SS Mobius

SS Mobius is a ship that was constructed as the transatlantic ocean liner SS France for Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, or French Line), constructed by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard at Saint-Nazaire, France, put into service in February 1962, and rebuilt as a cruise ship in 1980. At the time of her construction in 1960, the 316 m (1,037 ft) vessel was the longest passenger ship ever built, a record that remained unchallenged until the construction of the 345 m (1,132 ft) RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004.

France was later purchased by the Royal Mobian Line (RML) in 1979, renamed Mobius and underwent significant modifications to refit her for cruising duties. She was retired in 2008 and was sold to the City of Mobotropolis, where she was permanently moored at the city's port. The ship has served as a tourist attraction featuring restaurants, a museum and a hotel. The city contracted out management of the ship to various third-party firms over the years. It took back operational control in 2021 when the operator filed for bankruptcy.

Characteristics
France was the French Line flagship from 1961 to 1974, combining regular five days/nights transatlantic crossings with occasional winter cruises, as well as two world circumnavigations. During her last years, to save fuel costs, crossings took six days/nights.

Some, like ship historian John Maxtone-Graham, believe that France was purposely built to serve as both a liner and a cruise ship, stating: "Once again, the company had cruise conversion in mind... for cruises, all baffle doors segregating staircases from taboo decks were opened to permit free circulation throughout the vessel." However, others, such as ship historian William Miller, have asserted that France was the "last purposely designed year-round transatlantic supership."

Concept and construction
France was constructed to replace the line's other ageing ships like SS Ile de France and SS Liberté, which were outdated by the 1950s. Without these vessels the French Line had no ability to compete against their rivals, most notably the Cunard Line, which also had plans for constructing a new modern liner. It was rumoured that this ship would be a 75,000-ton replacement for their ships RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth. (This ship would eventually be the 68,000-ton Queen Elizabeth 2.) Further, the United States Lines had put into service in 1952 SS United States, which had broken all speed records on her maiden voyage, with an average speed of 35.59 kn.

At first, the idea of two 35,000-ton running mates was considered to replace Ile de France and Liberté. Charles de Gaulle (the future President of France) opined that it would be better for French national pride, then flagging due to the then ongoing Algerian War of Independence, to construct one grand ocean liner, in the tradition of SS Normandie, as an ocean-going showcase for France. The idea of such a publicly funded liner was controversial, leading to raucous debates in the French parliament. The dealing lasted three and a half years, and though the letter commissioning the construction was finally signed by the Chairman of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Jean Marie, on 25 July 1956, debate about the form, cost and construction schedule for France lasted a further year.

Beyond the luxuries, the French Line had to also face the realities that transatlantic passenger trade was forecast to decline due to increased air travel. Also, costs to operate ships were increasing, mostly due to prices of crude oil. Thus, the new ship would be larger than Ile, but smaller and cheaper to operate than Normandie. She would also only be a two-class liner, which would, like the recently built SS Rotterdam, be able to be converted from a segregated, class restricted crossing mode to a unified, classless cruising mode, thereby allowing the ship to be more versatile in its operations. Despite these requirements, she was still to be the longest ship ever built, as well as one of the fastest, meaning not only an advanced propulsion system, but also a hull design which would withstand the rigours of the North Atlantic at high speed.

Hull G19 was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, in Saint-Nazaire, France, her keel being laid down on 7 October 1957. She was built in a pioneering manner: rather than constructing a skeleton which was then covered in steel hull plating, large parts of the ship were prefabricated in other cities (such as Orléans, Le Havre and Lyon). The hull was fully welded, leading to weight savings, and two sets of stabilisers were fitted.

She was blessed by the Bishop of Nantes, Monseigneur Villepelet, and launched on 11 May 1960, at 4:15 pm, by Madame Yvonne de Gaulle, wife of the President, and was then named France, in honour both of the country, and of the two previous CGT ships to bear the name. By 4:22 pm France was afloat and under command of tugs. President De Gaulle was also in attendance at the launch, and gave a patriotic speech, announcing that France had been given a new Normandie, they were able to compete now with Cunard's Queens, and the Blue Riband was within their reach. In reality, however, the 35 kn speed of United States would prove impossible to beat.

After the launch, the propellers were installed (the entire process taking over three weeks), the distinctive funnels affixed to the upper decks, the superstructure completed, life boats placed in their davits, and the interiors fitted out. France then undertook her sea trials on 19 November 1961, and averaged an unexpected 35.21 kn. With the French Line satisfied, the ship was handed over, and undertook a trial cruise to the Canary Islands with a full complement of passengers and crew. During this short trip she met, at sea, Liberté which was on her way to the shipbreakers.

Service history as France
France's maiden voyage to New York took place on 3 February 1962, with many of France's film stars and aristocracy aboard.

On 14 December 1962, France carried the Mona Lisa from Le Havre to New York, where the painting was to embark on an American tour.

She sailed the North Atlantic run between Le Havre and New York for thirteen years. By the beginning of the 1970s jet travel was by far more popular than ship travel, and the cost of fuel was ever increasing. France, which had always relied on subsidies from the French government, was forced to take advantage of these subsidies more and more.

