| FiY By Douglas Robs jesore —" The Zeppelin in Cc & om The German Naval Airsi. fot commands an important place .. history, for almost half of the 162 rigid airships ever built served with the German Navy in World War I. Fantastic indeed is the story of their reckless attacks on England which Dr Robinson unfolds. All too many of the fragile giants, filled with inflammable hydrogen, fell an easy prey to the incendiary bullets of defending British Aeroplanes. They were the first strategic bomber force, and their range, endurance and carrying capacity far exceeded those of other aircraft of their day. Yet for years, only fragmentary and inaccurate information was available about the German Naval Airship Division and its accomplishments—until the fortunes of war placed all the official records of the German Navy in Allied hands in 1945. Dr Robinson has had the privilege of examining these documents, which form the basis for this first objective and authoritative study of the German Navy’s Zeppelins in World War I. In addition, he has had the assistance of many forme naval airship men in Germany, including naval officers who commanded Zeppelins in many an attack on England. The photographs published in this book come from a large collection, obtained partly in the 1937 visit to the Zeppelin works at Friedrichshafen, and partly from the archives of the late Herr Friedrich Moch, secretary of the German Naval Airship Veterans’ Association, of which Dr Robinson has the honour to be a member. In this third edition the author has incorporated fresh facts which have come to light through his continuing research. 58° §7° 56° 55° 53° §2° y i WEST 0° EAST 1° ie MORAY FIRTH CROMARTY PETERHEAD o ABERDEENo THE NORTH SEA ILLUSTRATING GERMAN NAVAL AIRSHIP OPERATIONS, 1914—1918. AIRSHIP BASES THUS: ©) | : Z \. ST. 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OX NORWAY LISTER LIGHTHOUSE KRISTIANSAND LINDESNES nA) ? BOVBJERG 0 DENMARK DOGGER BANK NORTH LyxGvic ¥ &e HORNS REEF & 5. a ne rca i TONDERN LIST, ase VETO am SCHLESWIG uM EB R' i, xu | DOGGER BANK SOUTH AMRUM BANK “ROUTE TONNING HELIGOLAND HOLSTEIN a WESER | feteey NORDERNEY g 4% 2 Z ty, *t. v, & fe cuxnaven % 7 %,. “Sp, ( NORDHOLZ TERSCHELLING of rT %) AMELAND ? HACE WILHELMSHAVEN BREMERHAVEN SAuevans |e TERSCHELLING BANK HAAKS perry = KALLANTSOOG } YMUIDEN Ze \ OLDENBURG BREMEN KATWYK Pos © SCHEVENINGEN ae AHLHORN , y OLLAND Pee as eae ¢ \ HOLLAND | GERMANY ( 52° y) aS Pt eee © DUSSELDORF ae Canes E 4° 5° 6° ia 8° ; g° THE ZEPPELIN IN GOMBAT Sto, ley 44. hy, Re el) 2nd ogiihe ell, 6 WN aeO70 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/Zeppelinincombat0000robi Me Ze eee GIN. IN COMBAT A Ehstory of the German Naval Airship Division, 1912-1918 by Douglas H. Robinson Third Edition Stanley J. Blazewski 519 W. 2nd Ave. Roselle, N.1. 07208 Cleat OW isl Soe: OO. Ln) HENLEY-ON-THAMES OXFORDSHIRE First published 1962 Second edition 1966 Third edition 1971 © G. T. FOULIS & CO LTD 1962, 1966, 1971 ISBN O 65429 130 X THIS EDITION NOT FOR SALE IN NORTH AMERICA Printed in Great Britain by photolithography by Morrison & Gibb Ltd, London and Edinburgh To the memory of the 748 men of four nations who lost their lives in Rigid Airships 1913 to 1937 CHAP. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Photographs List of Diagrams and Maps Author’s Preface Introduction Hydrogen and Flaming Bullets The Early History of the Rigid Airship The Early History of the German Naval eae Division The Airship comes into Its Own Early Operations. The Christmas Day Raid Luftpolitik at Imperial Headquarters “England shall be Destroyed with Fire”’ The Dogger Bank Battle and other Naval Actions Squadron Raids on London From London to Edinburgh The Battle of Jutland Super-Zeppelins versus Anti-Airship Ammunition The Sunderland Operation : : : “A Certain Means of Victoriously Ending the War’”’ “Caution is Ordered”’ The Coming of the “Height Climbers” British Flying Boats take the War into the German Bight The Baltic Airships, and Dee “Albion” The “Silent Raid”’ vill CHAP. XX, XA. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. THE ZEPPELIN IN COMBAT The African Adventure ‘Altitude Motors”? and the Ahlhorn Disaster The First Successful Carrier Strike in History Gétterdémmerung Conclusion Rigid Airship Technology and Terminology Glossary Bibliography Appendices Index PAGE 284 297 5 325 34! 