The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-01-16
It is Very Small, but viii Serve
as a Training Ship for
Officers.

L
Uncle Sam has just made his firs
modest venture In the business OF sup
plying himself with fleet OF dlrig'
ible war balloons. 1t is true that his
air navy consists so far Of just one
dirigible, and that 1t Is only about
half as large as the big Zeppelin
dreadnoughts whose raids have terri
fed London. But there must always
be a beginning, and In this single new
balloon the opponents Of preparedness
may take heart, considering 1t as the
precursor Of other larger ones to
comes, says the st. Louis Post-Dis-
patch.
Americas first naval airship has
been virtually completed in the shops
OF an aircraft manufacturing plant at
New Haven. 1t will be assembled
soon at the Portsmouth navy yard,
where the government aeronautical
experts will decide whether 1t fulflls
the specifications. II so, 1t will be
delivered at the floating hangar which
Is building at Pensacola. and which
will be the airship's permanent har-
Dor.
The craft Is 175 feet long; Its max
imum height is fifty feet, and It's great
est beam Is thirty-dve feet, increas-
ing, when the fins are attached, to
fifty feet. The volume Of the envel-
opes is $4,000 cubic feet and each
balloonette has a capacity Of $4,000
cubic feet.
The dead weight OF the machine is
specified at 1000 pounds, while the
lifting capacity is 1900 pounds, leav-
ing the carrying capacity In the vi
cinity of $500 pounds Of useful load.
The dirigible is to be driven by q
$50 horsepower motor, through two
four blade propellers. The maximum
speed is specified at between twenty
five and thlrty-fivc miles an hour,
and this can be maintained for a per-
iod OF five hours. The dirigible will
be capable Of rising to height Of
5000 feet.
What armament the diriglble will
carry has not been revealed, but its
capacity of nearly two tons Of useful
load points to the possibility Of its be-
ing equipped with store Of high Ell.
plosive bombs and perhaps machine
gun or so.
However, from the information that
is available the craft is designed most
ly as a training ship, on which officers
and men will receive practice for the
work which is TO come when larger
airships are built Plans for the first
OF these, to be twice as lrage as the
one now completed, have already been
drawn.
Dirigible balloons have been famil-
lar in the country for years, but they
were all toys, carrying usually one
passenger, and used for exhibition
purposes at fairs and the like. 1t re-
Quired the great European conflict to
impress upon this country the fact
that the dirigible balloon is an indis-
pensable arm In modern warfare. In
view of our backwardness in aerial
matters 1t is interesting to recall
that Count Zeppelin, as the German
military attache with the federal
troops during the Civil war, learned
the lessons which he was afterward
to use in carrying the science Of
aerial warfare, as regards lighter than
air craft to its present development.
That America has made only the
smallest of beginnings is apparent
when one considers the advancement
Germany has made. Just how many
war dirigibles the kaiser has may not
be known, but several months ago the
factory at Frledrichshafcn, with 1000
employees, was able to turn one out
every eleven weeks. and that capac-
ity probably has been increased by
this time.
Even before the war Germany had
built military dirigibles that would
carry from eight to twelve men. and
its latest goliaths can carry forty men
and officers and two tons OF explo-
sives. Flying at an altitude of 1000
feet, they can go 1000 miles in TWEEN
ty-four hours. For patrol work at
Mrs. George Friend. in Berkeley.