"-cruising around the world. /kloc-in the winter of 0/938, tourists full of carnival in Brazil sailed for Rio de Janeiro, becoming the largest ship crossing the equator in history. On August 3rd10939, Normandy, which completed its139th voyage, docked at Pier 88 of the Hudson River in new york. Due to the outbreak of the European War, CGT told Normandy not to sail in the Atlantic Ocean, which might be full of German submarines, and stood by. Next to Pier 90 is the old enemy Queen Mary. As the German war machine turned to high speed, the future of Normandy became more and more uncertain. Only 200 people stayed in Normandy. 1in March, 940, the newly built Queen Elizabeth also came secretly from England and moored beside it and the Queen Mary-it was too late to launch and the interior decoration was not completed. When he was on standby on the Clyde River in Scotland, he was almost bombed by Dornier, Henkel and Juncker. 1June, 940, Prussian eagle defeated Gaul chicken. France seeks peace. The United States immediately announced the detention of the Normandy. The coast guard is responsible for protecting and preventing sabotage by Soviet agents or German agents. For the United States, this ship may have other uses. 194165438+February 7, 2000, here it is. Pearl harbor was bombed. America went to war. Normandy was requisitioned by the US Navy. The tricolor flag is down. The US Navy renamed it the lafayette and prepared to use it as a troop carrier. However, the ports in new york and New Jersey don't have enough docks to accommodate the 80,000-ton ship. So the transformation work was carried out on the spot at Pier 88. Thousands of workers boarded the floating mysterious palace, which France is proud of, stripped off its luxurious decorations, dismantled its entertainment facilities and turned it into a bare troop carrier in the cabin. 1942 65438+ 10/0/5, handed over to the Ministry of National Defense. The first mission is expected to begin in February to strengthen Pacific islands, especially Hawaii. On February 9, the disaster happened. Due to the planned departure soon, a large number of grain, food, clothes, clothes and life-saving facilities were sent to the ship and piled up in the original luxurious cabin. In the first-class salon, workers are cutting steel columns that were originally used to support the glass fountain. Sparks splashed on a pile of kapok life jackets piled nearby (this is an official investigation. According to Edgar Hoover, the big brother of the FBI, his own secret investigation, it was the mafia that ordered their workers to deliberately set fire to warn Hoover not to touch the Italian mafia forces in New York State in wartime. The fire burst into flames. Coincidentally, there was no water in the fire hydrant on the ship that day. Even more coincidentally, the new york Fire Department received the report after 12 minutes. New york firefighters who arrived at the dock began to inject water into the boat to put out the fire. However, with more and more water in the hull, firefighters were frightened to find that the hull was gradually turning to the left. Its designer Iucovici arrived at the scene. Because he was familiar with the internal structure of Normandy, he asked to direct the fire fighting work, so that the hull could sink smoothly on the muddy bed of the Hudson River, which was convenient for salvage in the future. But he was pushed aside by the fire department and the navy. The fire is still there, and everyone is helpless. At 2: 45 am on February 10, it capsized to the left at an angle of 79 degrees in the Hudson River. 12 days later, the remaining fire in the boat was finally put out. After a year and a half of salvage and rescue work, Normandy 1943 10 was salvaged and righted and handed over to the US Navy. But by this time, the ship is useless. After righting, it has been abandoned at Pier 88. 165438+1On October 3, the wreckage of Normandy, which was still tilted to the left for two degrees, was towed to Brooklyn Naval Base. Americans have put forward various recovery plans. Some people even suggested transforming it into an aircraft carrier! However, after repeated calculations, the cost of reconstruction will be higher than that of building a new aircraft carrier. As for President Roosevelt himself, he preferred to repair it after the war and return it to the French. But in the end, the US Navy decided to break it up. 10, Normandy hull was sold to a ship-breaking company in New Jersey for160,000 USD. A year later, it turned into piles of scrap steel, once the most luxurious cruise ship in the world, and thus left this world.