355 357 370 378 405 LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS Between pp. 112 and 113 PLATE NO. I. 2. Co sr © Cl ee © 21. 22. Peter Strasser, the German Leader of Airships Heinrich Mathy, “the greatest airship commander of the 99 war . Joachim Breithaupt, after his capture in the L 15 Werner Peterson, who was killed aboard L 32 L 1, the German Navy’s first Zeppelin L 2 being walked out for a flight Wreckage of ZL 2 burning on the ground at Johannisthal LX 26 (Z XII), prototype of the improved Zeppelin ordered at the outbreak of war L 3, the only airship in naval service in August, 1914 L 6, one of the early wartime Zeppelins The wooden-hulled Schiitte-Lanz, SL 3 The Parseval PL 25 L 12, one of the first standardized million-cubic-foot Zeppelins L 12 damaged aft by the Dover guns The new L 73 leaves her shed at Friedrichshafen L 14 taking off from Nordholz The forced landing of L 15 outside the Nordholz base L_22 brought into her hangar after an accident The first of the super-Zeppelins, L 30 The Ahlhorn base; showing LZ 3o being walked out of her shed The wreckage of Z 20 in Norway Aerial view of the Nordholz base Xx THE ZEPPELIN IN COMBAT PLATE NO. ooy 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. I. 32. 33- 34- 35 36. 37: 38. 39- 40. 41. A2: 43- 44. 45- 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. L 31, Heinrich Mathy’s last command, heading out to sea The remains of L 32 under guard at Great Burstead The smouldering wreckage ofL 37 at Potters Bar Werner Peterson’s L 32 landing at Nordholz Between pp. 272 and 273 L 43, the second “height climber” The first streamlined rear-engine gondola The last flight of L36 ends on the ice of the River Aller L go in the shed at Ahlhorn L 39 takes off on her last flight View from the top of the shed at Ahlhorn The Airship Experimental Command: a fighter plane and torpedo-carrying glider under L 35 for flight testing The wreck of L 38 lying on her side in Russian snows L 49, a 1917 “height-climber”’ The “Africa Ship,” L 59 The Ahlhorn explosion: the ‘‘Aladin’’ shed The Ahlhorn explosion: the “‘Alrun” shed Inside the ‘“Toska” shed after the successful R.A.F. raid L 70 being walked into her shed L 70, the last of the wartime Zeppelin designs Inside the hull of L 65 A view inside the keel of L 52 L 63 sabotaged at Nordholz L 53 being walked into the building shed at Friedrichshefan The elevator man’s post on the port side of L 59 In the bow of the control car Bombs carried by naval Zeppelins Top gun platform of L 22 The port after-engine gondola of L 70 LIST OF DIAGRAMS AND CHARTS End-papers The North Sea : ; ; ; : : Front The African Adventure : é : ; , Back The Eastern Baltic : : : F ” Back PAGE Squared position chart : , : : : oa Xvi Airship raid, January 19-20, 1915 d d 5 7 E60 L 3 deck log in raid of January 19-20, 1915. : pee hi Ballast sheet for airship L 3 ’ ; ; ; s. 62 Airship raid, June 15-16, 1915 ; : : ae eho) Airship raid, August 9-10, 1915. : : : 7 Airship raid, September 8-9, 1915 : ; : okey! L 13 deck log in raid of September 8-9, 1915 : 105 Ballast sheet for airship L 73 : : 3 : = 0D Airship raid, October 13-14, 1915 : : : ew Airship raid, January 31-February 1, 1916. : 22 Airship raid, September 2-3, 1916 : : : ey let Airship raid, September 23-24, 1916 ; ; age 20) L 31 deck log in raid of September 23-24, 1916 : PLTS1 Ballast sheet for airship L 37 : : : : Loe Airship raid, March 16-17, 1917 ; ; : 218 Airship raid, October 19-20, 1917 : : : J ib7 Important flights of L 59 ; g : : ‘ ~ 200 Airship raid, April 12-13, 1918. ‘ ‘ ‘ e510 L 61 deck log in raid of April 12-13, 1918 E ‘ one it Ballast sheet of airship L 67 : , : gre Airship raid, August 5-6, 1918 330 Details of Zeppelin “P” and “R” types End of book AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION At a time when there is increasing interest in the English-speaking countries in aerial operations in World War I, the second re- printing of The Zeppelin in Combat ten years after its first appearance emphasizes the status it has achieved as the standard work on the German rigid airships in World War I. Most