[LE GÉNIE FRANÇAIS] The France liner, a giant of the seas

A true symbol of French excellence, the France was remembered as having been admired by all. Just ask the inhabitants of Le Havre today. The seniors have tremors in their voices, because “it was much more than a boat, almost a person”. Built with new materials, a revolutionary assembly technique, innovative propulsion and unprecedented comfort, it was the pride of the French.

There were three liners from France
Few people know, there were three liners called France : the first, in 1864, sailed for more than forty years; the second ensured, from April 20, 1912, the Le Havre-New York line, succeeding the infamous Titanic which had just sank… five days earlier, a few hundred miles from America. They could have crossed paths. This liner Franceforgotten probably because of the soon-to-be-declared First World War, served as a troop transport and hospital ship in the Mediterranean. Just like the first Queen Mary and its great French rival, the Normandieremained docked in New York and requisitioned.
Finally, from 1960 to 2002, the famous liner France remained the largest in the world for forty-two years, but above all the most prestigious, before being dethroned by the Queen Mary 2in 2004. It was still the era of beautiful palaces on the water which, unfortunately, have given way to the ugliness of today's oversized floating buildings.

Aunt Yvonne inaugurates the famous transatlantic
May 11, 1960 is a great day. More than a hundred thousand spectators attend the baptism of the brand new in Saint-Nazaire France. It is “Aunt Yvonne”, wife of President de Gaulle, who cuts the ribbon to let the bottle of champagne shatter against the shell.
With 314 meters in length, a speed of 35 knots (63 km/h), the France can carry 2,000 passengers and 1,000 crew members. He will make 377 four and a half day crossings from Le Havre to New York; it will transport nearly 600,000 people during its twelve years of service.
The 1940 war is now far away, and this boat is a sign of France's return to the rank of great power. This explains the great enthusiasm of the crowd listening to the vibrant speech of the General for whom prestige, far from being a whim, is an asset of independence. And therefore freedom for his people.

The cruise has fun
The liner France will become the darling of artists and stars around the world. Along with the Cannes Film Festival, it's the place “on earth” where we have the most fun. Among them, let us cite the best known: Michèle Morgan, Juliette Gréco, Chagall, Joseph Kessel, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, James Stewart… and President Eisenhower. Then Alain and Nathalie Delon, Bourvil, finally Belmondo, de Funès, Galabru who shoot two films there: The Brain and the continuation of Gendarme of Saint-Tropez (The Constable in New York).
The luxury of the boat, and the imagination of its creators and interior designers, lacks nothing: Aubusson tapestries, eight bars, two swimming pools, performance halls (cinema, theater, etc.), a library 3,000 books, music rooms, games, bridge, table football and pinball machines; a gym, squash, beach games, volleyball, ping-pong; a pigeon shoot on a converted bridge; a chapel and even a prison! There is also a television news program on life on board that you can follow from your cabin so you don't miss anything.

A secret passage through the operation of the Holy Spirit
Children are entitled to their puppet theater with Guignol. And the dogs, since we must not forget anyone, have their own kennel. The restaurant's menu also offers a menu for man's best friend with, for example, “rice sprinkled with meat juice and powdered rusks”. For first class passengers, “quails à la Souvaroff, stuffed with foie gras” are the liner’s specialty. We must honor French haute cuisine.
Memory of a young traveler: “ It was a huge boat, full of nooks and crannies. We had found a way to go first class through the chapel which had two doors! We were able to visit the machines. There was a colossal noise and the immensity of the four large boilers ten meters high… »

When Dali and Hitchcock clown
The testimony of a head waiter in the dining room: “ We took great care of the passengers. The rule was: serve as much as possible, pay attention to the customer, without disturbing them! One who passed often was Salvador Dali, a charming gentleman. He always arrived last. There was a monumental staircase that he descended in his own way and everyone applauded. When asked why he did that, he replied self-deprecatingly: “I'm Dali, I play Dali.” » The great painter was a regular who often traveled with his felines: ocelots. He refused to leave them at the ship's kennel. So, we ended up gently putting them in the prison, because of the smells that the clients were complaining about. One day, the filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, nicknamed “the master of suspense”, strangled an employee of the liner… but he was not put in prison, because in reality he was acting in front of a photographer's lens.

Johnny Halliday sings in front of Jackie Kennedy
The first landing of France in the United States is memorable. The liner is “carried” in triumph by the crowd. He is escorted by helicopters, to the sound of a number of sirens accompanied by sprays of water from pump boats. Johnny Halliday will sing in front of the first lady, Jackie Kennedy, who welcomes the giant of the seas to New York harbor. Later, it was President Kennedy who received the Mona Lisa; it left the Louvre to be loaned for several months to the National Gallery in Washington.
Competition from airplanes but especially the oil crisis of 1973 signaled the end of the Trente Glorieuses and the ocean liner. No longer profitable, it was finally moored in Le Havre on the Quai de l'oubli for many years, with only the cows from the meadow next door for company. The inhabitants, many of whom lived there, will have some difficulty in bearing and forgetting the disappearance of the giant they loved so much. As Michel Sardou sings so well, let's never call it France again!