| Career (France) | Compagnie de Navigation Sud Atlantique |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Chantiers et Ateliers Penhoet Shipyards |
| Laid down: | 28 November 1928 |
| Launched: | 15 April 1930 |
| Commissioned: | 1931 |
| Decommissioned: | 1936 |
| In service: | 1931 |
| Out of service: | 1933 |
| Struck: | 1936 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1936 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | Around 40,000 gross tons |
| Length: | 733 ft (223 m) |
| Beam: | 92 ft (28 m) |
| Draft: | 29 ft (8.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | Four sets of triple-expansion steam turbines; quadruple propellers; 45,000 SHP |
| Speed: | 21 knots |
| Capacity: | 1,238 passengers |
| Complement: | 663 |
SS L'Atlantique, owned by the Compagnie de Navigation Sud Atlantique (a subsidiary of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique or French Line) was the largest and most luxurious ocean liner on the Europe-South America run until her untimely destruction by fire.
Contents |
L'Atlantique's keel was laid on 28 November 1928 at the Chantiers et Ateliers shipyards in St. Nazaire, France for service between France and South America.[1] She was launched on 15 April 1930, making her maiden voyage between 29 September and 31 October of the same year.[1][2] In 1932, her funnels were raised by 16.5 feet (5.0 m).[1]
In early January 1933, while traveling between Bordeaux and Le Havre to be refitted, the liner caught fire around 25 miles (40 km)from the Isle of Guernsey.[1][2] The blaze was believed to have started in a first class stateroom, and was discovered by the ship's crew at around 3:30 in the morning.[2] The fire spread rapidly, and by early morning the ship's captain, Rene Schoofs, ordered the crew of 200 to abandon ship.[2] Four freighters responded to the ship's distress call, one of which, the SS Achilles, a Dutch steamship, rescued the entire crew.[2] During the afternoon, L'Atlantique began listing to port, and on 5 January the French Ministry of Marine issued a statement saying the ship was considered a total loss.[2]
The liner was towed to Cherbourg, where the fire was extinguished on 8 January, and she remained docked while the ship's owners and insurers debated her fate, eventually resulting in the payment US$6.8 million to Compagnie de Navigation Sud Atlantique for the loss.[2] In February 1936, she was sold for scrap, and broken up by the firm of Smith & Houston in Glasgow.[2]
L'Atlantique weighed between 40,000[1] and 42,500[2] gross tons, and was 733 feet (223 m) long, with a beam of 92 feet (28 m) and a draft of 29.5 feet (9.0 m).[1] She was powered by four triple-expansion steam turbine engines with a total of 45,000 shaft horsepower driving four propellers at a speed of 21 knots (24 mph).[1] She could carry 1,238 passengers, of which 488 were in first class, 88 in second class and 662 in third class, and 663 crew.[1] Unusually for the time, she was built with very little sheer and camber.[1]
The ship was built with a largely art deco interior built on an unusual axial floor plan with a wide hallway up to 20 feet (6.1 m) in width on each of the passenger decks[3] and a foyer at the center of the ship three decks high.[1] Interior decorations were largely made of glass, marble, and various woods, making for a more subdued atmosphere than was present in other Compagnie Générale Transatlantique ships like the SS Ile de France.[1] The interior furnishings were designed by Albert Besnard and Pierre Patout et Messieurs Raguenet et Maillard.[1]