SS Normandie Pictures

The French Line's Normandie is one of the relatively few legitimate contenders for the title "Greatest Liner Ever". She was a ship of superlatives: the largest ship in the world for five years, more than 20,000 tons larger than White Star's Majestic; the first liner to exceed 1000 feet in length; the first liner to exceed 60,000 tons (and 70,000 and 80,000, for that matter); the largest turbo-electric powered liner; and the first to make a 30 knot eastbound Atlantic crossing. All told, Normandie earned the Blue Riband for five record-breaking crossings; twice westbound and three times eastbound, including both legs of her maiden voyage. And yet, all these technical qualities are only part of Normandie's greatness; her design and decor were equally innovative, distinctive and luxurious. All of these factors contributed to her being described as "the ultimate ocean liner---definitely of the 1930s and possibly of the century"

(Braynard and Miller's Fifty Famous Liners.)