Farewell Noway ex France.

Beau Mansfield and thomcmdchief ... since you gents are insiders ... can you give us an update on anything about Titantic II?  There was a lot of hooplah about that after the last movie came out and then it just fell off the radar screen.  Is anyone building one, or was it just some kind of venture capital scam?

Roll 'em, roll'em, roll'em, keep those dogies movin', rawhideeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Well said!  Ever noticed the similarity between modern cruise ships and livestock transports?  Apart from the rust anyway.

Yes.  Modern "cruise" ships are nothing but condos on floats.   France/Norway is the last of the true breed, the last grayhound of the waves.    I saw and boarded her in Florida in 1995, and am honored to have done so.   She will not fare well for she is destined to be butchered like a whale carcass.   But may her spirit, and the spirit of all her kindreds, live on in history books and in the nautical lores of ages to come.

A hundred years hence,  it will not be the Carnivals, the Princesses or the Royal Caribbean floating condos that has any part in the legends of the sea.   It will be the Cunards, the ND Lyolds, the likes of Great Western,  Lusitania, Bremen, Rex, Queen Mary, Normandy,  Andrea Doria, and France.

Yes, it is sad to see the "old" cruise ships slowly fade away, doomed by the relentless twin pressures of time and money. I can't fault the cruise lines for what they're doing these days, they have to make a buck like all the rest of us, it's just that ... these new cruise "ships" have no soul, no elegance, no aura of being a thing of grace and beauty on the open ocean. Maybe I'm just hopelessly out of date, but I would have gladly traded a weekend on the Andrea Doria or the France, for example, with a two week cruise on one of these floating monstrosities.

The ship maybe still usable, but sad as it is, it is no longer marketable.  I don't blame the cruise companies for not wanting to put money into the old ships, they are in business to promote new and unique life-time adventures.   So as I said, it is farewell to the old and hello with the new.

Scott

thomcmdchief wrote:

After the boiler explosion which took the Norway out of service a couple of years ago, Star Cruises took back ownership.  There was no way to replace the damaged boiler because the technology was obsolete, and no replacement parts were available, so to put her back in service, she would have had to be re-engined,

SS France was constructed with 4 sets of steam turbines turning 4 shafts turning quad screws, and enough boilers to power them all and move the ship at 32 knots. 

When she was converted into cruise ship Norway, 32 knots was no longer needed, so 2 of the shafts shafts and 2 screws were removed, leaving her with twin screws and top speed of 26 knots.   However, the 2 surplus engines and half of the boilers were only decommissioned, not removed.   They were retained onboard both because of the diffculties in removing them, and for their abilities to provide spares to the remaining engines and boilers.  Norway, unlike almost any other ship in service, has a set of engines and boilers to drive her, and a complete duplicate set of spare engines and boilers to back them up.

So the notion that Norway's damaged boilers can not be repaired is wrong.   She carries a complete set of spare boilers and engines onboard.

So guys,

There you have it.

The cold blunt truth from thomcmdchief about the Norway.

The same goes for the S.S. United States.

Time for cutting up some steel.

 

Just to be perfectly clear, the Norway is owned by Star Cruises, an Asian company that also owns Norwegian Cruise Line, and Norwegian Cruise Line America.  After the boiler explosion which took the Norway out of service a couple of years ago, Star Cruises took back ownership.  There was no way to replace the damaged boiler because the technology was obsolete, and no replacement parts were available, so to put her back in service, she would have had to be re-engined, which was cost prohibitive. In addition, she, along with most ships of her time is loaded with asbestos, and removing it would also be cost prohibitive.  She would have had to be gutted, and a whole new interior would have to been installed.

So now the Blue Lady is headed for the breakers at Alang, on the coast of India where Star Cruises has sold here for her scrap value. 

 

Jeez, I remember when France first hit the waves, she created quite a splash, no pun intended LOL.

As for United States, I have always been confused why she hasn't been taken over by the Feds as a military transport. Frank O. Braynard points out in Famous American Ships that she was designed from the beginning for conversion to military use. Her chief designer was the famous William F. Gibbs of Gibbs & Cox, but the Navy had a considerable say in her design. In wartime she could transport 14,000 troops. She was/is blazingly fast, 30 knots+. She could do 20 knots backwards.  Given our need for fast military sea transport in this day and age, you think they'd find a use for her.

I agree that it is a sad lost to see the ex S.S. France M.S. Norway and now the Blue Lady heading for the beaches in India to be broken up.

 

On the other hand she is an old ship who does not meet the new IMO class requirements to keep her in service as a cruise ship.

To bring her up to date to meet the new class requirements would not make economical sense.

 

The other thing that everyone needs to realize is “who” is expected to pick up the bill at the end of the day to pay for the maintenance of a ship that is no longer commercially viable.

 

“Every ship has its day”.

 

I work in the cruise ship industry designing the interiors of those so called horrible blocks of flat that are called cruise ships.

 

As for the S.S. United States don’t hold your breath waiting for her to return to commercial service “it won’t happen”.

 

As I sit here at my desk writing this, I am in the middle of a major refit on board the C.S. Century a 70,000-ton cruise ship that belongs to Celebrity Cruise Lines, which we are carrying out in Palermo, Sicily.

We have only 26 days to turn the ship around and back into service from start to finish and now we are day 14.

 

Below is the link that shows you a day-by-day account of what we are doing on board.

I hope you enjoy viewing the site and it gives you some of insight of what is involved with a refit on board a cruise ship.

 

Ship modeling 1:1 is quite a challenge.

 

Beau.

 

 

 

 

http://www.centuryrevitalization.photosite.com/

Well, NCL does own the United States, and owned the Norway.  I think they bought the US as a publicity stunt and feel they may write her off as well.  They seem to have launched a new flaoting casino/shoppingmall/theme park every year for the past three years, so I don't think it woud have been a problem for them to get the US  or Norway refitted.  Its just economics, the current cruise generation likes to be catlecarted onto these large floating glass cities and feel like they never left home instead of walking wooden decks and feeling like they are on a glamourous ship.

The QM2 and QE2 are not doing near as well and the Carnival x-rated cotton candy ships.

Scott

Well if Norwegian Cruise Lines is involved in anything having to do with "saving" the SS United States, that ship is doomed. They have owned her for more than three years and she's still rusting away at the same Philadelphia pier.

This is the same outfit that bought the France, renamed her Norway, and dropped her like a hot potato after a boiler room fire. The last I was able to find out about the France, she was bebopping around the South Pacific, trying to find some country that would scrap her. Very sad when you see what is passing for "ships" these days - no style, no grace, just a Motel 6 that happens to float.

I saw her twice.   About 20 years ago, a buddy and I went to the Bahamas on vacation.   Whille para-sailing, I saw her arriving at Nassau.    Then, one day about 10 years ago, I was on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, having just taken the ferry over from Midtown Manhattan.   As I waited for my ride to show up, I watched the Norway being eased out of her berth and into the river.    It was a pity I didn't have a camera...she was quite the handsome ship.   A sad end...

As for the United States, IIRC, she has been bought by a cruise line as is reportedly going to be put back in service...but I'll believe that when I see it.