I second that yawhause I admired the SS France in New York 1963 when I was on board the RMS Caronia (The Green Godess)

My grandad was on the SS United States and was on deck when the United States and France passed each other in mid-crossing.

Aw

@@GlamorousTitanic21 So poignant whoever would have thought that whole experience would be lost

I absolutely agree with you cruisliners today have no character at all they look ugly like a blah and ugly buildings such as new buildings architecture these days

@IT Guy I think SS Normandie would claim that title by a wide mark. I'm glad you have great memories of sailing on the France though. Being on the maiden voyage would have been very special.

@@gilbydog7350 All the old liners of that period were beautiful.

+Jarrod Boyd A lot of that happened because of failed plans. Big plans to convert those ships into floating hotels etc. but financial problems stopped the plans. The SS United States is a typical example of that, Everything on the ship was sold to get money. No she's just a rusty hull. And the MS Queen Elizabeth 2 sits and rots in Dubai. Well, the US will maybe sail again and there are still plans for the QE2. Every ship is not so lucky as the Queen Mary and the SS Rotterdam.

+QE2 The Qe2 is not rotting yet. She still has her furniture and she still have her electricity. The news just said a company will be taking the QE2 and will be making her back see with improvements. And one company has plans to build a new United States with a lot of improvements. The Queen mary the bad thing about her she's only getting people to experience the haunted ship.

+BronyAnimator I have followed the SS US story. The Crystal Cruises have plans to refurbish the ship. They are doing a feasibility study on her now. By the end of this year we will know if she's going to sail again.Now I have read that the hull of the Queen Mary is in a bad condition. She hasn't been out of water since 1967 and she will not float for a very long time if nothing more than cleaning and painting is done. Are those news really the latest about the QE2 ? They cut the power off about 3 years ago. Similar news are from 2012 and 2013.

The Queen Mary is no longer a ship persay, her propellers are gone (With on on display in a fresh water tank on the side of the ship) and engine rooms turned into conference rooms.

@@qe2836 the QE 2 is currently an operating hotel.

Agree

The Stopped flying the French Flag on 1980 and started flying to Norway Flag on 1980 to 2006

I believe she’d have been a hotel ship had she not been scrapped.

HERBERT leitner g

+g bridgman I think I built that (Revell?) model as a kid in the 70's as well.I remember gluing those wings on the funnels and thinking they look kind of angelic.

I still have a model of the Queen Mary I built in 1965. I think that was a Revell kit, too. To me the more funnels the better so I always liked the 4 stackers and the Queen Mary. I wanted a model of the Titanic so badly, but back in those days nothing like that was available. I built models of the Moore-McCormick liners Argentina and Brazil, The United States, The France and the Great Eastern. There were a lot of naval ship models available, but I wasn't too big into them.

The Argentina model must have been very rare.Besides the France,as a kid in the late 70's/early 80's,I had the United States,President Cleveland,Mauretania,Titanic,and Queen Mary.I remember if you "ballasted" the hulls with fishing weights,they'd float like real ships after the superstructures and stacks were completed.Military ships never interested me that much,either.

You sound a lot like me. I ballasted them with HO freight car weights and sealed up the hulls to assure they would float like real ships with no leaks. I also made sure the lifeboats would float. My model of the Argentina I found in a small hobby shop somewhere on Long Beach Island, NJ where we spent some summers as a kid. The instructions for the Brazil stated the model was available, but it took me a while to find one. As the ships were identical, the only difference in the kits was the picture on the front of the box and the decals. I never knew of any models of four stackers back in the 60s. I think they came along much later. My only survivor from that era is the Queen Mary which I think was a Revell kit. It's ballasted and will float. I build that one in 1965. It's still in the book case in my office.

@Daniel De saint malo long live!

And the SS United States as well. But , the money isn't there or the interest.

ss Rotterdam was saved.

And no matter how many times I saw her, it was always WOW !! The France and the Normandie were the best and I give my nod to France. Such elegant, streamlined lines, such a classic!! And even as Norway, she still produced that WOW effect !!

@@dawaynenovak7044 seen many lined up in nyc harbor....one caught. the eye....the FRANCE....

