Burning of S.S. Normandie 1942

[patterncuber11]

in that video the normandie was renamed La Fayette

[snowstormblizzard567]

bet the french were happy

[snowstormblizzard567]

bet the french were happy

[venom3760]

If you are interested in the factual story of how the U. S, Navy engaged the help of the NY Syndicate, (Mafia), as a result of this fire visit this site:

GOOGLE; WRITER PADDY KELLY

[williamsnall]

The S.S. Normandie will ALWAYS be the undisputed Queen of the seas. The beauty of her profile as she appeared with the three diminishing funnels, on the horizon made her profile unmistakable! Her interiors were the ultimate in Art Deco design and the first class sitting room and dining rooms lighting fixtures were made of all LaLique crystal. Thus the name; Normandie, Queen of the Seas. They knew how to do it in the 1930's. The S.S. France would follow and blow everyone away.

[Peace7Maker]

@williamsnall i still prefer the Normandie exterior design to the SS France tough... specially the smoke stack!

[cunard61]

The ship was already in New York before the War began. Normandie was supposed to sail in the 29th of August 1939, but the French Line cancelled the voyage because of the threat of war. All her passengers were transfered to the British Cunard Liner Aquitania, which still sailed despite the outbreak of war. The Normandie remained tied up at the pier you see here for over two and a half years. So her actual sailing life was less than three years. It was a major and tragic loss for the allies.

[nicksmightybeanz4]

man, that ship is huge.

[LionheartPnshmnt]

It is unfortunate what happened to the Normandie but I view this as the ship being refused to be used as a tool of war. She was born as a symbol of peace and I suppose destiny wanted her to remain that way.

[bettygoodbody]

hi, remember writing me an e mail? anyhow, you said that the normandie was scrapped in new jersey. when i was a young girl, my dad would take the family on drives from our home in new york to bear mountain and to west point on sundays , and the mothball fleet , lots and lots of grey battleships with the numbers painted on them a mile of ships, it seemed to me. as a kid who was born after ww2 i did not appreciate the history as i do now. what became of those ships, does anyone know?

[MasterBattle2000]

mabye the nazis filled her with flammable stuff and when she reached NY a spy could've set fire to the flammable stuff and escaped

[MrReillysmom]

My father was one of the civilain workers on board when the Normandi caught on fire. It was docked at Robbin's Dry Dock in Brooklyn. It was a tragic accident not sabotage.

[sweetnessboy1]

It burned right before my birthday.

[bettygoodbody]

what did they do with it after it fell over? tow it away and cut it up?

[DarthCipient]

The designer of Normandie was there during the fire. He asked the US Navy admiral in charge to open the sea cocks and let the ship sink slightly but remain on an even keel. But the admiral idiotically refused, dumped water on the ship and it went over.

[calibar10]

who were the ones with water idea the chuckle brothers

lol

[titanic7grl]

Imagine driving by and seeing the Normandie capsized...that'd be a site....

[mtlgreen]

Leave it to the Americans to seize and then ruin one of the most beautiful ships ever built.

[Maxobillion]

@mtlgreen They were jealous they could never create anything remotely as beautiful. The SS United States? Pssssh... come on. That thing was a floating cafeteria/troopship. Ugly.

[mtlgreen]

@Maxobillion

Seriously, it's like the US has the anti-Midas touch: everything it touches turns to shit. They always think they know best, and try to take control of a situation without allowing any collaboration, only to make it 10x worse through utter incompetence and arrogance.

[Romanov8181]

@mtlgreen I could not agree with you more my friend. Absolute shit, from absolute arrogance! Well said!

[LionheartPnshmnt]

Yeah the Normandie was lost because of stubbornness. She at the time had a very advance fire protection system in place but that was disabled as the ship was being converted. There was multiple pleas from her designer to attempt to save the ship. And when she was even lost he proposed that she could be cut down and become a midsized vessel. In the end no one listened and he died penniless obviously distraught over the unnecessary destruction of his magnificent creation.

[ragemanchoo82]

Its also one of those ships people tend to forget about because of its short life and the fact it burned at a dock rather than sank with life on board. It is very frequently cited as the most extravagent, beautiful liner ever built.

Check out the book "Normandie" by John Maxtone-Graham.

[JustAn0bserver]

The Normandie was French owned. It was only 6 years old and cost $60 mil to build.

The Nazis had invaded France and the Normandie escaped and saught refuge in New York.

The US seized her. When the fire broke out, all water tight doors were closed to prevent spread of fire. THe water collected on the top floors which layed her on her side. seems irresponsible. She was scrapped for $160,000. Only 6 years old. Bet the owners were happy. Thanks Navy.

JAO

[ahmed742]

"......The Nazis had invaded France and the Normandie escaped and saught refuge in New York. The US seized her......"

This is called out of frying pan into the fire.

Frying Pan = Nazis

Fire  = The US

[GospelGentleman]

@JustAn0bserver yeah, thats right awful end to this awesome liner,

[ashleytisproduction2]

If It Was American Owned Why Was It Named After A French Area ?

[ragemanchoo82]

It wasn't American-owned, it was the French Line's ship. It was seized by the allied powers (in this case the US) to be used as a troop transport ship. It was in the process of being converted to troop transporter when the fire occured. Fortunately almost all the furniture/decorations/fittings had already been removed and were saved.

This was done during WWI, too, with the Mauretania, Britannic, Olympic, Aquitania, etc all serving as either troop transporters, hosptial ships, or both.

[ashleytisproduction2]

Thanks for the information

[LionheartPnshmnt]

Actually it was named after the French General Lafayette who helped the American colonist in the Revolutionary War.

[LionheartPnshmnt]

I wouldn't exactly say her interiors and furnishings were saved. Quite a bit of it was auctioned off later on.

[ragemanchoo82]

Saved from the fire, I mean

[grandbosse]

sha was not American. She was bilt in France for the French Line (French company ) her name was from the part of France her dock was located. When she was seized in 1942 she was supposed to be used as a soldier ship, then some reckless people got her on fire. End of the story.

[steindaddie]

Sending men deep down in to the dark of a smoke-filled blazing ship to try and locate then open the seacocks was probably a factor in not doing so. Being roasted or choked to death were the likely outcomes.

[GPAGraceTrain]

She would have never rolled over if they would not have pumped so much water into her, the man in charge (Andrews) refused help from the man who designed the Normandie, the designer told them he could open the sea cocks on the ship, and she would sink to a safe level, and be saved, but no, the us navy refused, and you can see the result, sad.

[GRAHAM5020]

@GPAGraceTrain That is a sad story indeed, she was a beautiful ship.

[majaorca100]

Awesome footage of such a beautiful liner