TO BE SCRAPPED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21852, 24 October 1945, Page 5

TO BE SCRAPPED

LINER NORMANDIE REFUSAL BY FRANCE OPTION OF REPURCHASE (10 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 22. The French liner Normandie, a onetime holder of the Atlantic blue riband, is to be scrapped. The French Government has refused to use its option to re-purchase the liner for France. The liner, which has cost £13,500,000 since her launching in 1932 will be worth £35,000 as scrap. The Normandie cost £7,000,000 to build but after her trials she went back to the shipyard for four new propellers and a £500,000 stern remodel. In 1936 she smashed the Atlantic crossing record in four days, three hours, 14 minutes. Two years later; the Queen Mary took the record. When the war came the Normandie stayed in New York harbour, costing £SOOO a month for maintenance. She was requisitioned by the United States Navy but while being converted into an aircraft-carrier she caught fire and capsized. It took 18 months to refloat the liner and the navy then attempted to make her a troopship, bringing the total expenditure to £5,000,000. Now France has decided that it would not be worth while to spend much of the original cost of refitting the Normandie as a luxury liner, but there is still £2,500.000 to pay to the- owners as indemnity.