Zeppelins

[margaret smith]

How many Zeppelins did Germany have in service during the war and was the Graf Zeppelin considered the largest?

[Simba]

Don't know about production figures, but I do know that Zeppelin's company built several series of airships, each an improved and larger development of earlier efforts. Schutte-Lanz built wooden-framed dirigibles for the German Army; they were generally smaller than the Zeppelin product.

'Graf Zeppelin' was a post-WW1 airship that successfully completed many trans-Atlantic crossings and a round-the world cruise in the 1930s before the 'Hindenberg' disaster ended public confidence in lighter-than-air travel.

Simba.

[Aerowallah]

Hi, Margaret

I've got a little list...

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_aller_Zeppeline


Rgds
John

[margaret smith]

Hello, Aerowallah, thanks for posting this site ! Lots of information here! My German isn't that great so it will take me awhile to read it . Thanks again!

[Rick]

Originally Posted by margaret smith

! My German isn't that great so it will take me awhile to read it . Thanks again!

Margaret, look around on that site. There is an English language translation, over on the left side as I recall, and a little ways down. R.

[margaret smith]

Thanks , Rick!

[Cigogne]

Margaret,

The German Navy and the German Army were two different rival arms of the German Military. The Navy used them to a greater degree than the Army, but they both used them.

Zeppelin built the larger portion, and also Schutte-Lanz. Zeppelin airships were built of duralumin while the Schutte-Lanz airships were framed with wood.

The Navy used them to a greater extent. You can read about their use, design, and missions in the book, "The Zeppelin in Combat" by Dr. Douglas Robinson. Go to Schiffer's website and you can order it there. It discusses only the Navy's use.

[Jim]

There are several websites where you can type in or copy/paste text in one language and push a button and it gives you a translation into another language. Most of them also let you type in the URL of a webpage and it will translate the entire page. The state of the art of this type of "machine-only translation" is still evolving, but if you use them with the understanding that you will get a few odd results or incorrect words when a word has several meanings and the machine picks the wrong one, they can be very useful.

Here is one of the better sites for this:

http://babelfish.altavista.com

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Margaret Smith:
From 1 August 1914 to !! November 1918, the Zeppelin company built 89 Zeppelin airships. The Zeppelin Company had factories at Manzell,(6) closed before the war. Friedrichshafen,(56); Frankfurt Am Main,(1); Potsdam,(16); Lowenthal, (20) and Staaken,(12) This is the total from before to the endof the war=111.
The other firm was Schütte-Lanz, they built 9 at Rheinau, 1 at Sandhofen, 1 at Darmstadt, 6 at Leipzig and and 3 at Zeesen, total= 20
on 1 August 1914 there were 7 Armee airships and 2 Marine and 3 Delag training airships at the front.
On 1 August 1915, 8 Armee Airships, 11 Marine, 3 Delag Airships.
On 1 August 1916, 15 armee airships, 17 Marine, 1 Delag.
On 1 August 1917, 8 Armee Airships, disbanded during August 1917.
and 21 Marine, 0 delag.
On 1 August 1918, 18 Marine airships. End of the war, Marine had 16 Airships.
The Marine Airships of 1918 were big ships 196.6 to, 211.5 to 226.5 meters long, 1200 to 2030 hp, with airship up to 81 mph. Ceiling of 21000ft. Useful lift of 98000 lbs and a range of 7460 miles.(L.70).
This is a thumbnail description.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[margaret smith]

Thank you so much Dan-San for this information! They certainly made an impressive sight and it's too bad none are around today this size. The Goodyear blimp is a poor substitute for these beauties!