In 1924 the US put new restrictions on immigration, which triggered a massive shift in the Transatlantic passenger service. For nearly a century passenger lines had made the a large portion of their money through steerage passengers, mostly poor immigrants who were willing to pay rather pricey fees for dirt cheep accommodation, but that era was coming to an end. But it wasn't all bad, as this shift created a new market: tourism. Upper-class Americans were lining up to buy tickets to Europe, or at least international waters, to escape prohibition at home. Middle-class Americans also began to take part in tourism, as vacations were becoming more financially achievable for the average citizen.

  To take advantage of this new market, Britain began planning a new super-liner to compete with the newer more modern ships of the day, such as Bremen and Europa. And like Britain, France would follow suit with their own super-ship. And so, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, the French Line, got to work on their design. Their current flagship was the Île de France, a revolutionary liner in her own right, one of the first French liners launched after WWI, and featuring modern Art-Deco interiors. But the Île de France had a very traditional hull, not the most water-dynamic design. At first the CGT was going to make their new flagship very similar to their past vessels, that is until they were approached by former nautical architect for the Russian Imperial Navy, Vladimir Yourkevitch. 

Yourkevitch had emigrated from Russia to Turkey, but only two years later relocated to Paris. He had had previously approached Cunard with his ideas for the Queen Mary, but was ultimately rejected because of how radical his designs were. However, CGT was interested. They saw the potential of his new water-dynamic hull designs, and knew that this was their opportunity to one-up their rivals. Yourkevitch's ideas consisted of an very streamlined and narrow hull, combined with a slight bulbous bow, a feature pioneered on Germany's Bremen and Europa, two of the fastest ships of their day. 

The CGT worked with Yourkevitch to create a scale model for their new flagship, and it was immediately clear that his designs had huge performance advantages. Seeing these incredible results, CGT went ahead with construction.

Normandie wasn't just luxurious. She was fast. Traveling at a top-speed of 29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph,) fast enough to claim the Blue Riband. The Blue Riband was a prize given to the ship who could perform the fastest Transatlantic crossing, timed down to the minute. Awards were given for west-bound crossings and east-bound crossings separately. With a remarkable service speed for a vessel of that size, Normandie was in the perfect position to steal the Riband, putting it in French hands for the first time. Nothing could go wrong! Except maybe,*clears throat* the Queen Mary. That's right, the Queen Mary would enter service soon after Normandie did, with a 28.5 kn (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph) service speed, and thus, an intense rivalry would ensue.

Once it was decided that Normandie would be converted into an allied troopship and not an aircraft carrier as some people had proposed, the US set about stripping and remodeling her interiors. She was painted in her military livery, and she was renamed USS Lafayette. But on the 9th of February, 1942, everything went horribly wrong. The construction worker Clement Derrick was working in Normandie's first-class lounge, when sparks from his welding torch ignited a stack of life jackets filled with kapok. 

Fire quickly spread to the ornate woodwork in the lounge that had not yet been removed, and the fire spread rapidly. A northwesterly wind fanned the flames, and in under an hour of the disaster's start, the entirety of her three uppermost decks were consumed by raging fire. The fire fighters pumped tons of water onto ship, so much in fact that she developed a worrying list to port. Soon the ships architect, Vladimir Yourkevitch, who was in New York at the time arrived on scene. His suggestion was to open her sea-cocks (valves used to let water into the ship,) to flood her lower decks and allowing her to settle on the bottom of her berth. This way, water could be pumped onto her without potentially capsizing her, and rendering her a total loss. The idea was regrettably shot down by Rear Admiral Adolphus Andrews. 

By 6:00 pm that day, the fire was under control, but water was pouring in through openings in her hull and stopping the efforts to counter-flood from working. Thus she continued to list. Soon after midnight Andrews ordered that Normandie be abandoned. Finally, in the early hours of the morning on the 10th of February, 1942, Normandie capsized in her berth. Rear Adm. Andrews, realizing that his refusal to listen to Yourkevitch had ultimately caused the ship's capsizing and subsequent loss, barred the press from the scene in an attempt to quash the story.