ADMIRAL MOFFETT AND AKRON

RADM William A. Moffett was one of our most energetic and determined Naval aviators, whose particular interest was the rigid-framed lighter-than-air (LTA) ship.  Moffett faced an uphill battle however, as zeppelins were widely thought to be large, slow targets despite their value as long-range scouts.  No less, the zeppelin disasters of that era had convinced many of their fundamentally unsafe design.  But persistence was a Moffett virtue–persistence sufficient to sustain the LTA program through the 1920s.  In fact, his crowning achievements were our last two zeppelins, the 785-foot sister-ships AKRON (ZRS-4) and MACON (ZRS-5).  Construction of AKRON began in 1929; Moffett, himself drove the “golden rivet” into the ship’s main ring.  She was commissioned on Navy Day (October 27^th) 1931.

AKRON, like her predecessors, soon demonstrated the pitfalls inherent in the zeppelin design–her large rigid frame was unforgiving of sudden wind shears, making her tricky to handle in all but the lightest airs.  To be sure, wind-related damage sidelined the airship on several occasions.  But a more serious accident occurred on 11 May 1932, when AKRON was attempting to moor at US Army Camp Kearny, California (present day MCAS Miramar).  Here the hot California sun combined with nearly empty fuel tanks to make the ship too light.  When she threatened to swing vertically, her nose cable had to be cut suddenly, and three sailors were swept into the air gripping the line.  ACM3 Robert H. Edsall and SA Nigel M. Henton fell to their deaths, and the third, SA C.M. Cowart, hung on for an hour until he could be hauled aboard to safety.

The following year on the evening of 3 April 1933, AKRON departed NAS Lakehurst, NJ, to patrol the New England coast and calibrate signals from newly installed radio direction-finding stations.  According to his frequent custom RADM Moffett was aboard, as was CDR Fred T. Berry, the CO of Lakehurst.  Shortly they encountered heavy weather which worsened as they continued north.  Then sometime around 0030 AKRON was struck by a severe down draft that sent the airship on a tailspin into the Atlantic.  The German steamer Phoebus saw the lights of the craft as she fell, but a five-hour search saved only three, including AKRON’s XO, LCDR Henry V. Wiley.

AKRON’s toll was undoubtedly higher because dirigibles generally did not carry life-vests.  Indeed the 72 lost made this the worst air disaster of its day.  Moreover, the death of the dynamic Moffett signaled the end of the LTA program.  The airfield at NAS Sunnyvale (Onizuka Air Force Station) was named Moffett Field in his honor.  Two giant, hemi-tubular zeppelin hangars could be seen there until 2010.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  7 APR 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Archbold, Rick.  Hindenburg: An Illustrated History.  New York, NY: Warner Books, Inc., 1994, pp. 124-29.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 1 “A”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1991, pp. 103-05.

Love, Robert W.  History of the US Navy, Vol 1  1775-1941.  Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1992, pp. 548-52.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Zeppelins differ from blimps, balloons, and other dirigibles in that they have a rigid internal skeleton of wood or metal.  It was precisely this inflexible frame that made them so vulnerable to wind shear.  The name “zeppelin” derives, of course, from Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917), the German-born inventor of the rigid-framed airship.

AKRON and MACON were not the largest zeppelins ever built.  The infamous Hindenburg that crashed and burned at Lakehurst, New Jersey, was 804 feet long.  Navy LTAs were inflated with Helium, making them considerably safer than German zeppelins of the day that were borne aloft on bladders filled with highly flammable Hydrogen gas.

Onizuka Air Force Station closed on 30 September 2010, the structures thereon were razed, and the land was turned over to the Veterans Administration and the City of Sunnyvale.

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                                               10 OCTOBER 1923

                               USS SHENANDOAH COMMISSIONING

The need to see beyond the horizon prompted militarists of the American Civil War to experiment with manned observation balloons.  From these humble beginnings military lighter-than-air (LTA) technology approached its zenith in WWI, when the Germans perfected long-range rigid airships, or zeppelins.  Surpassing simple balloons or blimps, these sturdy craft were reinforced with a rigid internal skeleton of aluminum that supported propeller engines to drive the airships forward.  Compared to contemporary fixed-wing aircraft, zeppelins were unmatched in their cruising range and station-keeping endurance.  Noting the successes of WWI, the US Navy became interested in rigid airship technology in the early 1920s.