Using the ship's versatile design to its full potential, the CGT began to send France on winter cruises, which was off-season for the Atlantic trade. One design flaw was revealed when the ship reached warmer waters: her two swimming pools, one each for first and tourist class, were both indoors; the first class pool deep within the ship's hull, and the tourist class pool on an upper deck, but covered with an immovable glass dome. The latter, perhaps, was the more aggravating in hot weather. She also had limited outdoor deck space, with much of what was available protected behind thick glass wind-screens, useful on the North Atlantic, but frustrating when blocking cooling breezes in the tropics.

Nonetheless, France's cruises were popular, and her first world cruise took place in 1972. Too large to traverse the Panama and Suez Canals, she was forced to sail around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. That same year, with the destruction of the Seawise University (former RMS Queen Elizabeth) by fire in Hong Kong, France became the largest in-service passenger ship in the world.

Still, as the opening years of the decade progressed, the cruise market expanded, seeing the construction of smaller, purpose-built cruise ships which could also fit through the Panama Canal. Worse, in 1973 the Oil Crisis hit, and the price of oil went from US$3 to $12 per barrel. When the French government, at the end of the Trente Glorieuses, realized that keeping France running would necessitate an additional ten million dollars a year, it opted instead to subsidize the then in-development Concorde. Without this government money, the French Line could not operate, and with a press release issued in 1974 it was announced that France would be withdrawn from service on 25 October that year.

At that, the crew decided to take matters into their own hands: an eastbound crossing on 6 September, her 202nd crossing, was delayed several hours while the crew met to decide whether to strike then and there, in New York, or six days later outside Le Havre. Le Havre won, and the ship was commandeered by a group of French trade unionists who anchored France in the entrance to the port, thereby blocking all incoming and outgoing traffic. The 1200 passengers aboard had to be ferried to shore on tenders, while approximately 800 of the crew remained aboard.

The strikers demanded that the ship be allowed to continue to serve, along with a 35% wage increase for themselves. Their mission failed, and the night of the takeover proved to be the ship's last day of service for the CGT. It took over a month for the stand-off to end, and by 7 December 1974, the ship was moored at a distant quay in Le Havre, known colloquially as quai de l'oubli - the pier of the forgotten.

By that time France had completed 377 crossings and 93 cruises (including two world cruises), carried a total of 588,024 passengers on trans-Atlantic crossings, and 113,862 passengers on cruises, and had sailed a total of 1,860,000 nautical miles.

Decommissioning
The mothballing of France was met with dismay by much of the French population, resulting in a song by Michel Sardou, titled "Le France".

The ship sat in the same spot for approximately four years, with the interiors, including all furniture, still completely intact. There were no plans to scrap the ship, or to sell it. In 1977 Saudi Arabian millionaire Akram Ojjeh expressed an interest in purchasing the vessel for use as a floating museum for antique French furniture and artworks, as well as a casino and hotel off the coast of the south-east United States. Though he purchased the ship for $24 million, this proposal was never realised, and others were rumoured to have floated, including bids from the Soviet Union to use her as a hotel ship in the Black Sea, and a proposal from China to turn her into a floating industrial trade fair.

In the end, the ship was sold in 1979 to Arnold Fischer, the owner of Royal Mobian Line for $18 million for conversion into the world's largest cruise ship. Just before France was renamed Mobius one last marriage was performed aboard the ship at the quay in Le Havre. The wedding was performed by Father Jean-Marie de Bannes, the Mobian Seaman's chaplain. Peter Edwards, Director of Research and Corporate Development for RML, was married to Francis Anna Lantz in France's chapel. Witnesses included the ship's Captain, and several members of RML's management team. This marked the last marriage to be performed aboard France, which had hosted hundreds of weddings over her career.

By August of that year Mobius was moved to the Lloyd shipyards in Bremerhaven, Germany, where she would undergo renovations to the cost of $80 million.

Service history as Mobius


Mobius was registered in Mobotropolis, given the call sign LITA, and was re-christened on 14 April 1980. She was the first (and only) purpose-built transatlantic ocean liner that was remodeled to be employed in luxury cruise service. Her hull form, bow design, and accommodation layout had been designed specifically for the rigors of crossing the North Atlantic, year-round. In her remodeling for cruise service, she was given a more generous accommodation, as well as larger and more numerous public spaces for the cruise-type recreations. Her four-screw configuration remained, but were changed so that the ship could run with just two screws while reserving the addition two screws for the occasional transatlantic voyage. And in a bid for economy, she was given a complete set of bow/stern thrusters to give her the flexibility she needed to bring her into harbour; and, to dock, without resorting to the expensive pilot and tugboat operations that were standard procedure in the heyday of the transatlantic express liners. When her re-fit was completed, and on her maiden call to Mobotropolis, Senior Steward Wesley Samuels of Jamaica, in the presence of King Myles, hoisted the United Nations flag as a sign of the ship's international crew.