gratifying to me personally has been its enthusiastic acceptance by the old time airship men of the German Navy who survived while so many of their comrades died, and who today are banded together in the Marine-Luftschiffer-Kameradschaft, of which I have the honour to be a full member. I am proud that a copy of The eppelin in Combat is today enshrined at Nordholz in the Traditionsraum of the Marinefliegergeschwader 3 “‘Graf Zeppelin” of the West German Navy, charged with carrying on the traditions of the Imperial Navy’s Zeppelins in World War I. Of those who so greatly assisted me in preparing the original work, Rear Admiral E. M. Eller USN (Ret.) has retired as Director of Naval History, as have his subordinates who proved so helpful in going through the microfilmed archives of the German Navy, Miss Lauretta MacCrindle and Mrs. Mildred Mayeux. Of the officers of the former Imperial German Navy who gave so generously of their time in answering my countless questions about their service in airships, Joachim Breithaupt, Walter Dose, Guido Wolff-Vorbeck, and Erich Blew have passed on. So have Heinrich Hoyer, Ernst Lehmann, Max Pruss, Erich Rutzen, August Siem, Ernst Weiss, and Hermann Wolff among the ratings. Dr. Walter Bleston, formerly of the Luftschiffbau Schiitte-Lanz, has also died. Heinrich Ellerkamm, and Wilhelm Tinchon and Peter Vossen in the East Zone, have not been heard from in years. Still living in Hamburg is the doyen of surviving airship officers, Martin Dietrich, and also Richard Frey in Hannover. Friedrich Moch, the archivist of the Aameradschaft, who helped me so generously with information, did not live to see the first printing of the book. His incomparable collection of 6,000 airship photographs is held intact by the Aameradschaft in Hamburg. Frau Hertha Mathy, widow of the late Kapitanleutnant Heinrich Mathy, who has taken a constant interest in this work, still writes PREFACE Xlll frequently from a retirement home in Schleswig. Dr. Karl Arnstein, formerly of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin and Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation, and Captain Garland Fulton USN (Ret.), who so greatly helped me to understand the design and technology of the rigid airships they helped to design and build, are happily still with us today. To the late Sir Egbert Cadbury I owe almost the whole of the story of the secret salvage operation on the wreck of the L 70, which he, together with Air Marshal Robert Leckie, shot down in flames in the last raid on England. The details of the salvage operations are related for the first time in book ferm in this printing, with assistance from Air Marshal Leckie and Mr. Byron Midgley, Clerk of the Immingham Parish Council. To the other members of the quadrumvirate who have special- ized in rigid airship history, Dr. Robin Higham, Mr. Charles Keller, and Dr. Richard K. Smith, go my thanks for their constant interest through the years. Lastly I wish to thank my editor, Mr. John Hassell, for constant support and many valuable suggestions. I wish to thank the following publishers for permission to quote from works published by them: Cassell & Co, Constable & Co, Faber and Faber, Eyre and Spottiswood, Andrew Melrose, Oxford University Press and Blackwood’s Magazine. The reader’s attention is called to the fact that all times in the text have been converted to Central European Standard Time, an hour later than Greenwich Time. For those consulting original records, it is further necessary to remember that both belligerents began using Summer Time in 1916. Distances at sea are given in nautical miles, and on land in statute miles. References are made to the German Navy’s squared position chart of the North Sea: a portion of this will be found reproduced on page xvi. It has seemed best to present in German the ranks of German Navy officers, partly because exact translations are impossible, XiV THE ZEPPELIN IN COMBAT there being two grades of captain, for example. A rough table ot equivalents appears below: German British Kapitan zur See | Captain Fregattenkapitan Korvettenkapitan Commander Kapitanleutnant Lieutenant-Commander Oberleutnant zur See Lieutenant Leutnant zur See Sub-Lieutenant Fahnrich zur See Midshipman