Île de France (ship)
 The Île de France on a contemporary postcard
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The Île de France was a French passenger ship , the interior of which was for the first time completely kept in the style of Art Deco . It was the world's largest passenger ship construction after the end of World War I on behalf of the shipping company Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT) on the shipyard Chantiers de Penhoët in Saint-Nazaire , France created, and 1927, six years after its sister ship Paris put into service. She is considered by many to be the most beautiful ship of the CGT until Normandy was built .
Construction and launch
The construction of the Île de France was part of a contract between the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique and the French government from November 1912 for the construction of four passenger mail ships. The first was Paris, launched in 1916 and not put into service until 1921 due to delays in the First World War, and the second was Île de France . The Île de France was launched on March 14, 1926 and the test drive began on May 29, 1927.
Facility
In 1926, the shipping company published a lavishly illustrated brochure with lavish gold detailing on the luxurious design of the company's new flagship. Never before has the interior of a ship been designed so much in its own style as that of the Île de France . In the past, the interior design of passenger ships was based on older styles, such as those found in a manor house or a castle in the country. Without quoting anything from the past, the interior of the Île de France revealed something completely new. For the first time, all the lounges on a ship were designed in the then current Art Deco style. The facility was based on the style-forming exhibition Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et industriels moderne , which caused a sensation worldwide in 1925. The consistent implementation of this theme on such a large scale made the Île-de-France something very special for the traveling public. The exquisite dining room was entered via a magnificent staircase, reached over three decks and was the largest of its time. There was also a neo-Gothic chapel, a spacious four-deck entrance hall, a shooting range, a well-equipped sports area and even a carousel for the younger passengers . All cabins had beds instead of bunks, and most of the chairs on board the Île de France were designed in a new way. The design of this extraordinary and trend-setting French passenger ship influenced the design of the ships of all other major shipping companies of the time.
Maiden voyage and pre-war
Following the test drives, the Île de France moored in its home port of Le Havre on June 5, 1927 . The following week, the new ship received unanimous applause and praise from thousands of visitors and reporters who flocked to the pier to see the new ship. The novelty of Art Deco aboard a ship was a minor sensation, and the press reaction to it was reflected in equally positive reports.
On June 22, 1927, the Île de France departed from Le Havre on her maiden voyage to New York . When she arrived there, she also received a lot of attention from the American media and thousands of people filled the docks to take a look at the new ship. The Île de France quickly became a success with passengers . The international “ Who's Who ” of politics, aristocracy, economy, theater, cinema, art and sport visited the ship. Captain Joseph Blancart and his paymaster, Henri Villar, became well known. The French Line ended 1928 with record earnings. For the first time, the shipping company's revenues exceeded one billion francs , half of which was contributed by the New York service, which carried more than 90,000 passengers. Her popularity was so great that before 1935 she carried more first class passengers than any other ship in the transatlantic service . In particular, wealthy Americans and the “rich and beautiful” of the time preferred the Île de France , although it was neither faster nor larger than, for example, the 13-year-old Cunard steamer Aquitania .
However, the Île de France postal service was the fastest between Europe and the United States . In July 1928 was seaplane - Catapult installed on the ship for rehearsal only two Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine CAMS 37 flying boats was equipped to the vessel in the post ahead flew when it was located about 200 miles from land. The post delivery deadline was shortened by one day. This practice proved too costly and in October 1930 the catapult was removed.
In 1935, as the new superlative of the CGT, Normandy was put into service. The shipping company was now able to advertise that it had the largest, fastest and most luxurious ships on the North Atlantic.
A few years later, two events destroyed the French line's business success. The first to be destroyed was the Paris on April 18, 1939 by a fire in Le Havre. Then on September 1, 1939, the Second World War began and ended regular transatlantic traffic.
Second World War
When the war broke out, the Île de France initially stayed at its New York quay. Since the French were not interested in bringing the ship back to their home country, she was brought to Staten Island by ten tugs , with US $ 30,000 in costs for dredging her berth. The crew was reduced from 800 to 100 security personnel during the five-month laydown . Then, in March 1940, under the orders of the British Admiralty, to which it had been loaned, the ship was loaded with 12,000 tons of war materials, submarine oil, tanks, and several undisassembled bombers stowed on the aft decks . On May 1, 1941, the Île de France cast off in the black and gray war paint for Europe. She then went to Singapore , where she was officially confiscated by the British after the fall of France.
