France 1911

[shipstamps]

Builder: Chantiers & Ateliers de St. Nazaire, Pehoet, France.
Completed: January 1912.
Gross tonnage: 23,769.
Dimensions : 720ft x 76ft. Depth 48ft.
Engines: Four direct-action steam turbines.
Screws: Quadruple.
Watertight bulkheads: Sixteen.
Decks: Five.
Normal speed :23.50 knots. (Attained a speed of 25.09 knots on her trials.)
Officers and crew: 600.
Passenger accommodation: 535 first, 442 second and 948 third class.
Maiden voyage: Le Havre—New York on April 20, 1912.
She was laid down as La Picardie, but changed to France upon resumption of work.
Employed in the Le Havre—New York run in 1914. She was laid up at the outbreak of World War I and transported troops from March 1915 until May of that year under the name of France IV.
Laid up and commis¬sioned as a hospital ship in November 1915 until May 1917. In March 1918 she transported Amer¬ican troops until February 1919 and resumed sail¬ings under her original name in August.
She was France's first turbine liner and was constructed with a double bottom. Her coal consumption was 720 tons every 24 hours.
Overhauled in 1923 and converted to oil firing. She commenced her last voyage for the French Line on August 13, 1932, from Le Havre to Plymouth and New York and was laid up in September.
Among the many recreational pastimes on board passenger ships as shuffleboard or trap shooting—to mention a few—the France went further by employing a bowling lane on her boat deck.
In the course of her life's history the France seemed to have a streak of bad luck when it came to fire. In 1912 she had a fire in her coal bunkers while on her trials; in 1919 there was an explosion on board which killed nine men ; another at her dock in 1933 and once again in 1935 while she was being dismantled.
Sold for scrap in November 1934 and left for the ship-breaker's yard at Dunkirk on April 15, 1935.


Ghana SG2686 Maldives SG2689. North Atlantic Passenger Liners since 1900. Nicholas T Cairis

[aukepalmhof]

Maldives 1997 3r sg2689, scott2226g.