OCEAN RECORD

Taranaki Daily News, 5 June 1935, Page 5

OCEAN RECORD

NORMANDIE’S TRIUMPH ' AVERAGE SPEED 29 KNOTS '* ■ ■ BREMEN’S TIME ECLIPSED - PACE SET BY REX BEATEN WORLD’S BIGGEST LINER By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright New York, June 3. The new French liner Normandie completed her maiden voyage, making the northern lane crossing of the Atlantic from Southampton to New York in four days 11 hours 33 minutes, almost three hours better than the record of the Bremen. From noon on Saturday till noon on Sunday she made the fastest day’s run, averaging over 31 knots. Her average speed was 29.92 knots, beating the Rex’s mark of 27.36. The Rex, an Italian ship, sailed from Gibraltar.

The best hour’s speed was 31.39 knots, the highest ever attained by a liner. The Queen Mai-y, the big new Cunarder, which is a little smaller than the Normandie, is expected to average 30 knots. The Mauretania in 1909 established ,a record of four days 10 hours 41 minutfes but the journey was from Queenstown. The Mauretania in 1929 sailed from Southampton to New York in four days 17 hours 49 minutes. This was subsequently beaten by the Europa and the Bremen, which sailed from Cherbourg to New York. The Empress of Britain’s time of four days six hours 58 minutes was from Quebec to Cherbourg, a much shorter distance. \ — —— The Normandie, which is owned by the Compagnie Generale Trans-Atlantique, is the largest liner afloat. She was launched on October 29, 1932, at the Penhoet dockyards, St. Nazaire. The vessel is 1029 feet long and has a beam of 119 feet at the waterline. Her gross tonnage is about 79.000. Driven by four electric engines of 40,000 horse-power each the Normandie was : expected to develop a speed of 28 knots at least. It was reckoned that the voyage from Havre to New York should be accomplished by her in four day. l 11 hours. i’ •. ' '’ . . i • . '-■■■. y: ; . • ROOM FOR 2500 PASSENGERS. She has accommodation for 2500 passengers and a crew of 1400 men. The cost of the liner is said to have been about £9,500,000. She is longer than the Eiffel Tower at Paris, and nearly three times as long as the height of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. There are 11 decks, five of which run uninterruptedly from stem to stem. Fea- . tures of the liner are her three streamlined funnels, the first two of which serve as boiler up-takes and the third for ventilation generally. Another feature is the rather extraordinary innovation of having no ventilators, cowls or winches apparent on deck. The ship has a peculiar design forward, having a modern cruiser bow. with moderate flare, a semi-bulbous forefoot, with a whaleback . forecastle deck with breakwater. This deck has been specially designed and reinforced to withstand the pounding of heavy seas and to throw them back without damage to the ship, thus obviating the necessity of slowing down in heavy weather. Rigid precautions against the possibility of the outbreak of fire' have been taken, and the Normandie is as fireproof as any ship can be. She is divided into a great number of fire-tight sections by fire-resisting bulkheads. Eighteen men will patrol the ship day and night COMPARISON WITH QUEEN MARY. . ■ , ■ . J -Aluminium has been used entirely in some of the staterooms, both walls and < furniture being constructed wholly of this material. Forty cabins were built for experimental purposes in order to test the best arrangement of the furnishings and colour schemes. The cabins were designed by French decorators, and about 30 decorating firms were engaged in this particular section of the work. A feature of the cabins is that all are rectangular in shape. Some have their own private deck space. The Cunard-White Star liner Queen Mary, which was launched in September last year, according to most recent advice, is not only of smaller gross measurement than the Normandie, but -is neither as long nor as great in breadth, in spite of what has been stated at van-. ous times For the purposes of comparison it is of interest to note the following details concerning the two liners. , Gross Length Beam Depth tons Normandie ... 1>029 H 9 91 Queen Mary . 1,018 115 95 73,0