[citation needed] Despite these requirements, she was still to be the longest ship ever built, as well as one of the fastest, meaning not only an advanced propulsion system, but also a hull design which would withstand the rigours of the North Atlantic at high speed.

She was built in a pioneering manner: rather than constructing a skeleton which was then covered in steel hull plating, large parts of the ship were prefabricated in other cities (including Orléans, Le Havre and Lyon).

[9] President De Gaulle was in attendance at the launch, and gave a speech, announcing that France had been given a new Normandie, able to compete with Cunard's Queens, and the Blue Riband was within their reach.

[citation needed] After the launch, the propellers were installed (the entire process taking over three weeks), the distinctive funnels affixed to the upper decks, the superstructure completed, life boats placed in their davits, and the interiors fitted out.

[citation needed] Using the ship's versatile design to its full potential, the CGT began to send France on cruises in winter, which was off-season for the Atlantic trade.

[citation needed] She also had limited outdoor deck space, with much of what was available protected behind thick glass wind-screens, useful on the North Atlantic, but frustrating when blocking cooling breezes in the tropics.

That same year, with the destruction of the Seawise University (former RMS Queen Elizabeth) by fire in Hong Kong, France became the largest passenger ship in service in the world.

When the French government, at the end of the Trente Glorieuses, realised that keeping France running would necessitate an additional ten million dollars a year, it opted instead to subsidize the then Concorde supersonic aircraft currently in development.

In 1977 Saudi Arabian millionaire Akram Ojjeh expressed an interest in purchasing the vessel for use as a floating museum for antique French furniture and artworks, as well as a casino and hotel off the coast of the south-east United States.

And in a bid for economy she was given a complete set of bow/stern thrusters to give her the flexibility she needed to bring her into harbour and to dock without resorting to the expensive tugboat operations that were standard procedure in the heyday of the transatlantic express liners.

When her refit was completed, and on her maiden call to Oslo, Senior Steward Wesley Samuels of Jamaica, in the presence of King Olav V, hoisted the United Nations flag as a sign of the ship's international crew.

France had been built as an ocean liner: for speed; long, narrow, with a deep draft, as well as an array of cabin shapes and sizes designed in a compact manner more suitable for fast intercontinental travel than relaxed cruising.

[citation needed] Destined for retirement, Norway sailed out of Manhattan's west side piers for the last time on 5 September 2001,[17] on yet another transatlantic crossing to Greenock, Scotland, and then on to her home port of Le Havre.

[26] This prompted a fury of controversy over the legality of such an act, including a press release from the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking that critiqued the technical report, alleging that the Technical Committee was under undue pressure to allow the ship to be beached, and had failed to follow the Basel Convention and the Supreme Court of India's order that ships must be decontaminated of hazardous substances such as PCBs and asbestos, and, in any case, must be fully inventoried and formally notified prior to arrival in the importing country.

[citation needed] In 2009 the tip of the bow of Blue Lady was returned to the country of her birth as one of a catalogue of auction pieces removed from the ship before scrapping commenced.

The terrace off the First Class Smoking Room was lost in the construction of an outdoor buffet restaurant, and the Patio Provençal on the Sun Deck was filled in with a top-side swimming pool.

[41] Below the waterline, the forward engine room was dismantled and the two outboard propellers were removed to reduce fuel consumption, as a cruise ship did not need a high service speed.

On top of this they had to work within the more strict fire regulations laid down after the end of World War II, which gave them a limited palette consisting of few woods and much aluminium, Formica, and plastic veneers.

The Library was a circular room with glass and lacquered aluminium enclosed book-cases all around, holding 2,200 editions, and was overseen by an attendant who regulated the borrowing and returning of books, as well as assisting passengers with their choices.

The centre of the space rose to a circular dome, some 5.5 m (18 ft) high and, as on Normandie, passengers entered from one deck up (Pont Principale) and descended a grand, central staircase to the main dining room floor.

Slightly forward, the Salon Fontainebleau was decorated by Maxime Old, and contained three tapestries by Lucien Coutaud (Les femmes fleurs), two by Claude Idoux (Jardin magique, Fée Mirabelle) and Camille Hilaire (Sous-bois, Forêt de France).

The dome, painted black, contained an array of recessed spot-lights, and sat within a circular band of translucent, fluorescent-lit panels, all on a truncated rotunda of gold aluminium.

Around all four walls of the room Jean Mandaroux's continuous mural, painted on 17 lacquered aluminium sheets, was entitled Les plaisirs de la vie: The Pleasures of Life.

Only the forward wall held a mural done in 14 engraved glass panels by Max Ingrand, as well as two tapestries, Les amoureux du printemps by Marc Saint-Saëns, and Paysage provençal by Auvigné.

Lowest in the ship, the walls of the First Class swimming pool were covered with back-lit engraved glass panels by Max Ingrand, and a ceramic sculptural fountain by Jean Mayodon sat at the forward end of the room.

[citation needed] France was constructed by the CGT with speed and comfort in mind, and used the most advanced technology of the time in the design of the ship's propulsion system and other power generating machinery.

[49] In 1983, Anne Murray and guests, Richard Simmons, Eddie Rabbitt, and Luis Rodriguez performed musical numbers while aboard Norway for a TV show called Caribbean Cruise.

[citation needed] Norway appears in the 1989 María Sorté/Enrique Novi Mexican telenovela Mi Segunda Madre from episode 18 as the cruise ship (on which the romantic story takes place) at PortMiami and at sea.

[citation needed] On 30 July 1998, at the request of a passenger, the pilots of Proteus Airlines Flight 706 made a slight detour from their intended route from Lyon to Lorient in Brittany, to see Norway, anchored in nearby Quiberon Bay.

While circling the ship at a low altitude to give passengers a birds-eye view of the iconic former French vessel, the twin-engined Beechcraft 1900D was hit by a Cessna 177, causing both to crash into the bay and killing all 15 people aboard both aircraft.