USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)

The USS Shenandoah was the first of four United States Navy rigid airships. It was originally designated FA-1, for 'Fleet Airship Number One' but this was changed to ZR-1. The airship was 680 feet long and weighed 36 tons. It had a range of 5,000 miles, and could reach speeds of 65 miles per hour. The assembly of the Shenandoah took place at Lakehurst, New Jersey between 1922 and 1923 in the only hangar large enough in which to assemble the zeppelin, Hangar Number One, built in 1921. Lakehurst Naval Air Station had already served as a base for Navy blimps for some time, but the Shenandoah was the first rigid airship to join the Navy's fleet.

The design was initially based on the crashed World War I era L-39 Zeppelin. The L-39 was a lightened "height climber" designed for altitude at the expense of other qualities. The design was found insufficient and a number of changes over the initial designs were authorized. Specifically, a number of the features of newer Zeppelins were incorporated into the design as well as some structural improvements. Whether the weaker design characteristics of the initial structure played a part in its later breaking up is a matter of debate.

It was first rigid airship to be designed and built by the United States Navy. Shenandoah was designed by the Bureau of Aeronautics; fabricated at the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia; and assembled at the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, N.J. Her first frame was erected by 24 June 1922; and, on 20 August 1923, the completed airship was floated free of the ground. Shenandoah was christened on 10 October 1923; sponsored by Mrs. Edwin Denby, wife of the Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned on the same day, Comdr. Frank R. McCrary in command.

The USS Shenandoah took to the sky for the first time on September 4, 1923. She was destroyed in a violent storm over Sharon, Ohio on September 3, 1925 with the loss of fourteen of her 39 sailors. This disaster was the trigger for Army Colonel Billy Mitchell to heavily criticize the leadership of both the Army and the Navy, leading directly to his court-martial for insubordination and the end of his military career.

The Shenendoah had a significant edge in safety over airships that came before it in that it was the first rigid airship to use helium rather than hydrogen. Some believe that a similar precaution would have prevented the Hindenburg disaster twelve years later. Helium supplies were relatively rare at the time, though, and the Shenandoah used much of the world's reserves just to fill its enormous volume. The USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), the next rigid airship to enter Navy service, was at first filled with the helium from the Shenandoah until more could be procured.

Shenadoah was designed for fleet reconnaissance work of the type carried out by German naval airships in World War I. Her precommissioning trials included long range flights during September and early October 1923, to test her airworthiness in rain, fog, and poor visibility. On 27 October, Shenandoah celebrated Navy Day with a flight down the Shenandoah Valley and returned to Lakehurst that night by way of Washington and Baltimore, where crowds gathered to see the new airship in the beams of searchlights.

At this time, Rear Admiral William Moffett, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics and staunch advocate of the airship, was discussing the possibility of using Shenandoah to explore the Arctic. Such a program, he felt, would produce valuable weather data as well as experience in cold-weather operations. With her endurance and ability to fly at low speeds, the airship was thought to be well suited to such work. President Coolidge approved Moffett's proposal; but, in January 1924, Shenandoah was torn from her mooring mast at Lakehurst by a gale, and her nose was damaged. She rode out the storm and landed safely, but a period of repair was needed, and the Arctic expedition was dropped.

Shenadoah's repairs were completed in May, and she devoted the summer of 1924 to work with her powerplant and radio equipment to prepare for her duty with the fleet. On 1 August, she reported for duty with the Scouting Fleet and took part in tactical exercises. Shenandoah succeeded in discovering the “enemy” force as planned but lost contact with it in foul weather. Technical difficulties and lack of support facilities in the fleet forced her to depart the operating area ahead of time to return to Lakehurst. Although this marred the exercises as far as airship reconnaissance went, it emphasized the need for advanced bases and maintenance ships if lighter-than-aircraft were to take any part in operations of this kind. During October, Shenandoah flew from Lakehurst to California and to Washington to test newly erected mooring masts. An experimental mooring mast had also been fitted to the oiler, Patoka (AO-9), to determine the practicality of mobile fleet support of scouting airships, and Shenandoah engaged in a short series of mooring tests with her.

The year 1925 began with nearly six months of maintenance and ground test work. Shenandoah did not take to the air until 26 June, when she began preparations for summer operations with the fleet. During July and August, she again operated with the Scouting Fleet, successfully performing scouting problems and being towed by Patoka while moored to that ship's mast.

On 2 September, Shenandoah departed Lakehurst on a flight to the Middle West for training and to test a new mooring mast at Dearborn, Michigan. While passing through an area of thunderstorms and turbulence over Ohio early in the morning of the 3rd, the airship was torn apart and crashed near Marietta. Shenandoah's commanding officer, Comdr. Zachary Lansdowne, and 13 other officers and men were killed. Twenty-nine survivors succeeded in riding three sections of the airship to earth.

Specs: (ZR-1: dead weight 77,500 pounds; useful lift 53,600 pounds; 1. 680'; maximum diameter 78'9"; height 93'2"; nominal gas volume (95% inflation) 2,100,000 cu. ft.; s. 60 k.; cpl. 25; a. 6 .30 cal. Lewis mg., 8 500-pound bombs; cl. Shenandoah)

See also

• List of airships of the United States Navy

External links

• Naval Historical Center Article and Images of Construction (http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-usn22/z-types/zr1-v.htm)
  • Article and Images during Service (http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-usn22/z-types/zr1.htm)

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This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. de:USS Shenandoah