SS France was a Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, or French Line) ocean liner, constructed by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard at Saint-Nazaire, France, and put into service in February 1962. From the time of her construction in 1960 until the construction of the in 2004, the vessel was the longest passenger ship ever built.

France was purchased by Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) in 1979, renamed SS Norway, and underwent significant modifications to refit her for cruising. She was later renamed SS Blue Lady preparatory to scrapping, sold to be scrapped in 2005, with scrapping completed in late 2008.

Characteristics

France was the French Line flagship from 1961 to 1974, combining regular five days/nights transatlantic crossings with occasional winter cruises, as well as two world circumnavigations. During her last years as a liner, to save fuel costs, crossings took six days/nights.

Some, like ship historian John Maxtone-Graham, believe that France was purposely built to serve as both a liner and a cruise ship, stating: "Once again, the company had cruise conversion in mind... for cruises, all baffle doors segregating staircases from taboo decks were opened to permit free circulation throughout the vessel." However, others, such as ship historian William Miller, have asserted that France was the "last purposely designed year-round transatlantic supership."

History

Concept and construction

France was constructed to replace the line's other ageing ships including and SS Liberté, which were outdated by the 1950s. Without these vessels the French Line could not compete against their rivals, most notably the Cunard Line, which also had plans for constructing a new modern liner. It was rumoured that this ship would be a 75,000-ton replacement for their ships and . (This ship would eventually be the 68,000-ton Queen Elizabeth 2.) Further, the United States Lines had put into service in 1952 , which had broken all speed records on her maiden voyage, with an average speed of .

At first, the idea of two 35,000-ton running mates was considered to replace Ile de France and Liberté. Charles de Gaulle, later President of France, opined that it would be better for French national pride, then flagging due to the then ongoing Algerian War of Independence, to construct one grand ocean liner, in the tradition of , as an ocean-going showcase for France. The idea of such a publicly funded liner was controversial, leading to raucous debates in the French parliament. The dealing lasted three and a half years, and though the letter commissioning the construction was finally signed by the Chairman of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Jean Marie, on 25 July 1956, debate about the form, cost and construction schedule for France went on for a further year.

Beyond the luxuries, the French Line had to also face the realities that transatlantic passenger trade was forecast to decline due to increased air travel. Also, ship operating costs were increasing, mostly due to the price of crude oil. Consequently, the new ship would be larger than Ile, but smaller and cheaper to operate than Normandie. She would also only be a two-class liner, which would, like the recently built , be able to be converted from a segregated, class-restricted crossing mode to a unified, classless cruising mode, thereby allowing the ship to be more versatile in its operations. Despite these requirements, she was still to be the longest ship ever built, as well as one of the fastest, meaning not only an advanced propulsion system, but also a hull design which would withstand the rigours of the North Atlantic at high speed.

Hull G19 was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, in Saint-Nazaire, France, her keel being laid down on 7 October 1957. She was built in a pioneering manner: rather than constructing a skeleton which was then covered in steel hull plating, large parts of the ship were prefabricated in other cities (including Orléans, Le Havre and Lyon). The hull was fully welded, leading to weight savings, and two sets of stabilisers were fitted.

She was blessed by the Bishop of Nantes, Monseigneur Villepelet, and launched on 11 May 1960, at 4:15 pm, by Yvonne de Gaulle, wife of the president, and was named France, in honour both of the country and of the two previous CGT ships to bear the name. By 4:22 pm France was afloat and under command of tugs. President De Gaulle was in attendance at the launch, and gave a speech, announcing that France had been given a new Normandie, able to compete with Cunard's Queens, and the Blue Riband was within their reach. In reality, however, the speed of United States could not be beaten.

After the launch, the propellers were installed (the entire process taking over three weeks), the distinctive funnels affixed to the upper decks, the superstructure completed, life boats placed in their davits, and the interiors fitted out. France then undertook her sea trials on 19 November 1961, and averaged an unexpected . With the French Line satisfied, the ship was handed over, and undertook a trial cruise to the Canary Islands with a full complement of passengers and crew. During this short trip she met, at sea, Liberté which was on her way to the shipbreakers.

Service history as France

200px|thumb|right|Maiden voyage cover.

France's maiden voyage from Le Havre to New York via Southampton, took place on 3 February 1962, with many of France's film stars and aristocracy aboard.

