From ‘floating palace’ to the scrapyard: Fascinating images of SS Normandie, the world’s largest and fastest cruise liner… until a clumsy welder destroyed it in a blaze
The colossal 1,000ft 'floating palace' was the height of luxury and the fastest across the Atlantic in the world
The SS Normandie made her maiden voyage from Le Havre in France to New York in just over four days
The majority of her passengers travelled in First Class and enjoyed the luxuries of the grandest hotels
She had a swimming pool, dance floors, numerous bars and a dining room which had doors rising 20ft high
By Ross Ibbetson For Mailonline
Published: 06:34 EDT, 2 April 2019 | Updated: 09:37 EDT, 2 April 2019
Remarkable photos of the record-breaking cruise liner SS Normandie at the height of her glamour show the 'floating palace' before she was destroyed by a hapless American welder.
The 1,000ft French passenger ship was the largest and fastest liner in the world when she made her maiden voyage from Le Havre to New York in 1935.
The SS Normandie made 139 crossings before she was confiscated by the Americans at the advent of World War Two.
After Pearl Harbour was attacked by the Japanese, she was renamed USS Lafayette and was to be converted into a troop ship.
However, with work almost completed, a spark from a welder's torch ignited a bale of lifejackets and the liner was destroyed in the blaze.
more w/many photos
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6876263/From-floating-palace-scrapyard-Fascinating-images-SS-Normandie.html