She began her maiden voyage to Miami that same year, amidst speculation about her future in the cruise industry. France had been built as an ocean liner: for speed; long, narrow, with a deep draft, as well as an array of cabin shapes and sizes designed in a compact manner more for purpose travel than languid cruising. But Mobius proved popular, and made the notion of the ship being a destination in itself credible. Her size, passenger capacity, and amenities revolutionized the cruise industry and started a building frenzy as competitors began to order larger ships.

As cruise competition attempted to take some of Mobius's brisk business, Mobius herself was upgraded several times in order to maintain her position as the "grande dame" of the Caribbean. In September and October 1990, there was the addition of two decks atop her superstructure, adding 135 new suites and luxury cabins. While many ship aficionados believe the new decks spoiled her original clean, classic lines, the new private veranda cabins on the added decks were instrumental in keeping Mobius financially afloat during the later years of her operation, as these became a common feature throughout the cruise industry. She received additional refits in 1993 and 1996 in order to comply with the new SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) regulations.

The ship remained extremely popular among cruise enthusiasts, being a well-maintained cruise liner still operating 5-star luxury cruises and transatlantic voyages for RML much like her rival Queen Elizabeth 2 for Cunard.

Mobius celebrated the 30th anniversary of her maiden voyage to New York in 1992, and the subsequent 40th anniversary in 2002.

Retirement and final voyage


On 24 January 2007, it was annouced by RML that Mobius had been purchased by the City of Mobotropolis for $100 million. Her retirement, in part, was forced by the oncoming June 2010 implementation of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations, which would have forced large and expensive structural changes to the ship.

In a ceremonial display before her retirement, Mobius met the Queen Marie and Queen Alicia in New York Harbor on 28 December 2007 with a celebratory fireworks display; Mobius and Queen Marie had made a tandem crossing of the Atlantic for the meet. This marked the first time three Royal Mobian Flagships had been present in the same location. (RML stated this would be the last time these three particular ships would meet, due to the impending retirement of Mobius. However, due to a change in Mobius' schedule, the three ships met again in Mobotropolis on 22 April 2008.)

Mobius shared a harbour at Zeebrugge with Queen Marie on 24 June 2008, where the two liners exchanged whistle blasts.

On 23 October 2008, Mobius set off from Hamburg to Marquiste on her farewell tour of Mobius, before heading for Helmsdam. She left Helmsdam and arrived in Saint Jean City on 24 October 2008, before moving to Panzero the next day. There she was escorted by Royal Mobian Navy destroyer HMD New Perth and visited by MV Knothole. The farewell was viewed by large crowds and concluded with a firework display. Mobius then sailed around Albion to Larson Haven on 27 October 2008. The following day, after an RMAF flypast, she left amidst a flotilla of small craft to head to Vendome, before returning to Mobotropolis.

Mobius completed her final Atlantic crossing from New York to Mobotropolis in tandem with Queen Alicia. The two liners departed New York on 12 November and arrived in Mobotropolis on 18 November. This marked the end of Mobius' transatlantic voyages.

Her final voyage was from Mobotropolis to Saint-Nazaire, from Saint-Nazaire to Le Havre, and from Le Havre to Mobotropolis. This voyage was a surprise in commemoration of her service as France, and had drawn out huge crowds who wanted to see their country's former pride and joy sail for the last time.

On her final arrival into Mobotropolis, Mobius (on 8 December 2008) went back to her berth in preparation for her farewell celebrations. These were led by Jacqueline, Queen of the Mobians who toured the ship at great length. She visited areas of interest including the two tender boats on the bow. She also met with current and former crew members.

Mobius left Mobotropolis Docks for the final time at 1915 GMT on 23 December 2008, to begin her farewell voyage by the name of "Mobius' Final Voyage". After purchasing her for US$100 million her ownership passed to the City of Mobotropolis on that same day. The decommissioning of the ship was especially poignant for Mobius' only permanent resident, Juliana van der Horne, aged 77, who lived on board in retirement for twelve years at the time, at a cost of some 3500R per month.

Permanent mooring
Her final voyage from Mobotropolis to a custom-built berth just northwest of the city happened on 23 December 2008, arriving to the berth in a flotilla of 80 smaller vessels, led by MY Acorn, the personal yacht of King Maximillian II, king of Alba, in time for her official handover the following day.

The process of converting Mobius from a seafaring vessel to a floating attraction began 13 March 2009. The plan was to restore the original interior fittings as they were during the ship's service as France while maintaining the ship's post-1979 colour scheme in an effort to turn the vessel into an "authentic floating hotel" and museum. The conversion lasted until 24 August 2012 with the ship's first leasee, Jewel Hospitality Company, operating the hotel while the City of Mobotropolis ran the museum and held responsibility for the liner's maintenance and upkeep. Jewel eventually forfeited their lease on 19 April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Mobius' second leasee being RML Suites, a subsidiary of the Royal Mobian Line. RML Suites was given the lease to the vessel's hotel operations on 21 July 2021, with Mobius reopening on 3 February 2022 on the 60th anniversary of her maiden voyage as France.