On 14 December 1962, France carried the Mona Lisa from Le Havre to New York, where the painting was to embark on an American tour.

thumb|SS France

thumb|right|160px|Poster advertising France<nowiki>'</nowiki>s 1965 [[Christmas and New Year's cruise to the West African coast.]]

She sailed the North Atlantic run between Le Havre and New York for thirteen years. But, by the beginning of the 1970s, far faster, and increasingly more comfortable and fuel-efficient commercial jet aircraft such as the Boeing 707, DC-8, and Boeing 747 had made long-distance transoceanic air travel more popular than the ocean liners, putting financial stress on European ship lines like the CGT that had derived much of their revenue from the trans-Atlantic market. Owing to this shift in trans-Atlantic travel trends, France was forced to take increasing advantage of subsidies from the French government.

Using the ship's versatile design to its full potential, the CGT began to send France on cruises in winter, which was off-season for the Atlantic trade. One design flaw was revealed when the ship reached warmer waters: her two swimming pools, one each for first and tourist class, were both indoors; the first class pool deep within the ship's hull, and the tourist class pool on an upper deck, but covered with an immovable glass dome. The latter, perhaps, was the more aggravating in hot weather. She also had limited outdoor deck space, with much of what was available protected behind thick glass wind-screens, useful on the North Atlantic, but frustrating when blocking cooling breezes in the tropics.

thumb|left|France docked in Hong Kong, February 1974

Nonetheless, France's cruises were popular, and her first world cruise took place in 1972. Too large to traverse the Panama and Suez Canals, she was forced to sail around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. That same year, with the destruction of the Seawise University (former RMS Queen Elizabeth) by fire in Hong Kong, France became the largest passenger ship in service in the world.

As the opening years of the decade progressed, the cruise market expanded, seeing the construction of smaller, purpose-built cruise ships which could pass through the Panama Canal. In the 1973 oil crisis the price of oil went from US$3 to $12 per barrel. When the French government, at the end of the Trente Glorieuses, realised that keeping France running would necessitate an additional ten million dollars a year, it opted instead to subsidize the then Concorde supersonic aircraft currently in development. Without this government money, the French Line could not operate, and it was announced that France would be withdrawn from service on 25 October 1974.

In response the crew decided to take matters into their own hands: an eastbound crossing on 6 September 1974, her 202nd crossing, was delayed several hours while the crew met to decide on strike action. Rather than strike immediately in New York, it was decided to strike six days later outside Le Havre. The ship was commandeered by a group of French trade unionists who anchored France in the entrance to the port, blocking all incoming and outgoing traffic. The 1,200 passengers aboard had to be ferried to shore on tenders, while approximately 800 of the crew remained aboard.

The strikers demanded that the ship be allowed to continue to serve, along with a 35% wage increase for themselves. Their mission failed, and the night of the takeover proved to be the ship's last day of service for the CGT. It took over a month for the stand-off to end, and by 7 December 1974, the ship was moored at a distant quay in Le Havre, known colloquially as quai de l'oubli – the pier of oblivion.

By that time France had completed 377 crossings and 93 cruises (including two world cruises), carried a total of 588,024 passengers on trans-Atlantic crossings, and 113,862 passengers on cruises, and had sailed a total of 1,860,000 nautical miles.

First decommissioning

thumb|France being converted into Norway in Bremerhaven, January 1980.

thumb|Norway leaving Lloyd shipyards in Bremerhaven after conversion.

The mothballing of France was met with dismay by much of the French population, resulting in a song by Michel Sardou, titled "Le France". The chorus of the song being "Never call me "France" again / France has let me down" ("Ne m'appelez plus jamais "France"/ La France elle m'a laissé tomber"). The French Communist Party and the trade unions of Le Havre approved the song, which also became an anthem for the defender of the ship.

The ship sat in the same spot for approximately four years, with the interiors, including all furniture, still completely intact. There were no plans to scrap the ship, or to sell it. In 1977 Saudi Arabian millionaire Akram Ojjeh expressed an interest in purchasing the vessel for use as a floating museum for antique French furniture and artworks, as well as a casino and hotel off the coast of the south-east United States. Though he purchased the ship for $24&nbsp;million, this proposal was never realised, and others were rumoured to have floated, including bids from the Soviet Union to use her as a hotel ship in the Black Sea, and a proposal from China to turn her into a floating industrial trade fair.

