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''(For the French RO-RO ship operating for Brittany Ferries, see MV Normandie)'' SS ''Normandie'' was an ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat; she is still the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built.〔Ardman, 1985, pp. 46-47〕 Her novel design and lavish interiors led many to consider her the greatest of ocean liners.〔Ardman 1985, p. 2〕〔''Floating Palaces.'' (1996) A&E. TV Documentary. Narrated by Fritz Weaver〕 Despite this, she was not a commercial success and relied partly on government subsidy to operate.〔 During service as the flagship of the CGT, she made 139 westbound transatlantic crossings from her home port of Le Havre to New York. ''Normandie'' held the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing at several points during her service career, during which the was her main rival. During World War II, ''Normandie'' was seized by US authorities at New York and renamed USS ''Lafayette''. In 1942, the liner caught fire while being converted to a troopship, capsized onto her port side and came to rest on the mud of the Hudson River at Pier 88, the site of the current New York Passenger Ship Terminal. Although salvaged at great expense, restoration was deemed too costly and she was scrapped in October 1946.〔Maxtone-Graham, 1972, p. 391〕 ==Origin== The beginnings of ''Normandie'' can be traced to the Roaring Twenties when shipping companies began looking to replace veterans such as the (1906) and the (1911) .〔Ardman 1985, p. 36〕 Those earlier ships had been designed around the huge numbers of steerage-class immigrants from Europe to the United States. When the U.S. closed the door on most immigration in the early 1920s, steamship companies ordered vessels built to serve upper-class tourists instead, particularly Americans who traveled to Europe for alcohol-fueled fun during Prohibition.〔 Companies like Cunard and the White Star Line planned to build their own superliners〔Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 268–69〕 to rival newer ships on the scene; such vessels included the record-breaking and , both German.〔 The French Line began to plan its own superliner.〔 The French Line's flagship was the ,〔 which had modern Art Deco interiors but a conservative hull design. The designers of the new French superliner intended to construct their new ship similar to French Line ships of the past,〔 but then they were approached by Vladimir Yourkevitch, a former ship architect for the Imperial Russian Navy, who had emigrated to France after the revolution. His ideas included a slanting clipper-like bow and a bulbous forefoot beneath the waterline, in combination with a slim hydrodynamic hull. Yourkevitch's concepts worked wonderfully in scale models〔Ardman 1985, p. 42–47〕〔Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 273〕 which supported his design's performance advantages. The French engineers were impressed and asked Yourkevitch to join their project. Reportedly, he also approached the Cunard Line with his ideas but was rejected because the bow was deemed too radical.〔 The French Line commissioned artists to create posters and publicity for the liner. One of the most famous posters was by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, who was also a Russian emigrant to France. Another cutaway diagram by Albert Sébille, 15 feet long, detailed the interior layout and is displayed in the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.〔Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 267.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SS Normandie」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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