The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-01-17
u. S. Shenandoah Back in
Hangard After Most Re-
markable Flight Ever Made
Carried Away by Wind, She
Is Brought Under Control
and Returned
ARE CONVINCED


doubts about using the great dir
igible Shenandoah for the pro-
jected polar flight were com
pletely converted today by the
performance of the big ship in
outriding last nights gale after
being torn from her moOring
mast at Lakehurst.
Secretary DENLY telegraphcd
his congratulations to the crew
OF the Shenandoah who brought
her back in safety after her
wind-driven fight. Mrs. DENLY
was SO greatly impressed that
she also sent congratulations.
Lakehurst, N. j., Jan. 17.-(Ry
the A. PD-The Shenandoah, largest
airship in the world, poked her nose
into her hangar at the naval station
at aga o'clock this morning after
completing the most remarkable
flight n ship of her type ever made.
The flight was fight against the
most stubborn elements of nature, a
wind that blew at 72 miles an hour.
This gale twisted the giant craf,
from her towering mooring cast at
6:52 o'clock last night and swept her
up the Atlantic Coast to Staten
Island. New York City, where Capt.
Anton Heinen turned her nose into
the teeth of the storm and maneuver-
ed her back to her home port.
Not man in her crew of % was
injured. not man was downhearted
Each of them declared it was the first
trip he ever made and each was loud
ir his praise of the navy's pride.
They took it as a joke and won the
envy of their mates who had watch
ed them drift away into darkness.
Somewhat Damaged.
The ship herself lay in a hangar
like a naughty school boy whose tru-
ancy had brought him i'll luck. Her
nose was battered and she was some
what scratched up. A hasty \nspec
tion showed that her front gas baYs
had collapsed, the covering of he
upper fin had been stripped off an
wrapped around the rudder maxim
the craft exceedingly difficult t.
steer while there was slight dam
age to her outer covering, the mate
rial being rent nearly up to her nose.
Capt. Heinen said after he had land
ed that without a doubt the navy
craft was the strongest constructed
ship of her type ever made.
II do not believe any other ship
in which I have flown would have
successfully gone through the gale
she did last night" he said. There's
not bit of doubt but that she will
successfully complete her polar re
gion flight planned for next month.
Under Perfect Control.
We had the ship under perfect
control five minutes after the nose
cap was torn off We rose 500 feet
and continued flying at that eleva-
tion until we reached the coast near
Summit, N. j., until we went
ur to about 1000 feet The flying
conditions were unfavorable as it
was raining hard. However, when
we reached New York the weather
cleared and we found we had reached
the port side Of the storm. We head
ed out over Staten Island and thence
forth nosed against 25-mile wind
and flew to Perth Amboy From
there we drifted to point over Key
port and then nosed the ship into
the wind again until we reached
Freehold. From there to Lakehurst
we rode with the wind
Naval officers at the station were
toe busy to comment this morning
but all were clated over the ships
success.
Officers Awe.Struck.
When the craft broke loose last
night there was furores Of excite
ment at the station. She had been
moored to the 65-foot mast which
was built in the shape Of the Eiffel
tower in Paris and was undergoing
Today test Of her actions in such
position in preparation for fight
to the North Pole Eight minutes
more and she would have been fast
tc the mast exactly four days.
Suddenly there came crash that
doomed out over the storm
Officers and enlisted men rushed
from barracks just in time to see
the Shenandoah lurch from side to
side, then gradually ascend, sending
down upon them shower Of frag
mcnts of her tour rigging. eHlp
was impossible and all the awe
struck sailors and marines could do
was watch the airship drift into the
storm.