C - 5 ( blimp ) C - 5 was a hydrogen - filled C class blimp operated by the U . S . Navy in 1918 and 1919 . It was part of a 10 - blimp series built by Goodyear and Goodrich and was intended to capitalize upon the navy ' s experience operating blimps during World War I . The C - 5 ' s engines were built by Hispano - Suiza , and its control car was built by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company . In early May 1919 , the C - 5 made a pioneering flight from its home base at Cape May , New Jersey to Montauk Point , New York and St . John ' s , Newfoundland , becoming the first airship to reach that city and in the process sending the first radio voice transmission from Newfoundland . The C - 5 ' s goal was to fly across the Atlantic , paralleling the route used by the U . S . seaplane NC - 4 . Previous attempts to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon were unsuccessful . The most famous of these attempts was that of the dirigible " America " in October 1910 . On 14 May 1919 , the C - 5 departed Montauk Point in clear weather . It made good time , but encountered fog near Saint Pierre Island , Canada and became lost for several hours . It eventually regained its way , but the extended trip caused the crew to exhaust its food supply , and bad weather continuously shook the blimp . The C - 5 again became lost , this time over Newfoundland itself , when its radio navigation equipment malfunctioned . The C - 5 ' s crew used its voice radio to contact the U . S . Navy cruiser " Chicago " , which was in St . John ' s , and the radio signal was used to guide the C - 5 to the tracks of the Colonial Railroad , which it followed to St . John ' s and a safe landing on 11 a . m . 15 May . The commander of the blimp , Lieutenant Commander Coll , said it was the roughest trip he had ever experienced . Most of the crew was taken away to be fed , while the few remaining men began to overhaul the blimp ' s engines . In the meantime , a storm sprang up . Additional cables were tied over the blimp in order to secure it , and crewmen from the " Chicago " were brought in to help . The wind intensified from to , and the blimp began to break free from its additional cables . The blimp ' s engines couldn ' t be restarted because they were under maintenance , so Lieutenant Charles Little attempted to pull the emergency cord to open the blimp ' s airbag and deflate it . The cord broke , and the blimp began to lift off , tearing a few remaining cables that injured two people as they sprang loose . Little jumped from the rising blimp , spraining his ankle , and the C - 5 drifted east , into the Atlantic Ocean . The destroyer USS Edwards was dispatched to catch the blimp , which flew throughout the afternoon and evening until cooler temperatures caused the blimp ' s airbag to partially deflate . The C - 5 crashed into the Atlantic and was found by a British ship . On the same day the C - 5 broke loose from its moorings , the British government announced plans to send the airship R - 34 on a transatlantic flight to Cape May , the C - 5 ' s home base . That airship successfully crossed the Atlantic , becoming the first aircraft to navigate that body of water from east to west nonstop .