A matter of bridge wings and a sign

[Brandon McKinney]

I have looked at many photographs of Normandie's exterior and always wondered why CGT removed Normandie's electric sign for the 1936 season. Also, I notice that in the middle of 1936 or at the beginning of 1937 that Normandie's bridge wings were extended forward... giving it the "Princess Lea" look. Why did they do this? I know the other modifications carried out on Normandie were structurally necessary ie. the Tourist class monstrosity, etc. But why the bridge wings and the sign? I guess improving navigation was the reason for the bridge wings, but I saw no bad reason in keeping the sign. Rather elegant I thought.

Perhaps they removed it feeling the stability of international affairs fall out from under them? What I mean is, did they remove it not wanting it to be a bright, shining target for german torpedoes in the near future? Interesting thought.

And didn't that electric sign end up on the Normandie Hotel of San Juan? I've seen it in person and it looks exactly like the one on the ship. Just curious.

Brandon

 

[Daniel Cox]

Quote:"Perhaps they removed it feeling the stability of international affairs fall out from under them? What I mean is, did they remove it not wanting it to be a bright, shining target for german torpedoes in the near future? Interesting thought"

Thats a very clever thought there Brandon! , hopefully someone on here with more knowledge can come forward and give us some answers to your post.
Regards Linerdan.

 

[Ryan Thompson]

Ok good, it wasn't my imagination. There was indeed a large sign on either side of the ship, near the top deck, reading 'NORMANDIE'. There's a large detailed drawing of the ship on Wikipedia showing the sign, and its visible in this video, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snq9L8rjkaQ

Did the Normandie have really, really large bridge wings or does it just look that way? I've always though the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary's were very similar, so were the fronts of their bridges.