Ship History |
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S/S ILE DE FRANCE 1926 |
The
Ile de France was a liner of innovation from the outset. The first
large liner
built after the conclusion of the First World War, she was not so much
an
engineering marvel as a decorative break from the traditions of
passenger ship
design. The Ile de France would herald the inception of the modernistic
Art
Deco designs into passenger shipbuilding and would be the forerunner
for the
artistic influence which would give birth to the Normandie of later
years. The
Ile de France would soon become the first ship of the CGT French Line's
era of
innovation, establishing new precedents in French maritime
architecture. Design
and Construction (1912 - 1926): Her
construction was part of the agreement between the French Line
(Compagnie
Générale Transatlantique) and the French government dating back to
November
1912. This agreement called for four passenger and mail liners, to be
constructed in 1916, 1921, 1926, and 1931. The first, Paris,
was laid down in 1914, but World War I disrupted her construction,
and so she wasn't finished until June 1921. As a result, Ile
de France, the second ship, was pushed back to 1926. The Île de France showed classical external
lines and moderate speed, but was the first liner commissioned after
the war to
exceed 40,000 tons. Launched on 14 March 1926 at the Penhoet Chantiers
de
l'Atlantique Shipyard, St Nazaire the Ile de France was greeted into
existence
by thousands of proud government and company officials, workers, press,
and
french citizens. The ship would undergo fourteen months of fitting-out
and left
the shipyards on 29 May for her sea trials. Following
sea trials, the ship sailed to her home port of Le Havre on June 5th.
In the
following week, acclaim and praise would resonate from the thousands of
press
and french citizens who flocked to the pier to glimpse visit the new
ship. The
novelty of Art Deco aboard a ship was an immediate sensation and the
reaction
of the visiting press would be echoed in favourable reviews the
following week.
In the past years, ships had imitated the shore-style. The Deutschland,
the Olympic
and the Imperator had all shown an
interior that could be found on any castle or chateau situated upon the
ground.
The Île de France was a ‘Floating
Hollywood’, a floating luxury resort in itself. The vessel had been
launched
after the famous ‘Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels
Modernes’
in 1925, and had obviously inspired the French Line. The term ‘Art
Deco’ was
born. The Île de France had been meant by the
French to represent their country on the high seas, and that was not
difficult
to realise. The vessel included an entire Parisian pavement-café, a
grand first
class entrance hall and a dining room never dreamed of before, all very
French
– in Art Deco. In the years before the war, ships had mainly been
profitable
because of the immigrants from Europe, but now the more distinguished
group of
people was aimed at. The Île de France
had three classes, but the third class had not at all the leading
position in
passenger-statistics as on earlier pre-war liners. The first class
staterooms
were in many different styles, and the ship had the greatest number of
de luxe
suites on the seas. The third class was also something new. Steerage
had almost
disappeared from ocean travelling, and the staterooms were highly
improved.
People such as teachers and students, and budget-tourists were now
found in
third class. The other classes were for the rich and famed. Even
though the Île de France could not
claim to be the fastest vessel in the world, she had the quickest
mail-system
between Europe and America. On board, she carried a small mail-plane
that could
take off 200 miles from shore, making the French liner the fastest in
one
aspect. The
CGT French Line Prewar Years (1927 - 1939): On
June 22, 1927 the Ile de France sailed from Le Havre for her maiden
voyage to
New York with a call at Plymouth. The acclaim she received in Europe
was echoed
by the citizens of America. Her popularity was such that by 1935, the
ship had
carried more First-Class passengers than any other transatlantic liner.
When
the Depression arrived in 1929, many old ships went to the scrappers
because
they were not wanted by those who could still afford to cross the
Atlantic. The Île de France however was one of the
favoured ships and did not suffer notably in the hard years. She
continued to
serve into the 1930s with a steady group of loyal passengers returning
to her
for her voyages. In
1933, she was sent back to her builder's yards in order to be refitted
to reduce
serious vibration. Every piece of paneling in the ship was removed,
padded, and
then reinstalled. On
one crossing in 1936, the Île de France
encountered the brand new Queen Mary
on the Atlanic. The French ship sent the following message to the Queen: 'You are a very lovely lady'. The Queen
Mary responded with: 'And you
will always be a queen'. The
War Years (1939 – 1947): When
the Second World War broke out the Ile de France was laid up in
September of
1939 at Pier 88 in New York, just opposite the Normandie. French Line
had no
intention to send her back to France for fear of enemy advances. So the
Ile de France was towed to Staten
Island, laid up again, and her staff of 800 was reduced to 100.
However, the Île de France was not to be used by the
French during the hostilities. She was put on loan to the British
Admiralty in
March, 1940, and then on May 1, she was sent to Europe and then
Singapore with
war materials. Once she was in the far east, she was formally seized by
the
British after the fall of France. In
autumn 1941, she returned to New York. She went into the Todd
Shipyards, and
120 days later, was a full-fledged troopship. This entailed removing
her
peacetime decor and painting the ship all gray, as well as installing
berths
for 9,706 soldiers, new kitchen facilities, a complete overhaul of her
machinery, and the scrapping and replacement of her entire plumbing
system.
