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With the success of the Swedish America
Lines diesel powered liner
Gripsholm, the French Line
designed Lafayette to a size that
could be powered by the largest marine
diesel engines available at that time.
Before setting out on her maiden voyage
from Le Havre - New York May 19th 1930,
the French Line operated Lafayette
on a weeklong cruise in European waters
to test the reliability of the diesel
engines. The French Lines second diesel
powered liner, the 28,094-ton
Champlain, joined Lafayette
on the Atlantic run in 1932. This similar
sized ship was the French Line’s
first liner to incorporate the new
sweeping hull design. The French
Line’s largest ever liner
Normandie entered service in 1935
with a similar hull design and almost
every ship thereafter.
On a return crossing from New York in
March 1934, Lafayette was caught
up in a severe North Atlantic storm. Huge
waves crashed through about 50 of her
promenade windows causing injuries to
many of the passengers.
Lafayette’s return to France
saw her undergo a few weeks of repairs
before being re-deployed on the Atlantic
run. Four years later, disaster struck
when she was undergoing an overhaul at Le
Havre. Oil had been spilled on
Lafayette’s furnace room
floor and caught fire May 4th 1938. The
fire spread to one of her fuel tanks
setting of a series of explosions. By the
time the explosions ceased and the fires
were extinguished, Lafayette was
damaged beyond repair. The French Line
had her burned out shell towed to the
ship breakers in Rotterdam to be
dismantled. Champlain also had a
short life as she hit a German mine near
La Pallice on the French coast June 17th
1940 and sank soon after.
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