Service history as Norway

thumb|left|Norway at [[Velsen, Netherlands]]

Norway was registered in Oslo, given the call sign LITA (literally meaning "small"), and was re-christened on 14 April 1980. She was the only purpose-built transatlantic ocean liner that was remodeled to be employed exclusively in luxury cruise service. Her hull form, bow design, and accommodation layout had been designed specifically for the rigors of crossing the North Atlantic, year-round. In her remodeling for cruise service, she was given more passenger capacity, and larger and more numerous public spaces for cruise-type recreations. Mechanically, the four screw propulsion plant was reduced to two screws. And in a bid for economy she was given a complete set of bow/stern thrusters to give her the flexibility she needed to bring her into harbour and to dock without resorting to the expensive tugboat operations that were standard procedure in the heyday of the transatlantic express liners. When her refit was completed, and on her maiden call to Oslo, Senior Steward Wesley Samuels of Jamaica, in the presence of King Olav V, hoisted the United Nations flag as a sign of the ship's international crew.

She began her maiden voyage to Miami that same year, amidst speculation about her future in the cruise industry. France had been built as an ocean liner: for speed; long, narrow, with a deep draft, as well as an array of cabin shapes and sizes designed in a compact manner more suitable for fast intercontinental travel than relaxed cruising. But Norway proved popular, and made the notion of the ship being a destination in itself credible. Her size, passenger capacity, and amenities revolutionized the cruise industry and started a building frenzy as competitors began to order larger ships.

thumb|Side view of Norway in [[La Rochelle, France, July 1998]]

As cruise competition attempted to take some of Norway's brisk business, Norway herself was upgraded several times in order to maintain her position as the "grande dame" of the Caribbean. In September and October 1990, two decks were added atop her superstructure, adding 135 new suites and luxury cabins. While many ship aficionados consider that the new decks spoiled her original clean, classic lines, the new private veranda cabins on the added decks were instrumental in keeping Norway financially viable during the later years of her operation; they became a common feature throughout the cruise industry. She received additional refits in 1993 and 1996 in order to comply with new SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) regulations.

Competition eventually overtook Norway, even by newly built ships in NCL's lineup itself. No longer the "Ship amongst Ships", NCL severely cut back on her maintenance and upkeep. She experienced several mechanical breakdowns, fires, incidents of illegal waste dumping, and safety violations for which she was detained at port pending repairs. Despite the cutbacks, the ship remained extremely popular among cruise enthusiasts, some of whom questioned the owner's actions in light of the continuing successful operation of Queen Elizabeth 2, which had become a well-maintained rival still operating 5-star luxury cruises and transatlantic crossings for Cunard. In spite of this, the cutbacks continued and problems mounted even as the ship continued to sail with full occupancy. A turbocharger fire erupted on Norway as she entered Barcelona in 1999, which took her out of service for three weeks. on yet another transatlantic crossing to Greenock, Scotland, and then on to her home port of Le Havre. Her passengers learnt of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington six days later, while in mid-ocean. As the cruise industry reeled from the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, the ship's owners decided to place her back into service, operating bargain-basement cruises from Miami, after a brief cosmetic refit that failed to address her mounting mechanical and infrastructure problems.

2003 explosion

On 25 May 2003, after docking in Miami at 5:00&nbsp;a.m., Norway was seriously damaged by a boiler explosion at 6:37&nbsp;a.m. that killed eight crew members and injured seventeen as superheated steam flooded the boiler room and blasted into crew quarters above through ruptured decking. No passengers were injured. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that "the probable cause of the boiler rupture on the Norway was the deficient boiler operation, maintenance, and inspection practices".

Her official farewell cruise was a 17-day transatlantic cruise from Miami stopping at New York; Halifax, Nova Scotia; St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador; Greenock, Scotland; Le Havre, and ending in Southampton. But a decision was made to keep Norway sailing bargain-priced Caribbean cruises out of Miami. This continued until her withdrawal in May 2003.

Blue Lady

Norway was sold in April 2006 to Bridgend Shipping Limited of Monrovia, Liberia, and renamed Blue Lady in preparation for scrapping. One month later she was again sold, to Haryana Ship Demolition Pvt. Ltd., and was subsequently left anchored in waters off the Malaysian coast after the government of Bangladesh refused Blue Lady entry into their waters due to the onboard asbestos. Three weeks later the ship began her journey, sailing to the United Arab Emirates for repairs and to take on new crew and supplies before continuing to Indian waters.