Afterwards, the Ile de France was
employed in trooping, with an Asiatic crew under P&O management.
She sailed
under dual flags - that of Britain, and that of Free France. She
was first based out of Saigon, and then later, this was changed to
Bombay. She
worked with Cunard's second Mauretania,
and the Dutch Nieuw Amsterdam. These
three liners worked the Cape Town-to-Suez shuttle. Later, in 1943, she
was
switched to the North Atlantic, and put under Cunard management. Here
she
worked with the Compagnie Sud-Atlantique's Pasteur. In
1945, the Ile de France was
officially decommissioned. With little time for a refit, she was
hurriedly sent
on "austerity" and "repatriation" voyages to Canada, New
York, and Indochina. She was handed back to the French Line in 1947. The
CGT French Line Postwar Years (1947 - 1959): In
1947, the Ile was returned to French possession. After the war, the Île de France was once again the prime
ship of the French Line, since the Normandie’s
tragic end in New York harbour in 1942. The French Line immediately
sent their
ship to the Penhoët ship yard for conversion back to a passenger liner.
Many
significant changes were made as part of the refit.
The ships accommodations were also altered to
541 First, 577 Cabin, and 227 Tourist class passengers.The most
apparent change
was that of the exterior. The three funnels were removed and replaced
by a more
stylish duo. The straight black hull had been turned up to meet her
upper fore
peak, to resemblance with the French Lines new look as on the Normandie. These changes resulted in an
increased gross tonnage, and now the French vessel could boast a
44,356-tonnage. The Île de France
went back into service in 1949, and proved to be just as popular as
before the
war. From
the start of her first post-war maiden passenger voyage on the 21st
July 1949,
the new Ile de France departed from
Le Havre to New York. Her offering of First Class service and
accommodation
continued to attract passengers who enjoyed the renown hospitality of
the
French Line. In 1950 she was joined by the former Europa, renamed as
the
Liberte. At
about 11.00 p.m. on the 25th July 1956, the Île
de France was on one of her voyages from New York to Le Havre. At
the same
time the Swedish liner Stockholm
collided with the Italian liner Andrea
Doria. The French liner received a distress call from the stricken
vessel,
but hesitated somewhat before telling the Andrea
Doria that she turned her bow and speeded towards the given
position. When
the Île de France arrived at the
scene, she could hardly see anything. The French liner’s captain came
up with
the idea to floodlight his entire ship so that he could see better
himself, and
to help the Italian liner’s passengers. He could now see that the Andrea Doria was listing heavily to
starboard, and the Stockholm , while
still seeming to remain afloat had a totally crushed bow. Since the Stockholm was not safe due to her
smashed bow, the Stockholm's lifeboats shipped the remaining Andrea Doria’s passengers to the Île de
France. At 06.15 a.m., the French
ship prepared to sail back to New York and land her new passengers. The
Île de France then made a wide circle
around the Andrea Doria and blasted
her whistle whilst hoisting the French flag thrice in order to honour
the
doomed liner. By
1958, she celebrated her 31st birthday but unfortunately the jet age
had come
to dominate transatlantic travel and ocean was on a rapid decline. The
venerable old liner was also beginning to show her age. As a result CGT
French
Line decided to retire the Ile de France on the 17th November 1958. The
Final Years (1958 – 1959): With
CGT French Line having retired the Ile de France from service in
November 1958
many ideas were sparked about her future. Some wanted her for a museum.
Another
wanted her as a hotel along the French Riviera. The Sheraton firm
wanted her as
a tourist center at Martinique in the Caribbean. In
the end the ship was sold to a Japanese scrapping company and departed
Le Havre
on the 16th February 1959. Unceremoniously renamed Furansu Maru for the
voyage,
the send-off she received was one long remembered in the hearts of
those who
had occasion to sail aboard the French Line's most popular post-war
liner. The Furansu Maru was chartered to a
Hollywood film company for $4,000 per day, and renamed the Claridon,
she was to become a floating prop for the movie "The
Last Voyage", a disaster-style movie about the last sailing of a
transpacific liner. The CGT French Line was furious, took the
filmmakers to
court over it, and succeeded in obtaining an order to have the funnels
repainted (they were still red and black, but had a white diamond in
the
middle, with an "M" in the middle of that), and enjoining the
filmmakers from using the name Ile de
France, or even showing any French words at all on the ship. The
bow of the
ship was also repainted from the French Line's "clipper" paint scheme
to a more traditional paint scheme. After
the court battle was over, the Claridon
was positioned offshore in the Inland Sea, she was partly sunk, the top
of the
forward funnel released and sent crashing into the deckhouse, and her
interiors
made victim of explosive devices. Following the filming, the Claridon was refloated, and she was
scrapped. However
she will always live on as the legendary Ile de France. |