France was eye candy !! Such sleek, elegant lines, such a testament to the mid century modern in her interiors!! And even as Norway, you could "visit" France all over the ship!! Especially the Windward Dining room (formerly the Chamboard on the France) and the Club International and the Childrens playroom to mention a few. And one thing I will always remember: you could still feel her strong French heartbeat all over the ship! Miss the France/Norway with all my heart !!!@@herbpetrillo163

She wasn't the last classic genuine ocean liner. The Italian twin sisters SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello built in 1965 were said to be the last. These "Titanic-size" ships had a power of 87,000 shp (shaft horse power) and had a top speed over 30 knots. They were never successful, because the ocean liner era was over, and got only a 10 year long career. Both were sold but plans failed and they got scrapped. Actually the SS France could have had the same fate too (she was laid up in 1974 due to the oil crisis) if NCL hadn't bought her and converted her to a cruise ship And these Italian liners were also twin stackers. I suppose you mean 2 funnels in line, because there are many ships with 2 funnels side by side, if you talk about ships in average. And the Disney cruise ships actually have 2 funnels in line.

sealover thanks for the update!

No kidding they ruined the cunard adventurer

NCL took its most beautiful queen and discarded her like trash. Yes, I know that no ship lasts forever. But what has NCL provided since? All its ships are ugly. One would think they would take inspiration from the classic France/Norway and apply it to newbuilding.

@@Inpri No way they are only interested in cramming as many idiots into these floating condos as possible providing them with high kitsch interiors - yuk!

Actually Norwegian Cruise lines have extremely ugly cruise ships, but I suppose that's what most cruise ships are gonna look like nowadays.

Thanks

The boiler explosion would never have happened if she had been properly maintained. The sad truth is that she wasn't competitive in the modern cruise market. Most people of today sadly just don't understand or care about ocean liners. They obviously just want amusement parks and shopping malls for their journeys. This ship indeed had a more than 40 year long active career. It's pretty much for a ship of this size. The QE2 wasn't active for fully 40 years and the SS US only did 17 years. Smaller ships have a better chance to live longer. The MS Stockholm (1948), that collided with SS Andrea Doria in 1956, actually still sails under the name Astoria. The market for these smaller ships is different. If NCL hadn't bought SS France, she would probably have been sold for scrap already in the 1970's. IT was the oil crises that finally "killed" the remaining pure ocean liners. Most of them were retired already in the late 60's, just like the SS US and the original "Queens". The almost forgotten magnificent Italian sister ships SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello (1965) had only a 10 year old active career, then they were sold to Iran, plans failed and they were later scrapped.

Paris? She would be needed to make an Canal for her to pass thru all the land surrounding Paris i think she would be better on her home Port Le Harve

It really did! There were plans to remodel the SS United states by adding extra decks on top like that, and it too looked hideous in the drawings. So glad it all fell through.

I agree. What do you think about this: www.deviantart.com/majaorca100/art/France-2-137655181 There wouldn't be a market for a traditional genuine ocean liner, so this is more like a "hybrid", just like the Queen Mary 2, but definitely better looking.

+SunCraft -Ship Builder- Uh, derpty derpty derp....

+SunCraft -Ship Builder- No shit...

R.I.P twin towers and SS Norway (SS France)

2 beautiful creations dammed by destiny.

nowhere near as elegant (ugly square stern/too much upperworks) but nice enough. shes only an ocean liner as a gimmick though. ie Cunard are flogging an ocean liner experience so they built a real liner but they use it for cruiseship duty most of the year. CGT, in the France, tried to keep alive the north atlantic dash and built just another in an already exitsing line of liners. no gimmick. france was really the last pure ocean liner built purely for ocean liner duties. as a result she failed pretty quickly. an anachronism before she was launched. but a beautiful one.

There is already an Fast record breaking Ocean Liner no ship have ever Beaten the Record of the SS United states of 39 knots

She is now an Hotel now fully restored

The ss Rotterdam (1959) was saved and is now a proud piece of the Rotterdam harbour. (And a hotel)

maybe. France was the better looking odd funnels aside. but arguably the results show Cunard were right. they dropped their version of the France Q3 and built QE2. France was and Q3 would have been a purebreed ocean liner. QE2 was Panamax and built from the outset to cruise half the year. CGT got about 15 years out of France deperately trying to keep the North Atlantic dream alive in the jet age. Cunard got 42 years out of their more multirole ship.