Upon learning of the ship's destination, Gopal Krishna, an environmentalist and an anti-asbestos activist, filed an application before the Supreme Court of India to ensure that the ship, containing asbestos, complied with the Court's 14 October 2003 order which sought prior decontamination of ships in the country of export before they could be allowed entry into Indian waters. On 17 May 2006, Kalraj Mishra expressed his concern to the Indian Parliament over possible hazards Blue Lady presented, and requested that the government put a halt to the ship's entry. As the Indian Supreme Court had lifted any ban on the ship's entry, Blue Lady had come from Fujairah, UAE, and was anchored 100&nbsp;km off the Indian coast in mid-July.

This also cleared the way for her scrapping at Alang, in Gujarat, pending an inspection of the on-board asbestos by experts from the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB).

After GPCB chairman, K.Z. Bhanujan, said the Board had constituted an experts' committee for inspection, Blue Lady was docked in Pipavav, Amreli district. On 2 August 2006, after a five-day inspection, the experts declared the ship safe for beaching and dismantling in Alang. This prompted a fury of controversy over the legality of such an act, including a press release from the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking that critiqued the technical report, alleging that the Technical Committee was under undue pressure to allow the ship to be beached, and had failed to follow the Basel Convention and the Supreme Court of India's order that ships must be decontaminated of hazardous substances such as PCBs and asbestos, and, in any case, must be fully inventoried and formally notified prior to arrival in the importing country. No such notification had been made by either Malaysia (last country of departure) nor Germany (country where the ship became waste).

The Platform on Shipbreaking also announced that it was prepared to launch a global campaign against Star Cruises and their subsidiary Norwegian Cruise Lines for corporate negligence in this case.

thumb|left|Blue Lady at Alang, India, awaiting scrapping.

Photos from Alang revealed that Blue Lady was still partially afloat off the coast; her bow on dry beach at low tide, and the ship fully afloat at high tide. The photos also showed that neither NCL nor Star Cruises had removed any of the ship's onboard furniture or artworks as had been reported.

Fans of France became concerned about the future of the art pieces, both due to the ship lying at anchor in a very humid environment without power for air conditioning, and due to lack of concern for preservation on the part of the scrappers. It was stated that as of early September 2006 the ship's owner had signed contracts with various buyers, including auctioneers and a French museum, to sell the artworks. Other fittings were to be sold by the ton. That decision was reached on 11 September 2007, the 33rd anniversary of France's last day on the Atlantic, when the court ruled that Blue Lady was safe to scrap, a decision that was objected to by environmentalists.

thumb|upright|The bow on display in Le Havre, 2018

By 4 December of the same year, it was confirmed that the tip of Blue Lady's bow had been cut, a ceremonial move done to most ships that end up in Alang just before their full-scale breaking. It was confirmed on 20 January that Blue Lady had commenced scrapping. By September 2008, most of what remained above the waterline had been cut away, and the ship's demolition was essentially completed by late 2008.

In 2009 the tip of the bow of Blue Lady was returned to the country of her birth as one of a catalogue of auction pieces removed from the ship before scrapping commenced. The auction was held on 8 and 9 February. Initially put on public display at Paris Yacht Marina, Port de Grenelle, Paris 15e, in 2018 the tip was acquired by the city of Le Havre and put on display near the fishing port.

In January 2010 one of the two sets of neon letters which sat atop the superstructure of France before her conversion was restored and put on display. The letters, which spell "France", were displayed at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris. After this they were returned to Le Havre and presented to the Musée Malraux, and now face the front of the harbor.

Design

Exterior

France

When France was commissioned in 1956 the French Line asked for a ship which was to be the longest ever built, as well as one of the fastest. But beyond the technicalities, the ship was also to be an ocean-going symbol of France and thus had to be artfully designed. Her 316-meter (1,035&nbsp;ft) hull was designed with a traditional tumble-home, but with a flared stem line at the bow, which ended in a bulbous bow beneath the waterline, evoking similar lines on . Also similar to Normandie, France was equipped with a whaleback on her bow.

Deckhouses on France's superstructure were built of aluminium, to reduce the ship's weight and thereby conserve fuel in operation. Within the superstructure a full-length outdoor promenade deck was designed into both sides of the Pont Canots. Unlike on many other ships, this deck did not wrap completely around the ship, being blocked at the forward end by cabins built in behind the bridgescreen.

One of Frances most distinguishable features were her funnels, designed not only to be eye-catching but functional as well. They were constructed with wings on each side to carry exhaust fumes outwards into the ship's slipstream, where they would be caught by the wind and carried away from the passenger decks below. In addition, each stack had a device that filtered solids from the outlet, returned it into the depths of the ship and then disposed of it into the ocean.

