page_title: SS France (1910)
section_title: The 1910s
hierarchical_section_title: SS France (1910) / Career / The 1910s
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: le Navire_hôpital_La_France.
context_page_description: SS France was a French ocean liner which sailed for the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, colloquially known as CGT or the "French Line". She was later christened Versailles of the Atlantic, a reference to her décor which reflected the famous palace outside Paris. Ordered in 1908, she was introduced into the Transatlantic route in April 1912, just a week after the sinking of RMS Titanic, and was the only French liner among the famous four-funnel liners. France quickly became one of the most popular ships in the Atlantic. Serving as a hospital ship during World War I, France would have a career spanning two decades. Her overall success encouraged CGT to create even larger liners in the future.
context_section_description: Built at Chantiers de l'Atlantique, she was launched 20 September 1910 into the River Loire. The spectacle was watched by scores of cheering Frenchmen who had gathered for the occasion. In the following months, her machinery was installed and her luxurious interiors were fitted. Finally completed in 1912, her maiden voyage began at her homeport of Le Havre on 20 April 1912, just five days after the sinking of RMS Titanic. She tied up at the French Line Pier directly adjacent to the White Star Pier where Titanic would have still been docked if her voyage to New York had been successful. As a result of the disaster, France lost much publicity but quickly established herself on her route. She did much to improve the image of the CGT which, to date, had not had much influence in the North Atlantic. Cuisine onboard was said to have been amongst the finest at sea. Sailing at a service speed of 23.5 knots (43.5 km/h; 27.0 mph), she was faster than any ship afloat save for Mauretania and Lusitania. Despite this, she attained a speed of 25.09 knots (46.47 km/h; 28.87 mph) on her trials. At 23,769 tons, France was half the size of the newest British liners, such as Olympic but what she lacked in size, she made up for in opulence. Her first class interiors were amongst the most lavish seen at sea and were decorated in style Louis quatorze earning the nickname Château or Versailles of the Atlantic. 
  Proud of their great achievement, the new France was not without problems; she suffered from disturbing vibrations, and had a marked tendency to roll, even when the seas were flat calm. She was withdrawn from service after just a handful of crossings to have these two serious issues addressed. She was sent to the Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Northern Ireland, where longer and wider bilge keels were fitted to her hull to reduce rolling and new propellers were fitted to reduce vibrations, making her not only more comfortable to travel aboard, but faster as well.
  When World War I erupted in 1914, France was immediately requisitioned by the French Navy for use as an armed merchant cruiser and renamed France IV. Her time as a cruiser was short-lived as she was too large, burned too much coal to be of good use, and was consequently reconfigured to carry troops. On 18 June 1916, France was involved in a collision with the British destroyer HMS Eden in the English Channel. Eden sank with the loss of 43 officers and men, including her commander, with France rescuing the remaining 33 survivors. Later that year, she was painted white and used as a hospital ship in the Dardanelles, operating in tandem with White Star's new flagship, Britannic and Cunard's new Aquitania. During her time as a hospital ship she was converted to accommodate 2,500 injured troops. When Britannic was sunk in late 1916, the need for high-capacity hospital ships was even more dire, and she continued in this role until the United States entered the war in 1917, when she was deployed back to the Atlantic to ferry American troops to the continent with space for some 5,000. In 1918, her military service was cut short by an engine room explosion that killed nine crew members and thus required extensive repairs.
caption: France in 1916
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