page_title: USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)
section_title: Early naval service
hierarchical_section_title: USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) / Service history / Early naval service
caption_attribution_description: English: ZR-1 Control Car and crew, after the steep-angle landing at Saint Louis Flying Field on October 2nd, 1923. Left-side view Control Car of ZR-1, during flight test outing, prior to re-name USS Shenandoah; airship. This image shows perhaps the only available photo of Anton Heinen: German test pilot and consultant in the construction of the ZR1 (bald headed man). Standing outside Control Car are Commander Frank McCrary (in flight suit), Admiral Moffett, Mayor Kiel. From newspaper story: "...Ralph D. Weyerbacher (USN), designer and builder of the ZR-1 remained in the cabin with Capt. Heinen, after the commander had stepped out and had received an official welcome from the city and the air board, through Mayor Kiel, Senator Spencer and Chairman B. G. Bush and other members of the board….”
context_page_description: USS Shenandoah was the first of four United States Navy rigid airships. It was constructed during 1922–1923 at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, and first flew in September 1923. It developed the U.S. Navy's experience with rigid airships and made the first crossing of North America by airship. On the 57th flight, Shenandoah was destroyed in a squall line over Ohio in September 1925.
context_section_description: Shenandoah first flew on 4 September 1923. It was christened on 10 October 1923 by Mrs. Edwin Denby, wife of the Secretary of the Navy, and commissioned on the same day with Commander Frank R. McCrary in command. Mrs. Denby named the airship after her home in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and the word "shenandoah" was then believed to be a Native American word meaning "daughter of stars".
  Shenandoah was designed for fleet reconnaissance work of the type carried out by German naval airships in World War I. Her pre-commissioning trials included long-range flights during September and early October 1923, to test her airworthiness in rain, fog and poor visibility. On 27 October, Shenandoah celebrated Navy Day with a flight down the Shenandoah Valley and returned to Lakehurst that night by way of Washington and Baltimore, where crowds gathered to see the new airship in the beams of searchlights.
  At this time, Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics and staunch advocate of the airship, was discussing the possibility of using Shenandoah to explore the Arctic. He felt such a program would produce valuable weather data as well as experience in cold-weather operations. With its endurance and ability to fly at low speeds, the airship was thought to be well suited to such work. President Calvin Coolidge approved Moffett's proposal, but Shenandoah's upper tail fin covering ripped during a gale on 16 January 1924, and the sudden roll tore her away from the Lakehurst mast, ripping out her mooring winches, deflating the first helium cell and puncturing the second. Zeppelin test pilot Anton Heinen rode out the storm for several hours and landed safely while the airship was being blown backwards. Extensive repairs were needed, and the Arctic expedition was scrapped.
  Shenandoah's repairs were completed in May, and the summer of 1924 was devoted to work with its engines and radio equipment to prepare for fleet duty. In August 1924 it reported for duty with the Scouting Fleet and took part in tactical exercises. Shenandoah succeeded in discovering the "enemy" force as planned but lost contact with it in foul weather. Technical difficulties and lack of support facilities in the fleet forced it to depart the operating area ahead of time to return to Lakehurst. Although this marred the exercises as far as airship reconnaissance went, it emphasized the need for advanced bases and maintenance ships if lighter-than-air craft were to take any part in operations of this kind.
caption: After docking at St. Louis, Commander McCrary stepped out to meet Admiral Moffet and Mayor Kiel; shown still inside the Control Car are Anton Heinen (German test pilot and consultant in the construction of the ZR1) and Cmdr Ralph D. Weyerbacher (design/build).
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