US Navy wanted to salvage the sunk Normandie according to the Dutch newspaper Dagblad van Rotterdam dated Saturday 23 May 1942

An item reported that according to the New York radio minister of navy Knox (1) last Thursday announced that the navy was preparing the salvage of the Normandie (2) sunk due to a fire on board.

Notes

1. William Franklin Knox (1 January 1874 Boston, Massachusetts-28 April 1944 Washington, D.C.) , Secretary of the Navy between 11 July 1940 and 28 April 1944, he preceded Charles Edison and was himself succeeded by James V. Forrestal. Knox was further more newspaper editor and publisher. Member of the Republican Party.

2. French ocean liner with a displacement of 71,300 metric tons and a tonnage of 83,423 gross register tons and as dimensions 313,6 x 36,4 x 11,3 metres or 1.029 x 119’5”x 37 feet. Owned by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. Laid down of the shipyard of Chantiers de l’Atalantique Penhoet, Saint Nazaire, France on 26 January 1941 with a yard number T6. Launched on 29 October 1932 and on 29 May 1935 departed for her maiden voyage. Seized by the US cabinet at New York became she the USS Lafayette. On 20 December 1941 approved president Franklin Delano Roosevelt that she was handed over to the US navy. During her conversion into a troop transport caught she on 9 February 1942 fire, capsized and sunk. Finally salvaged were the costs to repair regarded too high and she was broken up in October 1946.