THE WORK OF THE AIRSHIP IN THE WORLD WAR
The outbreak of war found us, as we have seen, practically without
airships of any military value. For this unfortunate circumstance
there were many contributory causes. The development of aeronautics
generally in this country was behind that of the Continent, and the
airship had suffered to a greater extent than either the seaplane or
the aeroplane. Our attitude in fact towards the air had not altered so
very greatly from that of the man who remarked, on reading in his paper
that some pioneer of aviation had met with destruction, "If we had been
meant to fly, God would have given us wings." Absurd as this sounds
nowadays, it was the opinion of most people in this country, with the
exception of a few enthusiasts, until only a few years before we were
plunged into war.
The year 1909 saw the vindication of the enthusiasts, for in this
summer Bleriot crossed the Channel in an aeroplane, and the first
passenger-carrying Zeppelin airship was completed. Those who had
previously scoffed came to the conclusion that flying was not only
possible but an accomplished fact, and the next two years with their
great aerial cross-country circuits revealed the vast potentialities of
aircraft in assisting in military operations. We, therefore, began to
study aeronautics as the science of the future, and aircraft as an
adjunct to the sea and land forces of the empire.
The airship, unfortunately, suffered for many reasons from the lack of
encouragement afforded generally to the development of aeronautics.
The airship undoubtedly is expensive, and one airship of size costs
more to build than many aeroplanes. In addition, everything connected
with the airship is a source of considerable outlay. The shed to house
an airship is a most costly undertaking, and takes time and an
expenditure of material to erect, and bears no comparison with the
cheap hangar which can be run up in a moment to accommodate the
aeroplane. The gas to lift the airship is by no means a cheap
commodity. If it is to be made on the station where the airship is
based, it necessitates the provision of an expensive and elaborate
plant. If, on the other hand, it is to be manufactured at a factory,
the question of transport comes in, which is a further source of
expense with costly hydrogen tubes for its conveyance.
Another drawback is the large tract of ground required for an
aerodrome, and the big airship needs a large number of highly-trained
personnel to handle it.
A further point always, raised when the policy of developing the
airship was mooted is its vulnerability. It cannot be denied that it
presents a large target to artillery or to the aeroplane attacking it,
and owing to the highly inflammable nature of hydrogen when mixed with
air there can be no escape if the gas containers are pierced by
incendiary bullets or shells.
Another contributing factor to the slow development of the airship was
the lack of private enterprise. Rivalry existed between private firms
for aeroplane contracts which consequently produced improvements in
design; airships could not be produced in this way owing to the high
initial cost, and if the resulting ships ended in failure, as many were
bound to do, there would be no return for a large outlay of capital.
The only way by which private firms could be encouraged to embark on
airship building was by subsidies from the Government, and at this time
the prevalent idea of the doubtful value of the airship was too strong
for money to be voted for this purpose.
To strengthen this argument no demand had either been made from those
in command of the Fleet or from commanders of our Armies for airships
to act as auxiliaries to our forces.
The disasters experienced by all early airships and most particularly
by the Zeppelins were always seized upon by those who desired to
convince the country what unstable craft they were, and however safe in
the air they might be were always liable to be wrecked when landing in
anything but fine weather. Those who might have sunk their money in
airship building thereupon patted themselves upon the back and rejoiced
that they had been so far-seeing as to avoid being engaged upon such a
profitless industry.
Finally, all in authority were agreed to adopt the policy of letting
other countries buy their experience and to profit from it at a later
date. Had the war been postponed for another twenty years all might
have been well, and we should have reaped the benefit, but most
calamitously for ourselves it arrived when we were utterly unprepared,
and having, as we repeat, only three airships of any military value.
With these three ships, Astra-Torres (No. 3), Parseval (No. 4) and
Beta, the Navy did all that was possible. At the very outbreak of war
scouting trips were made out into the North Sea beyond the mouth of the
Thames by the Astra and Parseval, and both these ships patrolled the
Channel during the passage of the Expeditionary Force.
The Astra was also employed off the Belgian coast to assist the naval
landing party at Ostend, and together with the Parseval assisted in
patrolling the Channel during the first winter of the war.
The Beta was also sent over to Dunkirk to assist in spotting for
artillery fire and locating German batteries on the Belgian coast. Our
airships were also employed for aerial inspection of London and other
large towns by night to examine the effects of lighting restrictions
and obtain information for our anti-aircraft batteries.