Post-war period and decommissioning
After the ship was used as a troop transport during World War II, it was initially used to transport American and Canadian troops back after the war. In April 1947 the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique received the ship back from the British Admiralty and brought it back to its shipyard. During the subsequent renovation and modernization, the appearance was also adapted to the aesthetic ideas of the time. The rear chimney was removed and parts of the existing equipment from Normandy , which had been destroyed by fire in 1942, were integrated. In addition, the fuselage was rebuilt, which resulted in a changed line and an increase in the measurement to 44,356 GRT.
In July 1949 she started her first post-war crossing to New York. It turned out to be as popular as it was before the war. She was still the ship of choice for the rich and famous. From 1950 she went on a joint Atlantic service with the Liberté . This was the former Europe , which once held the Blue Ribbon .
The Île de France was involved in the rescue operation for Andrea Doria, who was rammed by the Stockholm in 1956. Of the 1,706 passengers and crew members of the Andrea Doria , 750 castaways were taken on board during a six-hour rescue operation from the Île de France .
The age of the jet aircraft had already begun in 1959 and the era of classic ocean travel experienced a rapid decline due to this new competition. The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique therefore wanted to quietly decommission and scrap the long-serving Île de France . After 620 voyages between Le Havre and New York, the ship was sold to Japanese abandoners for US $ 1.2 million and left Le Havre for the last time on February 16, 1959 under the transfer name Furanso Maru .
Prior to his termination, the former flagship served the French Line in 1959 for a day charter from US $ 4,000 in the disaster film " Descent into Hell " (original title: "The Last Voyage") from 1960 as a floating film set. During filming, it was partially flooded and its front chimney and parts of the interior were blown up. There was a legal dispute between the film company and the shipping company. In the film, the ship is called the SS Claridon , because the shipping company CMA CGM had demanded that neither the name of its former flagship nor any reference to the shipping company should be seen in the disaster film. After the work was completed, the ship was pumped again and towed to Osaka in Japan for demolition .
Trivia
The restaurant on the ninth floor of the Eaton’s department store in Montreal , Canada , was designed in 1931 in the style of the first class restaurant on board the Île de France . When the wife of the department store owner Eaton was asked shortly after crossing the Atlantic on the Île de France how the new “9th Floor Restaurant” should be furnished, she ordered it in the style of this ship. Visitors were able to dine in the restaurant there until Eaton's closed and thus gain an impression of the fine way of life on board this ship.
literature
- Luchsinger: Passenger express steamer "Île de France". In: Journal of the Association of German Engineers , Volume 71, No. 47 (November 19, 1927), pp. 1658–1661.
- Robert D. Ballard , Ken Marschall : Lost Liners - From the Titanic to Andrea Doria - the glory and decline of the great luxury liners . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag GmbH & Co., Munich 1997, ISBN 3-453-12905-9 (English: Lost Liners: From the Titanic to the Andrea Doria. The ocean floor reveals its greatest lost ships. Translated by Helmut Gerstberger).
- Matthias L. Trennheuser: The interior design of German passenger ships between 1880 and 1940 . HM Hauschild GmbH, Bremen 2010, ISBN 978-3-89757-305-5 .
Web links
- Further information on Île de France ( Memento of March 30, 2001 in the Internet Archive ) on greatships.net (English)
- Further information on Île de France ( Memento of June 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) at ocean-liners.com (English)
- Further information on Île de France ( Memento of March 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on greatoceanliners.net (English)
Footnotes
- ^ Report on the Île-de-France in the magazine Werft * Reederei * Hafen. Issue 20, 1927, pp. 415-418.
- ^ William H. Miller, Jr .: Great Luxury Liners 1927-1954, A Photographic Record. Dover Publications Inc., 1981, ISBN 0-486-24056-8 .
- ^ Anne Massey: Designing Liners: A History of Interior Design Afloat. Routledge, 2007, ISBN 978-0-415-37468-2 .
- ^ Report on the Île-de-France in the magazine Werft * Reederei * Hafen. Issue 19, 1927, pp. 393-395.
- ^ Report on the Île-de-France in the magazine Werft * Reederei * Hafen. Issue 21, 1927, pp. 452-454.
- ↑ In honor of their services in the war, British Railways named one of its locomotives Compagnie Générale Transatlantique .
- ↑ a b Alfred Dudszus, Alfred Köpcke: The Big Book of ship types. Weltbild, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89350-831-7 , p. 159f. (Licensed edition by transpress, Berlin).