Despite the modern appearance of France, she was painted in the traditional CGT colours, used since the 19th century, of a black hull with red boot-topping and white superstructure, and funnels in red with black cap-bands.

The ship's exterior remained unchanged during her thirteen years of service.

Norway

thumb|Norway arriving at Southampton on maiden voyage

In the conversion of France into a cruise ship, many alterations were made to her exterior decks.

Most notably, vast areas of deck space were opened up, and extended at the stern. A large lido deck was created at the very aft, built so wide, to accommodate as many sunbathing passengers as possible, that it cantilevered over the hull below, which narrowed in towards the stern at that point. The terrace off the First Class Smoking Room was lost in the construction of an outdoor buffet restaurant, and the Patio Provençal on the Sun Deck was filled in with a top-side swimming pool. This last addition created an odd space on Norway, where a tunnel-like space remained around the tank of the pool, into which the original exterior windows and doors of the surrounding cabins, which once looked into the Patio Provençal, still opened, all in their original 1960s colours.

thumb|left|Tenders Little Norway I and Little Norway II

On the forecastle, behind the whaleback, the two cargo kingposts were removed and giant davits were installed to hoist two two-deck, 11-knot tenders, built by Holen Mekaniske Verksted in Norway, used to transfer passengers between Norway and island docks where the harbour would not accommodate the ship's 9-meter (35&nbsp;ft) draft. Based on a World War II landing craft design, these tenders were named Little Norway I and Little Norway II, and were each themselves registered as ships, making Norway the only passenger ship in the world to carry ships. The two tenders were removed after the ship's retirement and moved to Norwegian's private island at Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas; they remained in service .

Below the waterline, the forward engine room was dismantled and the two outboard propellers were removed to reduce fuel consumption, as a cruise ship did not need a high service speed.

Her operation was revived three further times, in 1990, 1997, and 2001, after machinery, decks, and recreational facilities were renovated. During her 1990 refit, two further decks were added to the top of her structure, with luxury suites with private verandas. This addition raised her overall tonnage to 76,049 (reclaiming the title of largest passenger ship in the world, from the 73,000-ton Sovereign of the Seas), her passenger capacity to 2,565, and gave her a competitive edge against newer ships being built at that time which had more and more private balcony suites for their passengers. The addition of the decks was criticised by ship fans for making Norway appear top-heavy. and the food on board prompted food critic Craig Claiborne to state France's Grille Room was the "best French restaurant in the world."

France's dog kennels were located on the Sun Deck, and, as they served both European and American dogs, the run was installed with both a Parisian milestone and a New York City fire hydrant. Some of the mosaics were by the sculptor Jacques Zwobada.

Norway

After the ship was purchased by Kloster in 1979 many of the original 1960s interiors were lost as rooms were either demolished within larger renovations, or redecorated to suit Caribbean cruising, under the direction of maritime architect Tage Wandborg and New York interior designer Angelo Donghia. Areas that were completely remodelled included all of the Tourist Class public rooms, and their indoor promenade areas were filled with prefabricated "junior suite" cabins. The former Versailles dining room, now the Leeward, saw the least remodelling, the wall finish and etched glass mural remaining; however, carpeting and furniture was replaced, the open well was lined with smoked glass and aluminium handrails, an aluminium chandelier was placed over the two-storey space, and a spiral staircase was installed to connect the two levels. The former Salon Saint Tropez became Norway's North Cape Lounge for cabaret and other shows; the décor more dark and muted. Further forward on the same deck, the old Café Rive Gauche was transformed into the ship's Monte Carlo casino. With the promenade windows now within cabins, no daylight penetrated to the casino, and so all windows were filled in. The Tourist Class swimming pool, its glass dome gone after the construction of the open pool deck above, was filled with neon lights and covered with a glass dance floor as part of the remodelling of the entire space into the ship's Dazzles disco.