Initially, we borrowed from British technology.  In July 1919 the Royal Navy’s zeppelin R-34 made a well-publicized first crossing of the Atlantic by an airship, from East Fortune, Scotland, to Roosevelt Field on Long Island.  On board for this historic flight, which was only the third time the Atlantic had been crossed by air, was US Navy LCDR Zachary Lansdowne.  Lansdowne’s first-hand experience on the flight encouraged the US Navy to purchase our first zeppelin, R-38 (ZR-2) then being built in England.  R-38 was completed in 1921, however, on her fourth test flight the zeppelin crashed into the Humber River in England, killing 16 of 17 US Navy trainees aboard.

Undaunted, newly appointed Bureau of Aeronautics Chief, RADM William A. Moffett pushed the further development of our LTA program.  Construction on our second and third rigid airships began in 1921.  The second, the beautifully massive SHENANDOAH (ZR-1) was commissioned this day at NAS Lakehurst, NJ.  She was a remarkable craft for her day.  She was the first to be built in the United States, being fabricated at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia and assembled at NAS Lakehurst.  She was the first to utilize non-flammable helium gas, her 680-foot length holding over two million cubic feet.  Side-mounted propeller engines drove her at a top speed of 60 knots.  Her aluminum skeleton was strengthened beyond that of R-38’s.  With a crew of 25, she carried eight 500# anti-ship bombs and was defended with six bristling .30 caliber Lewis machine guns.

In a conservative demonstration of her long-range capability, two weeks hence, on October 27^th, SHENANDOAH undertook a Navy Day celebration flight from Lakehurst through her namesake Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.  She returned to Lakehurst that night, via Baltimore and Washington, where searchlights creased the darkness and cheering crowds applauded her passing.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  17 OCT 23

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Archbold, Rick.  Hindenburg: An Illustrated History.  Warner Books, Inc., New York, NY, pp. 59-67, 1994.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 6 “R-S”.  GPO, Washington, DC, pp. 482-83, 1976.

Jamison, Tom.  Icarus Over the Humber: The Last Flight of Airship R-38/ZR-2.  Hull, England: Lampada Press, 1994.

Shock, James R.  U.S. Navy Airships 1915-1962: A History by Individual Airship.  Edgewater, FL: Atlantis Pub., pp. 53-56, 2001.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Airships were invaluable in these early days as an “early warning” system to detect the approach of an enemy fleet.  The rigid internal framework of the zeppelin provided the strength necessary for long range cruising, and the Navy ultimately commissioned five such airships.  However, four of the five (including SHENANDOAH) ended their careers with violent crashes.  Paradoxically, the rigid frame also hampers the ship’s ability to flex in sudden wind sheer, a factor in all four US Navy zeppelin crashes.  Modern blimps like those of Goodyear and Fuji Corporations are safer non-rigid envelopes held open by the pressure of the helium inside.

For the construction of our third airship, LOS ANGELES (ZR-3), the US Navy contracted directly with airship pioneer Hugo Eckner’s Zeppelin Company in Germany.  Ironically, (though probably not for technological reasons) she was the only US Navy rigid airship that did not die a violent death.

In the Age of Sail, the frigate was designed for the role of forward reconnaissance and scouting.  With the advent of steam technology, this service was provided by a specially designed class of scout cruisers, the CS’s.  It was the potential of the aircraft for advance scouting that led to the formation on 10 August 1921 of the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics, with RADM William A. Moffett as its first chief.  Moffett is remembered with the Porter-class destroyer MOFFETT (DD-362) and with Moffett Field at the former NAS Sunnyvale, California.

In 1923 an alternative school of thought relied on fixed-wing aircraft for forward surveillance.  Most cruisers and battleships of the day carried one or two seaplanes that could be catapulted airborne and recovered by landing on the water next to the ship.  But to overcome limitations of range and endurance, specially designed ships were needed that could transport, launch, and recover scout planes out ahead of the combat fleet.  Our first aircraft carrier, USS LANGLEY, (CV-1) was commissioned in 1922.  Tellingly, her lack of a double letter hull prefix clearly demonstrated her intended role only as an auxiliary.  Her aircraft were not for primary combat, rather they served as forwards scouts for more traditional front-line combatants.

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