doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (10/08/85)
> This is an obvious reference to the luxury ocean liner Normandie, which was > sent by the French for "protection" to the U.S. during WW I. It stayed in > New York, and was being re-fitted as a troop transport (some "protection", eh?) > when fire broke out. It sank hours later due to the tremendous amount of water > (!) pumped aboard to put out the fire. What kind of trivia is this? Wrong trivia, that's what. It was WW II, not WW I. She had not been sent to the U.S. for "protection", she was in New York on a routine passenger run when Paris fell to the Nazis. The U.S. siezed the (now Vichy-owned) ship and claimed it as captured enemy equipment. The U.S. renamed her the Liberty prior to the botched attempt to re-outfit her. There were only four ocean liners of "the Normandie class" (over 1000' long) ever built -- the Normandie, the Queen Mary, the first Queen Elizabeth, and the France. The Queen Elizabeth burned right after being sold to a new owner who was going to renovate her; the circumstances suggested "arson for insurance". The Queen Mary is now a hotel in Long Beach, California. The France was bought by Norwegian Caribbean Lines, renamed the S/S Norway, was completely re-outfitted for cruising, and sails weekly out of Miami (where she takes up *2* berths!) Other ocean liner info: the United States, holder of the "blue ribbon" for fastest crossing of the Atlantic, was recently bought and will be brought out of mothballs and completely renovated for cruising. -- Doug Pardee -- CalComp -- {calcom1,savax,seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!terak!doug
iwm@icdoc.UUCP (Ian Moor) (10/12/85)
In article <781@terak.UUCP> doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) writes: >> This is an obvious reference to the luxury ocean liner Normandie, >Paris fell to the Nazis. The U.S. siezed the (now Vichy-owned) ship >and claimed it as captured enemy equipment. The U.S. renamed her the ^^^^^ Paris fell in 1940, the US was not at war with anybody at the time ! -- Ian W Moor Department of Computing Whereat a great and far-off voice was heard, saying, Imperial College. Poop-poop-poopy, and it was even so; and the days 180 Queensgate of Poopy Panda were long in the land. London SW7 Uk. Filtered for error, synod on filtration & infiltration