Evening star., 1924-10-25
SHENANDOAH NEAR
END OF LONG TRIP
Many Records to Be. Set
When Huge Airship Lands
at Lakehurst.
By the Associat ted Press.

ny Ihe Associated Press.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, October %
(Aboard u S. Shenandoah via Radio
10 fort Hayes).-New records in a
new era OF air navigation will have
oeeh made by the Navy dirigible
shenandoah, the only American built
rigid airship. when it completes its
spectacular 9,00o-mile cruise and is
led into its hangar, at Lakehurst.
N. J.. late today.
rev IL any national undertakings
have aroused the enthusiasm and
pride OF the American people az the
shenandoah did among the thousands
who saw it pass. a silver tube in
The sky, or travelled from their homes
to see 1t at one of the three mooring
masts in the West, in its cruise of
approximately 1874 days.
Skirting three sides of the United
states and returning by almost the
same route, the Shenandoah has had
enc of the severest tests ever GIVEN
TO an airship. The cruise is the
longest both in time and distance
ever made by an airship of any type.
NO other rigid airship has ever
naVlgated over mountain peaks and
through passes as the Shenandoah
dld in its two crossings of the
Rockies.
First to Go West.
II is the first airship to success
1ully complete a west bound voyage
across the United States and the frs.
rigid ship ever west of the Misslssippi
River
II is the first rigid airship TO sail
over the Pacific Ocean at any point.
The buffeting received by the
shenandoah as it fought the whfrIine
gales in the high attitudes over the
mountains demonstrated the air
worthiness of the Amerfcan-buiIt
ship. Few dirigibles could have with
stood the storms and strain without
breaking up, 1T is declared. and il *
pointed out that what the Shenan-
doah lacks in speed is compensated
Tor in strength of structure and re-
liability of navigation
although the great ship battIed
nead winds on four out of six legs or
the cruise. she averaged between 2S
and 40 miles an hour, including Tho
hours sailing a low speed awaiting
an opportunity to moor
MOoring Mast Successful.
The cruise also demonstrated thr
practicability of the moorfng mast for
breaking long voyages and refueling
and making minor repairs The
Shenandoah tried out three new
masts. whose winches, water and fuel
pipes OF strength TO hold the ship had
never been tested before. The great
bag also made five landings, two of
them on the ground before coming To
the mast. The danger of accidents in
the air are slight compared to the
FISK during the few tense minutes Of
making a landing.
Makes Six Jumps.
The six jumps in the cruise Of the
Shenandoah were each much shorter
than the straightaway 5.0O0-miIe
fight Of the ZR-3. The German-puilt
Zeppelin is faster ship than its
American sky companion, but il did
not meet the difficulties overcome by
the Shenandoah in a single crossing
of the Rockies
The two voyages in July, 1919, Of
the R-34 from East Fortune, Scotland.
to Mlneola. ~ Y. and back to Pulham.
England, were. respectively, $3.50 and
$500 miles, and took eleven days.
For officers and crew of the Shenan-
doah the cruise has been as severe
test as for the ship. Through the
nights and days, many of them
frausht with perils which were avoid
ed only by hours of sleepless duty.
men stood watch or caught a brief
rest on hunks in the cramped keel
tunnel.
Only one man was severely injured.
and despite their hours, uncertain
food and rapid variation in tempera-
turc as attitudes changed. no sick
ness. even 20 cold, was reported
aboard. In addition to coffee. beans
and other warm and near warm Navy
ratfons, approximately 4.175 sand
wiches were consumed by the crew.
As the Shenandoah crossed the Ohio
River into Illinois from Paducah, Ky.
at $3.50 am. today she was making
better than so miles an hour. Whether
she is led into the big hangar at
Lakehurst late this afternoon or early
this evening will depend upon the
winds through the day.