End Of An Era | The History of the SS France

[@lindauhrig1513]

I sailed on the SS France in 1973 with my mom and sister. I still have numerous souvenirs, such as menus, luggage tags, tee shirt, daily newsletter, etc. It was a fantastic experience and I’m so glad we did it!!

[@douglasstemke2444]

I was born in France and came to America on the SS France in 1965, sadly too young to remember it. My folks talked about the luxury of the ship, the celebrities they met and winning a bottle of Channel # 5 on the crossing. Wish I had an actual memory of the ship, but your video is the next best thing.

[@NC616]

Great video Jackson what a golden era it was! Cruising aboard SS Normandie! Vive le France and Vive la France !

[@darploin5071]

The architect of the ship was there and he knew what to do to keep the ship from sinking and that was to open the scuttles and let the ship sink on an even keel or open the fire door so all the water would run down to the lowest decks and then it would work more like ballast to keep the ship upright but New York fireman are not a seasoned sea captains or engineers who design ships so they thought they can do it like a normal house fire and just pour thousands and thousands of gallons into the ship and it would be all right well you see what happened

[@darploin5071]

I remember hearing like towards 1972-73 and her last season of operation in 74 they were sailings with only like $125,200 passengers and either they were all tourist class or all first class depending on the season and the time of the year

[@darploin5071]

Nowadays they can do that put big huge areas and ships because of new structural design and because of modern day fire suppression systems are very good a board ships very rarely do you get instances where a ship Burns to the ground

[@darploin5071]

Well back in 79 when they did the Norway conversion her turbines were seized so they had to wear into the German shipyard in Hamburg and you know what I do think what they did to the France was tasteful and I gave her another 30 years of life but in 1990 whatever they put that nasty extra super structure on top and I made the ship work ridiculous

[@alexandergroppe448]

QE2 took the ocean liner baton from SSFrance when she entered service in 1968 until passing it on to the mighty Queen Mary 2 in May 2004. QM2 plies the waves as the last of the ocean liners.

[@darploin5071]

It was because of the Norway that Royal Caribbean built sovereign of the seas and even though Norway was a longer ship sovereign of the seas was just a little bit heavier and it was because of the SS Norway while we have mega cruise ships now

[@darploin5071]

Well hotpad shipyards in Germany did the work they also are a shipping company you can see containers with their name stenciled on them did they work to convert her to the Normandy

[@jimgiordano8218]

I was on the France in the early 60's when my parents to it from NY to Italy.

[@darploin5071]

Yeah I was an overzealous fire watch man who pulled the asbestos shielding away well the guy was still using the blowtorch and caught the whole damn ship on fire the only thing that really survived of the France to the day is the entry door into the main dining room for first class they're on somebody's private home now

[@darploin5071]

Yeah the SS Normandy I think did the fireproofing a lot better than the SS United States they took fire resistant materials and made him look expensive and elegant when they're really in a very cheap that takes skill to take something that is cheap and kind of tacky and make it look expensive and lovely

[@richarddeason1845]

My first cruise ship I fell in love with cruise ships I been on 50 plus ships because i enjoy my trip on the as Norway

[@user-jm6wh6bq4t]

I just dont like the facade of her superstructure.looks like a plain ferry.