Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
August 2, 1931
Douglas Daily Dispatch
Douglas, Cochise County, Arizona
What is this article about?
The U.S. Navy's massive dirigible Akron, 785 feet long and equipped with advanced technology including helium, powerful engines, radio, TV, and aircraft, is christened by Mrs. Herbert Hoover on August 8 in Akron, Ohio, before its first flight and military commissioning.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
Navy's Air Monarch to Make First Flight After Christening
Largest Dirigible In World Is 785 Feet Long And Is Fully Equipped, Including Television.
Navy's Air Monarch—Akron, O.—The queen of the air, the navy's new dirigible Akron, largest lighter-than-air craft in the world, will be christened here August 8 by Mrs. Herbert Hoover, wife of the president.
The 785-foot airship, the largest, fastest and most powerful in history, will be named by the first lady of the land in the giant Zeppelin dock here.
And for the first time the big ship will take to the air, for as Mrs. Hoover performs the christening rite, the ship will be permitted to float free in the hanger.
The Akron is but nine feet longer than the famed Graf Zeppelin, yet her capacity of 6,500,000 cubic feet is almost twice that of the German ship.
The Akron's maximum diameter is 132.9 feet, as compared with the Graf's 100 feet.
Powered by eight Maybach motors, with a total horsepower of 4480, the Akron will thrust her bulk forward at a maximum speed of 84 miles an hour.
At cruising speed she can travel 10,580 miles without refueling, as compared to 6,125 for the Graf.
Shortly after the christening the Akron will take to the air for her trial flights under observation of naval air officers. After acceptance, she will make her maiden voyage, and then will be placed in the navy combat field—one of the few dirigibles in the world, commissioned for strictly military purposes.
The U. S. Navy's other airship, the Los Angeles, cannot be used for actual military combat under the terms of its acquisition from Germany.
The Akron has been termed by experts the world's safest dirigible.
Her lifting gas will be the non-explosive helium; three keels in place of one give her greater strength; construction is such that repairs can be made in flight.
The motors are located within the hull, giving greater integral strength and the new type ring girders used in the ship add to rigidity.
The engineers who constructed the Akron had the benefit of stress measurements encountered by airships, and as a result, expect the Akron to fly through severe storms safely.
They say that failure of one or two of the motors will involve no serious consequence.
The Akron will carry the most powerful radio equipment ever installed in a sky battleship, and will have television apparatus for receiving and transmitting maps and other military intelligence.
Many other scientific and engineering achievements of the last few decades will be utilized to make her more efficient and airworthy.
Other equipment includes code transmitters and a direction finder.
Lights, radio, telephones, water and oil heaters, coffee urn, small motors, ventilating fans and other equipment will be operated by a special electrical system.
Weight is a big problem in the construction of a dirigible, and the builders of the Akron, the Good-year-Zeppelin corporation engineers, went to the extreme to achieve "lightness."
A special duralumin stove will be in the kitchen. Chairs, tables and gasoline tanks are of the same metal. Walls of rooms are of doped fabric, while the floors are a combination of balsa wood, lighter than cork, and duralumin.
As gasoline is consumed, water will be condensed from the exhaust and pumped into the ballast tanks.
Other important innovations are the movable propellers, which may be swung 90 degrees so as to lift or lower the craft or reversed to check forward speed.
The Akron will have a battery of 16 large caliber machine guns with an effective firing range of 5000 yards, and five fighting planes, carried in her interior hangar and released by a trapeze arrangement.
Officers and crew will number 70, with Lieut. Comm. Charles E. Rosendahl as "skipper."
Largest Dirigible In World Is 785 Feet Long And Is Fully Equipped, Including Television.
Navy's Air Monarch—Akron, O.—The queen of the air, the navy's new dirigible Akron, largest lighter-than-air craft in the world, will be christened here August 8 by Mrs. Herbert Hoover, wife of the president.
The 785-foot airship, the largest, fastest and most powerful in history, will be named by the first lady of the land in the giant Zeppelin dock here.
And for the first time the big ship will take to the air, for as Mrs. Hoover performs the christening rite, the ship will be permitted to float free in the hanger.
The Akron is but nine feet longer than the famed Graf Zeppelin, yet her capacity of 6,500,000 cubic feet is almost twice that of the German ship.
The Akron's maximum diameter is 132.9 feet, as compared with the Graf's 100 feet.
Powered by eight Maybach motors, with a total horsepower of 4480, the Akron will thrust her bulk forward at a maximum speed of 84 miles an hour.
At cruising speed she can travel 10,580 miles without refueling, as compared to 6,125 for the Graf.
Shortly after the christening the Akron will take to the air for her trial flights under observation of naval air officers. After acceptance, she will make her maiden voyage, and then will be placed in the navy combat field—one of the few dirigibles in the world, commissioned for strictly military purposes.
The U. S. Navy's other airship, the Los Angeles, cannot be used for actual military combat under the terms of its acquisition from Germany.
The Akron has been termed by experts the world's safest dirigible.
Her lifting gas will be the non-explosive helium; three keels in place of one give her greater strength; construction is such that repairs can be made in flight.
The motors are located within the hull, giving greater integral strength and the new type ring girders used in the ship add to rigidity.
The engineers who constructed the Akron had the benefit of stress measurements encountered by airships, and as a result, expect the Akron to fly through severe storms safely.
They say that failure of one or two of the motors will involve no serious consequence.
The Akron will carry the most powerful radio equipment ever installed in a sky battleship, and will have television apparatus for receiving and transmitting maps and other military intelligence.
Many other scientific and engineering achievements of the last few decades will be utilized to make her more efficient and airworthy.
Other equipment includes code transmitters and a direction finder.
Lights, radio, telephones, water and oil heaters, coffee urn, small motors, ventilating fans and other equipment will be operated by a special electrical system.
Weight is a big problem in the construction of a dirigible, and the builders of the Akron, the Good-year-Zeppelin corporation engineers, went to the extreme to achieve "lightness."
A special duralumin stove will be in the kitchen. Chairs, tables and gasoline tanks are of the same metal. Walls of rooms are of doped fabric, while the floors are a combination of balsa wood, lighter than cork, and duralumin.
As gasoline is consumed, water will be condensed from the exhaust and pumped into the ballast tanks.
Other important innovations are the movable propellers, which may be swung 90 degrees so as to lift or lower the craft or reversed to check forward speed.
The Akron will have a battery of 16 large caliber machine guns with an effective firing range of 5000 yards, and five fighting planes, carried in her interior hangar and released by a trapeze arrangement.
Officers and crew will number 70, with Lieut. Comm. Charles E. Rosendahl as "skipper."
What sub-type of article is it?
Historical Event
What themes does it cover?
Triumph
Exploration
What keywords are associated?
Dirigible Akron
Navy Airship
Christening
Mrs Hoover
Military Dirigible
Zeppelin Technology
What entities or persons were involved?
Mrs. Herbert Hoover
Lieut. Comm. Charles E. Rosendahl
Where did it happen?
Akron, O.
Story Details
Key Persons
Mrs. Herbert Hoover
Lieut. Comm. Charles E. Rosendahl
Location
Akron, O.
Event Date
August 8
Story Details
The U.S. Navy's dirigible Akron, the world's largest at 785 feet, is christened by Mrs. Herbert Hoover and makes its first flight. It features advanced design with helium gas, eight Maybach motors, radio, television, machine guns, and five fighting planes for military combat.