With the single exception of the S.S. ship, which carried out certain
manoeuvres in France in the summer of 1916, our airships were confined
to operations over the sea; but if we had possessed ships of greater
reliability in the early days of the war, it is conceivable that they
would have been of value for certain purposes to the Army. The Germans
employed their Zeppelins at the bombardment of Antwerp, Warsaw, Nancy
and Libau, and their raids on England are too well remembered to need
description. The French also used airships for the observation of
troops mobilizing and for the destruction of railway depots. The
Italians relied entirely at the beginning of the war on airships,
constructed to fly at great heights, for the bombing of Austrian troops
and territory, and met with a considerable measure of success.
When it was decided, early in 1915, to develop the airship for
anti-submarine work difficulties which appeared almost insuperable were
encountered at first. To begin with, there were practically no firms
in the country capable of airship production. The construction of
envelopes was a great problem; as rubber-proofed fabric had been found
by experiment to yield the best results for the holding of gas, various
waterproofing firms were invited to make envelopes, and by
whole-hearted efforts and untiring industry they at last provided very
excellent samples. Fins, rudder planes, and cars were also entrusted to
firms which had had no previous experience of this class of work, and
it is rather curious to reflect that envelopes were produced by the
makers of mackintoshes and that cars and planes were constructed by a
shop-window furnisher. This was a sure sign that all classes of the
community were pulling together for the good of the common cause.
Among other difficulties was the shortage of hydrogen tubes, plants,
and the silicol for making gas.
Sufficient sheds and aerodromes were also lacking, and the airships
themselves were completed more quickly than the sheds which were to
house them.
The lack of airship personnel to meet the expansion of the service
presented a further obstacle. To overcome this the system of direct
entry into the R.N.A.S. was instituted, which enabled pilots to be
enrolled from civil life in addition to the midshipmen who were drafted
from the Fleet. The majority of the ratings were recruited from civil
life and given instruction in rigging and aero-engines as quickly as
possible, while technical officers were nearly all civilians and
granted commissions in the R.N.V.R.
A tremendous drawback was the absence of rigid airships and the lack of
duralumin with which to construct them.
Few men were also experienced in airship work at this time, and there
was no central airship training establishment as was afterwards
instituted. Pilots were instructed as occasion permitted at the
various patrol stations, having passed a balloon course and undergone a
rudimentary training at various places.
To conclude, the greatest of all difficulties was the shortage of money
voted for airship development, and this was a disadvantage under which
airships laboured even until the conclusion of hostilities.
We have seen previously how the other difficulties were surmounted and
how our airships were evolved, type by type, and the measure of success
which attended them. It is interesting to recall that five years ago
we only possessed three ships capable of flying, and that during the
war we built upwards of two hundred, of which no fewer than 103 were
actually in commission on the date of the signing of the Armistice.
The work carried out by our airships during the war falls under three
main headings:
1. Operations with the fleet or with various units.
2. Anti-submarine patrol and searching for mines.
3. Escort of shipping and examination duties.
With regard to the first heading it is only permissible at present to
say very little; certain manoeuvres were carried out in connection with
the fleet, but the slow development of our rigid airships prohibited
anything on a large scale being attempted. The Germans, on the other
hand, made the fullest use of their Zeppelins for scouting purposes
with the high seas fleet. Responsible people were guilty of a grave
mistake when speaking in public in denouncing the Zeppelin as a useless
monster every time one was destroyed in a raid on this country. The
main function of the Zeppelin airship was to act as an aerial scout,
and it carried out these duties with the utmost efficiency during the
war. It is acknowledged that the German fleet owed its escape after
the Battle of Jutland to the information received from their airships,
while again the Zeppelin was instrumental in effecting the escape of
the flotilla which bombarded Scarborough in 1916.
Very probably, also, the large airship was responsible for the success
which attended the U boats during their attack on the cruisers
Nottingham and Falmouth, and also at the Hogue disaster.
Various experiments were carried out in towing airships by cruisers, in
refuelling while in tow and changing crews, all of which would have
borne good fruit had the war lasted longer.
