Weeksville Dirigible Hangar The Weeksville Dirigible Hangar " ( former NAS Weeksville ) " is an airship storage facility originally built by the US Navy in 1941 for servicing airships in charge of anti - submarine patrolling of the U . S . coast and harbors . It is located on the former Naval Air Station Weeksville , Elizabeth City , North Carolina , United States . Background . At the beginning of World War II , Naval Air Station Lakehurst , established in 1921 , was the only active lighter - than - air ( LTA ) naval air station operated by the US Navy . In 1940 , the US Navy proposed to the US Congress the development of a lighter - than - air station program for anti - submarine patrolling of the coast and harbors . This program proposed the construction , in addition to the expansion at Lakehurst and the reestablishment of NAS Moffett Field as a naval LTA station , the construction of new stations in the Boston , Cape May , Cape Hatteras , southern Florida , southern Georgia , Louisiana , Los Angeles , San Francisco , and Puget Sound areas . The original contract included a steel hangar , long , wide and , helium storage and service , barracks for 228 men , a power plant , landing mat , and a mobile mooring mast . In June 1941 , shortly before Congress completed action on the Navy ' s proposed LTA program , work began at NAS Lakehurst on a project which included the construction of two airship hangars . The Second Deficiency Appropriation Bill for 1941 , passed July 3 , 1941 , authorized the construction of 8 facilities to accommodate a total of 48 airships , as requested in 1940 . Due to steel rations , a total of 17 large wooden hangars were built among 10 LTA bases . As finally developed in 1943 , LTA facilities ( with wooden hangars built ) in addition to NAS Lakehurst ( 2 ) and NAS Moffett Field ( 2 ) , included NAS South Weymouth ( 1 ) , NAS Weeksville ( 1 ) , NAS Glynco ( 2 ) , NAS Richmond ( 3 ) , NAS Houma ( 1 ) , NAS Hitchcock ( 1 ) , NAS Santa Ana ( 2 ) and NAS Tillamook ( 2 ) . In the initial program , accommodations were provided for six airships at each station . This was later increased to twelve at seven of the stations and to eighteen at NAS Richmond as a result of an increase in the authorized strength to 200 airships . Description . In September 1941 , work started on what was to become the Naval Air Station South Weymouth . The pattern of projects there was followed , with little modification , at the seven new stations during the ensuing year . The construction of the Weeksville hangar , which aimed to serve the Cape Hatteras area , followed and works started in October 1941 . These two stations were the only new ones begun before the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor . The US Navy started the construction of the Weeksville LTA air station on August 6 , 1941 , which lasted until 1942 . It is the only remaining steel airship hangar built during World War II . Due to steel rations , an additional hangar was built out of wood , which would in following decades become known as the world ' s largest wooden structure before its destruction by fire in 1995 . Naval Air Station Weeksville was operational from 1941 to 1957 . NAS Weeksville ' s airships played a vital role in German U - boat spotting during World War II , helping to minimize losses to East Coast shipping . However , budget cuts to the Navy ' s LTA program in the mid - 1950s resulted in the closure of NAS Weeksville as an active naval installation in 1957 . On August 3 , 1995 , a welder ' s torch started a fire in the wooden hangar . Response from numerous area fire departments was swift but all attempts to control the blaze were unsuccessful due to the hangar ' s southern yellow pine construction and massive size . The wooden hangar was engulfed , and eventually burned down to the ground . The remaining steel hangar was used by by several manufacturing firms following the base ' s decommissioning in 1957 , including Westinghouse and IXL Cabinetry . In 1996 , an airship manufacturing company TCOM relocated to Elizabeth City conducting temporary operations in a former Kmart while the hangar was refurbished and eventually returned to active service once again as a manufacturing and test facility .