+James Byars Not the Normandie? Indeed! After the tragic demise of the Normandie in NYC Harbor during WW2 in post war, when The French Line delivered the France in the 1950's she held her own exquisitely among Cunard's Queen Elizabeth, American Line United States and the Italian Line, ill fated Andrea Doria. She survived all others and as the Norway still held a special place among all vessels of her class. She remained the only Transatlantic Ship (different than a Cruise Liner) in service until Cunard's Queen Mary2. I've been fortunate to sail on the France with my parents in the 1960's NYC to Le Havre, as adult cruise in the Norway when it was stationed in Miami and have done a crossing in the Queen Mary2 NYC to South Hampton. The late spring early summer crossing in the France as a inquisitive, curious 11 year old remains a vivid lasting experience of beauty, social etiquette and treasured memories today!

Cool.

+geoff2209 kingi ids The SS France was elegant but the NCL destroyed the ship's elegance by making her slower and more top heavy. Those extra decks on top are ugly. Of course she still looked better than today's cruise "barges".

@@qe2836 the Norway doesnt need to be Fast since she was used as an Cruise ship

@@charlesjakesamadan4924 I know, I was just saying she wasn't the same ship anymore that she originally was .

@@qe2836 true but atleast she was able to have an longer life even though she wasnt like what she was meant to be

@@charlesjakesamadan4924 Yes, I understand that to keep her competitive in the cruise business for so many years NCL had to do those changes. There was no space for pure ocean liners anymore, which SS France definitily was. She could've ended up like the Italian twin sisters SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello, built in 1965. (if you don't know about them, check them out on wikipedia). Many ocean liners built in the late 1950's and the 1960 were indeed "hybrids", built to be easily converted to cruise ships, like SS Canberra, SS Rotterdam and QE2, because their owners could anticipate what was coming. SS France as well as the Italian sisters weren't and this was indeed a mistake. The oil crisis in the 1970's was the definitive kiss of death to the traditional ocean liner business. Only Cunard continued it with QE2 and only partially, like they still do with QM2. I'm sorry if my first comment didn't sound smart, but it's indeed more than 4 years old. In fact I'm a naval amateur historian especilly interested in ocean liners.

Tyler Frederick NCL did the right thing. When her boiler explosion happened. It showed that she was getting old, and for NCL to prevent anymore deaths they scrapper her.

no it hasnt, it was cut up in India a decade ago. which is a disgrace all in its own. but africa, no.

Get help.😈😈😈

i mean no offense, but you dont need to reply to a comment that was made so long ago.

ACTUALLY, CLUB INTERNATIONALE WAS EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL -

Cause people are cheap. Citizens are cheap. Nations waste money on bullshit instead of history. Just look at the SS United States just sitting there rotting.

***** What, exactly, would you suggest be done with the SS UNITED STATES? The entire interior was gutted long ago. She is an empty shell. There aren't even any interior walls or bulkheads. It would be an incredibly expensive endeavor to rebuild it. I would estimate $300 million, and that's without any form of propulsion. Who do you think should foot the bill? What style would you recreate the interior in? And what would you do with her after you recreated the interior? No one has yet come up with a viable plan. Francis Gibbs' grand daughter and the Conservancy have a lot of passion, but no money. It's not the same as what was done with the RMS QUEEN MARY. She was totally intact when she was retired to Long Beach, CA. It was easy and inexpensive to convert her to a floating hotel and attraction. Same with the SS ROTTERDAM. I've been a ship buff all of my life, more than 50 years. I would love to see the UNITED STATES "resurrected". But I just can't see how it will happen. The public interest just isn't there. There was a recent petition on the White House website asking Obama to appropriate funds to refurbish the UNITED STATES. It never got to his desk because it failed to get the required number of signatures. If you can't even generate enough interest for people to take time to add an electronic signature to an internet petition, your cause is pretty much lost. It's sad, but that's the reality of the situation.

***** People are actually trying to Save The US.

+Jeff Puha Now there is a good chance that the SS US will sail again. She will not exactly be restored, everything inside and the whole superstructure will be new, it's easier to do with an empty shell.

They did the right thing.

Bernardo Neira Brunetti Fuck you:/