''Albatros'' was an Italian-built hydrofoil in service with the

Compagnie générale de navigation sur le lac Léman The ' or Lake Geneva General Navigation Company (commonly abbreviated to CGN) is a public Swiss company operating ships on Lake Geneva connecting towns in both France and Switzerland including Geneva, , , , and . History The CGN was formed in 187 ...

(CGN), commissioned for

Expo 64 The Swiss national exposition of 1964 (French: ''Exposition nationale suisse de 1964''), usually shortened to Expo 64, was a world's fair held in Lausanne, more specifically in Vidy and the neighbouring Vallée de la Jeunesse, between 30 April and ...

. After initial success, technical difficulties and a flagging number of users led to her decommissioning. She was then sold to a French company in 1972.

History

In the early 1960, the imminence of

led to a number of engineering projects being started in the vicinity of Lausanne. In the contexte, the

(CGN), which operates both historical steam paddle ships and modern liners on the Lake of Geneva, was studying the commissioning of a modern unit. On 10 May 1962, its extraordinary assembly of shareholders decided on ordering a

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

. The chosen design was by Leopoldo Rodriquez, from

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

, for a 1.2 million CHF budget. ''Albatros'' was built during the year 1963. On 8 February 1964,"LAlbatros'' approche"
''Nouvelliste du Rhône'', n°41, 20 February 1964, p.2 she departed Messina for her maiden journey to Marseille, thus becoming the first CGN ship sailing the open sea. Upon arriving in Marseille, she was lifted on a truck and brought to Lausanne by road. On 16 April, ''Albatros'' was put in service as a shuttle on the

Vidy Vidy is an area of the city of Lausanne ( Switzerland), on the shores of Lake Geneva (french: lac Léman). Since 1968, the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee have been at Vidy. The Olympic Museum and the Olympic Park (sculpture ...

Évian Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year. Today, Evia ...

line. Her draft would prevent from entering the roads of Gevena in most conditions. In 1970, due to a diminishing public, CGN decided to sell ''Albatros''. In 1972, ''Albatros'' was sold to a company of Lavandou.

Notes and references

Bibliography

* Jacques Christinat, ''Bateaux du Léman, deux siècles de Navigation'', collection Archives vivantes, Éditions Cabédita, Yens-sur-Morges, 1991, , pp. 196–197

External links

* * * {{cite web , url=https://oldthing.de/Motorschiffe-Albatros-Leman-Kat-Schiffe-0024025764 , title=Motorschiffe Albatros Leman Kat. Schiffe , access-date=2019-01-27 Hydrofoils 1963 ships Ships built in Italy Ship names