Evening star., 1933-04-04
AKRON USED LESS
THAN TWO YEARS
Giant Ship Entered Service
of Navy August 8, 1881.
Praised by Moffett.
BY the Associated Press.


LAKEHURST, N. j., April 4-The
AKRON had not yet reached her second
birthday in the service of the Navy.
Last Summer. two Of her ground crew
lost their lives at San Diego, Calf.
when they were lifted into the air at
the end OF tow ropes. They fell of in
n1idair.
The power plant comprises eight gaso-
line engines, each carrying a sea-level
rating of $50 horsepower. The engines
are mounted athwartships and each
drives its own propeller.
The normal gasoline supply of about
$4,000 pounds Is stored In a total of
ITO aluminium tanks, located alongside
the two-side corridors convenient to the
engine rooms.
Electrically Equipped.
An electrical plant and system which
Is substantially miniature reproduction
OF similar systems used on destroyers,
submarines and other vessels also is in
cluded in the Akron equipment. Power
Is used for radio, lighting, telephones, a
portion Of the cooking and for certain
pumps and the like.
The control car Is located near the
forward part Of the ship and the for
location for rudder and elevator con-
trolls, gas and ballast controls, instru-
ments and other apparatus.
An emergency control station is To-
Gated in the lower fin. Above the con-
troll room are the radio and Astrological
rooms, quarters for the captain and a
part of the officers and an Office space
and Photographic laboratory.
For several months before the Pacific
Coast journey, the Akron--to be sup
planted as queen of the skies" by the
U. S. S. Macon-underwen extensive
repairs and complete overhauling in
its hangar here.
The airworthiness of the ship had
been under attack in Congress and
a committee of Congressman came to
the station to board her for a trial
cruise. AS the ship was being taken
from its hangar gust of wind bounced
the tail 40 feet In the air. No one
was injured, but the dirigible was dam
aged.
The Akron took its first trial fight on
September %, 1881. She was construct
ed on the multi-layer principles. The
basic hull structure is a wire-braced
system, composed Of transverse frames
connected by longitudinal girders.
The engine rooms are located along
the lower corridors and the gas cells,
IL in number, are placed inside Of
this hull structure.
Living accommodations are concen-
trated nearer amidships, abreast the
airplane hangar compartment.
Writing of the Akron in the NationZ
Aeronautic Magazine in January, 1922,
Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, chief
Of the Bureau of Aeronautics, who was
aboard the dirigible last night, said,
THE Navy has built the Akron not
only to demonstrate her usefulness for
naval purposes, but for new and
oy,{I - {x,kn
munication and commerce"
Launched August 8, 1881.
IT firmly believe" he said. that the
Akron will so fully demonstrate the
great value Of rigid airships for COM
mercial purposes that by the time the
second ship, the ZRS-5, is completed,
the first commercial airship, probably
of some nine million cubic feet, will
be begun, the forerunner of feet Of
airships flying the American flag, that
will indeed make us first in this mer-
chant marine Of the air"
The Akron was launched by Mrs. |
Herbert Hoover August 8, 1881, at
Akron, Ohio before more than 100000
persons who gathered to witness the
ceremony.
An idea of the dimensions of the
dirigible is given by the fact that it Is
as long as several city blocks and as
high as a History building. Its ca
pacity is almost three times that of the
Los Angeles and nearly twice that Of
the Graf Zeppelin.
The Akron was built by the Good
year-zeppelin Corporation for the
Navy. 1t was the product of years of
accumulation of knowledge Of Zeppelin
construction and at the time Of its
launching was said to exceed greatly
the fondest dreams Of Count Ferdinand
Zeppelin, inventor of the big floating
mammoths.
The Akron carried $25,000 sending
and receiving radio sets of virtually un-
limited range.