Normandie Quarded -- A U.S. sailor stands guard at one point of the pier slip where the Normandie lies on its side, victim of fire. Salvage tugs crowd about the liner -- renamed the Lafayette when the U.S. took it over. February 26, 1942. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).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