End of a Nautical Icon
My connection to the SS France, and her unfortunate demise.
Oct 5th, 2008 | By Skye Jethani | Category: Design, Family, FeaturesWhen my father first came from India to the United States in 1970, he began his new life by sailing from Europe to New York aboard the SS France. In a strange twist, the legendary liner is now ending her life on a beach in India where shipbreakers are dismantling her hull. I only saw the ship in person once as a kid while on vacation (she was anchored a distance off shore), but I remember vintage photos of my father onboard during his crossing wearing thick black framed glasses, his hair caught in the sea breeze. (Photos of my father with hair are rare, so I tend to remember them.)
Many ship enthusiasts fought hard to preserve the vessel as a hotel or museum. It may seem strange, but a number of other classic liners have escaped death in this manner. The original Queen Mary (1936) ended up as a floating hotel in Long Beach, California, The Rotterdam (1959) has been preserved in Holland, and the Queen Elizabeth 2 (1969) will retire later this year to become a hotel in Dubai. Unfortunately, even though SS France has had one of the most illustrious careers at sea and is universally praised as a pinnacle of nautical design, she’s been destined to the scrape heap.
For the sake of brevity, I’ll focus this post on just a single design element of the liner–her funnels. SS Francewas built with a radically modern funnel design in 1961. Unlike most ships at the time with their uninspiring “paintcan” funnels, SS Francehad winged smokestacks. They became instant icons, and the French Line made wide use of them in their advertising (see the fantastic poster on the left- I’d love to get myself one of those). Twenty years later, Carnival Cruise Lines’ architect, Joe Farcus, adapted France’s funnel to create Carnival’s own winged design which is still found on every one of their ships today. Apart from being aesthetically arresting, the winged funnels actually served a very practical function. The wings expelled fumes away from the ship’s open aft decks, thus prevented soot from falling on passengers and deck furnishings. 
After the transatlantic shipping trade came to an end, thanks to affordable jet travel, SS France was laid up. She was eventually purchased and converted into a warm-weather cruise ship by Norwegian Caribbean Lines (NCL) and renamed SS Norway. The French Line’s red and black funnel livery was replaced with contemporary blue and while arcs that accentuated the winged funnels and better fit the ship’s new tropical environment. For nearly a decade, SS Norway was the largest cruise ship in the world–a title that attracted fame and passengers. She and her winged funnels were once again icons.
In the 1990s, NCL came under new management and the aging SS Norwaywas remodeled to stay competitive against newer ships in a rapidly growing industry. Unfortunately, the changes made to the ship diminished her original design purity. Two additional decks of cabins were added to the top of the ship, thus reducing the funnels’ visual height. The blue and white arcs were gone, replaced with solid navy blue paint and a lame “NCL” box logo. But perhaps the worst additions were a large white radar “bubble” atop the forward funnel, and additional exhaust pipes emerging from the top of the aft funnel. The wings would no longer be functional, but merely decorative features. 
In 2003, while docked in Miami, one of Norway’sboilers exploded. The ship was towed to Germany for repairs, but none were ever made. The cost of re-engineering the ship, combined with her age and inability to compete with newer megaships, resulted in NCL selling the ship to Indian breakers. Once all attempts to preserve the ship failed, the dismemberment began. Today virtually nothing remains of SS France/Norway–not even her funnels.
During the years Norwaylanguished in a German shipyard, one enthusiast proposed a plan to preserve the ships’ funnels if nothing else. He thought the refurbished smokestacks might serve as a monument, library, or a public space. A wonderful idea to preserve two icons of nautical design and history, but one that never came to pass.
SS France (circa 1961)
SS Norway (circa 1981)
SS Norway (2007 Alang, India)
SS Norway (2008 Alang, India)
very sad to see here like that! it shulld be a crime to do that to an old ship.
Very sad for sure. We sailed her in 1984. I’ll always have fond memories and a soft spot in my heart for her.
I was fortunate enough to have been part of the crew on this wonderful ship. It breaks my heart to see
something so majestic tossed aside to make way for the cheap peices of crap that today are called
Cruise Ships.
My husband and I first sailed on SS Norway in Feb. 1982, and then again with the kids in June of 1987. Such magnificence and wonderful memories. Hard to see what’s happening to her.
OMG. How did they let her look like that in 2008?? I was on her in 1987. They had just refurbished her. She was magnificent. What a shame.
So sad….I will always regret not getting to sail the Norway.
We actually had a sailing booked for July 2003….when the tragic explosion happened! Needless to say, we ended up having to book a different sailing.
I am so grateful to have sailed on her 3 times, 1992, 1994, and 2002..was hoping to go one more time, but the explosion took her away from us. I am so glad I got photos of her interiors and exteriors. I miss walking her decks, she was more special than any cruise ship I had been on before her and after her.
That is fiarly sad to see. I ahve been on many “warm weather cruises” and you dont think much about the ships “life” other then the week or so your on it… aww and how nice they were laying out on one of my favorite sarongs and just having a relaxing time….. just to think of any of the ships I ahve been on like this in a few decades… kinda makes me sad =(
The Norway will always have a dear place in our hearts…We were married on board the Norway on July 7, 2002 in Miami. It was wonderful and romantic.
Sad, the king of the sea, SS Norway, is dead. the biggest norwegian pride ever,
“The Norway will always have a dear place in our hearts…We were married on board the Norway on July 7, 2002 in Miami. It was wonderful and romantic.”
It sounds like the Norway means just as much to you as it does to me and Haba. We are sad to see it go.
In our hearts she will always live!
I worked at the pier in Miami for NCL as a guest service agent with this beautiful ship. And i was there the day the boiler exploded. The NORWAY had four boilers i knew the NORWAY’S engineer. By law she only needed 3 working boilers 2 running the ship and 1 back up. NCL should be ashamed for doing this to a ship with so much history to her.
I worked and lived aboard the Norway in 1986, and she was the biggest cruise ship in the world. I was well aware of her lineage from the France to the Norway conversion and all the stories that went with it. It breaks my heart to see what has happened to the once most beautiful ship afloat. Her predecessor the Normandy was the MOST beautiful ship ever built to grace the North Atlantic. There were only four 1,000 foot liners built of which the France/Norway were the last of that era. In 1986 the Norway and QE2 were the trueTitans of the seas. Today the Oasis of the Seas at 1200 feet is the Worlds Largest Cruise Ship. The ships today are more like floating wedding cakes instead of the intrepid Trans-Atlantic ships of the France/Norways era.
I was so proud to live and work on the Norway and would have given anything to see it port in Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades. To see the majestic funnels and the rakish clippered bow towering above everything in the harbor. The Norway will live on in my heart, and dreams. She wasn’t a “Queen”, but a more beautiful, breathtaking silhouette just appearing on the horizon will never be matched!
I went on the one of the first voyages of the SS Noway back in 1981. It was an unforgetable experience. It’s sad to see that this is her end result - but we can’t keep everything so to speak. She will always be fondly remembered by me and my family. And I have lots of pictures of her days in the sun.