An exceedingly interesting experiment was carried out during the
closing stages of the war by an airship of the S.S. Zero type. At this
period the German submarines were gradually extending their operations
at a greater distance from our coasts, and the authorities became
concerned at the prospect that the small type of airship would not
possess sufficient endurance to carry out patrol over these increased
distances. The possibility was considered of carrying a small airship
on board a ship which should carry out patrol and return to the ship
for refuelling purposes, to replenish gas, and change her crew. To
test the feasibility of this idea S.S. Z 57 carried out landing
experiments on the deck of H.M.S. Furious, which had been adapted as an
aeroplane carrier. S.S. Z 57 came over the deck and dropped her trail
rope, which was passed through a block secured to the deck, and was
hauled down without difficulty. These experiments were continued while
the ship was under weigh and were highly successful. No great
difficulty was encountered in making fast the trail rope, and the
airship proved quite easy to handle. The car was also lowered into the
hangar below the upper deck, the envelope only remaining on the upper
level, and everything worked smoothly. If the war had continued there
is no doubt that some attempt would have been made to test the
practical efficiency of the problem.
Anti-submarine patrol was the chief work of the airship during the war,
and, like everything else, underwent most striking changes. Submarine
hunting probably had more clever brains concentrated upon it than
anything else in the war, and the part allotted to the airship in
conjunction with the hunting flotillas of surface craft was carefully
thought out.
In the case of a suspected submarine in a certain spot, all surface and
air craft were concentrated by means of wireless signals at the
appointed rendezvous. It is in operations of this kind that the
airship is so superior to the seaplane or aeroplane, as she can hover
over a fixed point for an indefinite period with engines shut off. If
the submarine was located from the air, signals were given and depth
charges dropped in the position pointed out. Incidents of this kind
were of frequent occurrence, and in them the value of the airship was
fully recognized.
The most monotonous and arduous of the airship's duties was the routine
patrol. The ship would leave her shed before dawn and be at the
appointed place many miles away from land. She then would carry out
patrol, closely scanning the sea all round, and investigating any
suspicious object. For hours this might last with nothing seen, and
then in the gathering darkness the ship would make her way home often
against a rising wind, and in the winter through hail and snow. Bombs
were always carried, and on many occasions direct hits were observed on
enemy submarines. A sharp look-out was always kept for mines, and many
were destroyed, either by gunfire from the airship herself or through
the agency of patrol boats in the vicinity. This was the chief work of
the S.S. ships, and was brought to a high pitch of perfection by the
S.S. Zero. These ships proved so handy that they could circle round an
object without ever losing sight of it, and yet could be taken in and
out of sheds in weather too bad to handle bigger ships.
The hunting of the submarine has been likened to big-game hunting, and
certainly no one ever set out to destroy a bigger quarry. It needs the
same amount of patience and the same vigilance. Days may pass without
the opportunity, and that will only be a fleeting one: the
psychological moment must be seized and it will not brook a moment's
delay. The eye must be trained to pick up the minutest detail, and
must be capable of doing this for hour after hour. For those on
submarine patrol in a small ship there is not one second's rest. As is
well known, the submarine campaign reached its climax in April, 1917.
In that month British and Allied shipping sustained its greatest
losses. The value of the airship in combating this menace was now fully
recognized, and with the big building programme of Zero airships
approved, the housing accommodation again reached an acute stage.
Shortage of steel and timber for shed building, and the lack of labour
to erect these materials had they been available, rendered other
methods necessary. It was resolved to try the experiment of mooring
airships in clearings cut into belts of trees or small woods.
A suitable site was selected and the trees were felled by service
labour. The ships were then taken into the gaps thus formed and were
moored by steel wires to the adjacent trees. Screens of brushwood were
then built up between the trees, and the whole scheme proved so
successful that even in winter, when the trees were stripped of their
foliage, airships rode out gales of over 60 miles per hour. The
personnel were housed either in tents or billeted in cottages or houses
in the neighbourhood, and gas was supplied in tubes as in the earlier
days of the stations before the gas plants had been erected.
This method having succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations,
every station had one or more of these sub-stations based on it, the
airships allocated to them making a periodical visit to the parent
station for overhaul as required. Engineering repairs were effected by
workshop lorries, provided that extensive work was not required.
In this way a large fleet of small airships was maintained around our
coasts, leaving the bigger types of ships on the parent stations, and
the operations were enabled to be considerably extended. Of course,
certain ships were wrecked when gales of unprecedented violence sprung
up; but the output of envelopes, planes and cars was by this time so
good that a ship could be replaced at a few hours' notice, and the cost
compared with building of additional sheds was so small as to be
negligible.