However, most First Class rooms were left intact, save for the Salon Riviera and Salon Fontainebleau. The former was transformed into the Club International (dubbed Club-I by Norway aficionados), where every element of the original décor was removed. The square columns were made round with vertical aluminium fluting, the walls were repainted in a cream with baby-blue in the ceiling and wall niches, and all the original artwork and furniture was removed. In the corner niches oversized, crystal encrusted Neptune statues were placed, and similar crystal garlanded busts sat on brackets on the forward bulkhead. Lounge seating, sofas and rattan chairs were placed amongst potted ferns, giving the room an overall Miami art-deco feel. Only the railings and bronze, star-shaped light fixtures were original to the room. The latter space was gutted and remade into Checkers Cabaret; a small show lounge with abstract chrome palm trees around the columns, red lacquered wall panels, and a black-and-white checker board dance floor, again evoking a 1920s jazz club. The First Class Library remained untouched, and still used for the same purpose, while the Salon Debussy was turned into a shop, though its bronze décor and distinctive ceiling remained intact. To either side of these rooms ran the original First Class promenade decks, which were now turned into main circulation halls along the ship's principal public deck; the starboard dubbed Fifth Avenue and the port as Champs-Élysées, complete with columnar advertising posts similar to those found in Paris.

Main propulsion

France was constructed by the CGT with speed and comfort in mind, and used the most advanced technology of the time in the design of the ship's propulsion system and other power generating machinery. Fuel costs were also an added factor.

Her engines used eight high-pressure, super-heating boilers delivering of pressure and , all weighing 8,000 tons. This delivered and provided for a service speed of and a maximum speed of , with a fuel consumption of 750 tonnes of oil per 24 hours. The machinery turning the four propellers was divided into two fore and aft groups, as was the electrical generating station.

The short Harold Baim documentary S.S. France, narrated by Nicholas Parsons, shows the interiors and operation of the ship in 1973.

At the conclusion of the 1973 film Serpico, the title character can be seen sitting on the dock with the vessel behind him, as he prepares to sail on her into exile after testifying against the New York Police Department.

France is the cruise ship (on which the story takes place) in the Kolchak: The Night Stalker 1974 episode "The Werewolf".

During the opening of Dog Day Afternoon, released in 1975 and also directed by Sidney Lumet, there is a shot of France docked in New York during the opening montage.

France was the ship on which Elton John crossed the Atlantic Ocean in September 1974. He wrote the music to Bernie Taupin's lyrics for the Captain Fantastic And the Brown Dirt Cowboy album using the ship's piano.

In 1975, French singer Michel Sardou released a single "Le France" about the end of the ship, that was a huge hit in France and French-speaking countries.

In 1983, Anne Murray and guests, Richard Simmons, Eddie Rabbitt, and Luis Rodriguez performed musical numbers while aboard Norway for a TV show called Caribbean Cruise.

In 1986, the American TV show, Today spent a week-long cruise aboard Norway.

Norway appears in the 1989 María Sorté/Enrique Novi Mexican telenovela Mi Segunda Madre from episode 18 as the cruise ship (on which the romantic story takes place) at PortMiami and at sea.

Norway appears during the closing credits of the 1994 Sylvester Stallone/Sharon Stone feature The Specialist in a flyover of the Port of Miami.

In 1994, the Norway, was featured in the children's show Real Wheels in the episode There Goes A Boat.

On 30 July 1998, at the request of a passenger, the pilots of Proteus Airlines Flight 706 made a slight detour from their intended route from Lyon to Lorient in Brittany, to see Norway, anchored in nearby Quiberon Bay. While circling the ship at a low altitude to give passengers a birds-eye view of the iconic former French vessel, the twin-engined Beechcraft 1900D was hit by a Cessna 177, causing both to crash into the bay and killing all 15 people aboard both aircraft. The event was chronicled in the Canadian TV series Mayday season 16, episode 5: "Deadly Detour".

In The Simpsons season 25 episode 12 "Diggs" originally broadcast on 9 March 2014, the episode's Couch Gag featured an animation by Sylvain Chomet. A picture of France replaced the picture of the boat.

France was also seen in the 2015 animated feature Minions. At timestamp 0:11:15, as the Minions leave the water in New York City in 1968, the France is seen in the background. Both the name and funnels are clearly visible.

See also

  • Pierre-Marie Poisson

Notes

Bibliography

  • The Classic Liners of Long Ago: France
  • The liner France in French Lines Archives
  • Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
  • S/S Norway Preservation Foundation
  • The Great Ocean Liners: France

Image galleries

  • Norway Farewell Transatlantic 2001; many photos of Norway, including interiors and details of artwork
  • Slide show of SS France/Norway images
  • Webpage Pictures galleries and personal stories from SS France and SS Norway
  • SS France pictures from the official French Line Archives (French captions)
  • SS France: The tour page
  • 3-D virtual still photo and movie renderings of SS France