The Normandie burns in New York. The Normandie, considered by many to be the most elegant ocean liner ever built, catches fire in New York Harbor while preparing to transport Allied troops. Built in France in the early 1930s, the Normandie dominated transoceanic passenger transport. The first large steamship to cross the Atlantic in less than four days, she was a masterpiece of engineering and refined design. The distinctive bow of this 1,000-foot-long steamer was instantly recognizable, and her elaborate architecture and decorations made the Art Deco style famous. With the American entry into World War II, she was seized by the U.S. Navy for military purposes and renamed the USS Lafayette. But on February 9, 1942, as the troop embarkation was imminent, a welder accidentally ignited a stack of flammable life preservers, and by dawn the following day the ship lay capsized in the harbor like a gutted wreck. She was later towed to New Jersey where she was scrapped.
