Rennes (AFP)
60 years ago, on May 11, 1960, General de Gaulle inaugurated the liner France. Symbol of the Thirty Glorious Years and the expertise of the Saint-Nazaire shipyards, its history is also that of an "economic error".
For four decades, the prestigious ship with two black and red chimneys with fins, which welcomed its passengers "like kings", according to Guy Kérignard, its last commander, sailed the seas from the Atlantic to the Caribbean.
If the admiration of its fans has survived its dismantling after 2003, the end of "France" ends a fate marked by lively controversy.
When May 11, 1960, de Gaulle and his wife came to inaugurate "France" in Saint-Nazaire, the visit took on "a mythical symbolic aspect", underlines the historian Eric Kocher-Marboeuf, lecturer at the University of Poitiers , member of the Maritime History Scientific Interest Group (GIS).
This first visit of the General since 1945 in the bombed old city, is almost "unexpected" for the thousands of workers who worked five years on the ship: "We are proud of the work provided," said the historian.
Public order, France, whose godmother is Yvonne de Gaulle, is inaugurated in the midst of economic growth, against the backdrop of the Algerian crisis.
The country then has "the will to reconnect" with its public maritime company, the Transat (General Transatlantic Company, "called French Line by the English, editor's note"), since "the tragic loss of Normandy during the Second World War", recalls Eric Kocher-Marboeuf.
But from the start, the liner France carries with it "an economic error": it is in direct competition with "the English line which has a history other than the + French Line +". The competing ship, the "Queen Elizabeth", was "thought of as a liner", carrying more passengers, said the researcher.
- "Loire castle" on the sea -
315 m long, France accommodates 2,044 passengers, 890 crew members, has an 8-hectare bridge, a nursery, a swimming pool. And its decoration signifies French luxury: abstract tapestries supposed to enlarge the space, Picasso, Braque and Dufy in the common areas.
This "Loire castle" on the sea, however, has an "architectural configuration which was not suitable", according to the historian. Of course, he "could travel in bad weather", but by 1950, the liner United States "was even faster".
However during his inaugural trip, in February 1962, with Prime Minister Michel Debré on board, France received a triumphant welcome in New York.
The rise of the Boeing 707 then 747 then shuffles the cards. And the "first oil shock of 1973 is a new blow which directly affects the profitability of the French liner", recalls the Musée de la Marine.
As the state seeks to disengage from France, concern spreads among the staff. A mutiny broke out in September 1974, demonstrations took place in Le Havre, followed by the Chirac government, a standoff that ended in December.
Disarmed in 1974, France is chained in a maritime canal, far from the city. The idea of making it an aircraft carrier will be abandoned.
Sold in 1977 to a Saudi billionaire and then in 1979 to the Norwegian Kloster, France was renamed "Norway" and sailed until 2003. Fluffed with asbestos, it was dismantled in 2008 in India.
During its 13 years of service under the French flag, the liner accomplished 377 crossings of the North Atlantic.
From his furniture inventory with collectors, remains his "nose", visible in Le Havre, and bought at auction in 2017 by the Ministry of Culture.
- Dali, de Funès, Hitchcock -
Among its 600,000 passengers, the ship had its celebrities: the painter Dali, who traveled with his three ocelots, Giacometti, Hitchcock, Audrey Hepburn, Louis de Funès, Johnny Halliday.
At 88 years old, Guy Kerignard has not forgotten France and "his sad death". "It is always a recognition to have been appointed on this ship. It was really the end of an era", confides to AFP this ex-second captain of France (1971-1974).
"France was truly the floating palace. The passengers were treated like royalty, everything was perfect on board. It was one of the safest boats and God knows if it has suffered from storms," recalls the sailor who has published its "Logbooks".
Entered the shipyards in 1975, Marc Ménager, union delegate (CFDT) has not forgotten France, "a monument that goes to sail. There is a city that was built with all modernity".
"After France was not easy to manage, we knew that it was going to be the last ocean liner, that France was not going to recommend one anytime soon," he recalls.
It will be necessary to wait until 1982 to see again leaving a liner of the Nazairian yards, the Nieuw Amsterdam.
© 2020 AFP