From the month of April, 1917, the convoy system was introduced, by
which all ships on entering the danger zones were collected at an
appointed rendezvous and escorted by destroyers and patrolboats. The
airship was singularly suitable to assist in these duties. Owing to
her power of reducing her speed to whatever was required, she could
keep her station ahead or abeam of the convoy as was necessary, and
from her altitude was able to exercise an outlook for a far greater
distance than was possible from the bridge of a destroyer. She could
also sweep the surface ahead of the approaching convoy, and warn it by
wireless or by flash-lamp of the presence of submarines or mines. By
these timely warnings many vessels were saved. Owing to the position
of the stations it was possible for a convoy to be met by airships west
of the Scilly Isles and escorted by the airships of the succeeding
stations right up the Channel. In a similar manner, the main shipping
routes on the east coast and also in the Irish Sea were under constant
observation. The mail steamers between England and Ireland and
transports between England and France were always escorted whenever
flying conditions were possible. For escort duties involving long
hours of flying, the Coastal and C Star types were peculiarly suitable,
and at a later date the North Sea, which could accompany a convoy for
the length of Scotland. Airships have often proved of value in
summoning help to torpedoed vessels, and on occasions survivors in open
boats have been rescued through the agency of patrolling airships.
Examination duties are reckoned among the many obligations of the
airship. Suspicious-looking vessels were always carefully scrutinized,
and if unable to give a satisfactory answer to signals made, were
reported to vessels of the auxiliary patrol for closer examination.
Isolated fishing vessels always were kept under close observation, for
one of the many ruses of the submarine was to adopt the disguise of a
harmless fishing boat with masts and sails.
The large transports, conveying American troops who passed through
England on their way to France, were always provided with escorting
airships whenever possible, and their officers have extolled their
merits in most laudatory terms.
Our rigid airships also contributed their share in convoy work,
although their appearance as active units was delayed owing to slowness
in construction.
A disturbing feature to the advocate of the large airship, has been the
destruction of raiding Zeppelins by heavier-than-air machines, and the
Jeremiahs have not lost this opportunity of declaring that for war
purposes the huge rigid is now useless and will always be at the
complete mercy of the fast scouting aeroplane. There is never any
obstacle in this world that cannot be surmounted by some means or
other. On the one hand there is helium, a non-inflammable gas which
would render airships almost immune to such attacks. On the other
hand, one opinion of thought is that the rigid airship in the future
will proceed to sea escorted by a squadron of scouting aeroplanes for
its defence, in the same way that the capital ship is escorted at sea
by destroyers and torpedo boats. This latter idea has been even
further developed by those who look into the future, and have conceived
the possibility of a gigantic airship carrying its own aeroplanes for
its protection.
To test the possibility of this innovation, a small aeroplane was
attached to one of our rigid airships beneath the keel. Attachments
were made to the top of the wings and were carried to the main
framework of the hull. The release gear was tested on the ground to
preclude the possibility of any accident, and on the day appointed the
airship was got ready for flight. While the airship was flying, the
pilot of the aeroplane was in his position with his engine just ticking
over. The bows of the airship were then inclined upwards and the
release gear was put into operation. The pilot afterwards said that he
had no notion that anything had been done until he noticed that the
airship was some considerable height above him. The machine made a
circuit of the aerodrome and landed in perfect safety, while no trouble
was experienced in any way in the airship. Whether this satisfactory
experiment will have any practical outcome the future alone can say,
but this achievement would have been considered, beyond all the
possibilities of attainment only a few years ago.
Since the Armistice several notable endurance flights were accomplished
by ships of the North Sea class, several voyages being made to the
coast of Norway, and quite recently a trip was carried out all round
the North Sea.
The weather has ceased to be the deterrent of the early days. Many will
no doubt remember seeing the North Sea airship over London on a day of
squalls and snow showers, and R 34 encountered heavy snow storms on the
occasion of one of her flight trials, which goes to prove that the
airship is scarcely the fair-weather aircraft as maintained by her
opponents.
Throughout the war our airships flew for approximately 89,000 hours and
covered a distance of upwards of two and a quarter million miles. The
Germans attempted to win the war by the wholesale sinking of our
merchant shipping, bringing supplies and food to these islands, and by
torpedoing our transports and ships carrying guns and munitions of war.
They were, perhaps, nearer to success than we thought at the time, but
we were saved by the defeat of the submarine. In the victory won over
the underseas craft the airship certainly played a prominent part and
we, who never suffered the pinch of hunger, should gratefully remember
those who never lost heart, but in spite of all difficulties and
discouragement, designed, built, maintained and flew our fleet of
airships.