Dating to 1944, this episode in the long-running series “John Nesbitt’s Passing Parade” was included in the “G.I. Movie Weekly” shown to American troops in WWII. This episode is titled “A Lady Fights Back.” It tells the story of the famed ocean liner SS Normandie, which caught fire while under modification in New York during WWII. The streamline moderne designed SS Normandie was launched in 1935 and served with the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). At the time she was the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat, crossing the Atlantic in a record 4.14 days.Normandie made 139 westbound transatlantic crossings from her home port of Le Havre to New York City, but was seized by the U.S. government after the fall of France. Renamed USS Lafayette, she was to be converted into a troopship. However on February 9, 1942 while undergoing modifications, she caught fire. The firefighting effort caused the ship to capsize. While “A Lady Fights Back” might make it appear that the ship was reborn like a phoenix, it was not meant to be. After the first she was salvaged at great expense, and then scrapped in 1946. To this day, Normandie remains the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com