Navy To Refloat The Capsized Normandie -- Preliminary work in raising the burned and capsized liner Normandie at its pier is under way. The Navy announced today the job would take about a year. Barges and other equipment lie alongside the overturned giant in this picture made yesterday. May 21, 1942. (Photo by AP Wirephoto). More infor During World War II, Normandie was seized by U.S. authorities at New York and renamed USS Lafayette. In 1942, the liner caught fire while being converted to a troopship, capsized onto her port side and came to rest on the mud of the Hudson River at Pier 88