CAPE TIMES - 1933, April 5
Disaster has befallen the Akron, greatest airship in the world and pride of the United States Navy. She is believed to have been struck by lightning during the night off the New Jersey coast. At any rate she crashed into the sea with 77 officers and men aboard and sank, after drifting for some hours, a hopeless wreck. So far, one officer and three men have been rescued, and one of these, the wireless operator, has since died.
THE STAR Johannesburg - 1933, April 4
The world’s largest airship, the United States naval dirigible AKRON, is reported to be a wreck off the New Jersey coast. Naval officials believe the airship was struck by lightning. Admiral WA Moffett, Rear-Admiral Berry and Rear-Admiral Cecil, the last 2 commanding officers of the Naval Air station, are among the complement of 19 officers and 57 men on board. Only the chief officer, Commander Wiley, and 3 of the crew are known to have been saved, and the Lakehurst Naval Station telephones that chances of saving the remainder are slight.
THE LAST RADIO MESSAGE
The last wireless communication with the Akron was at
10 o’clock last night, since when thunderstorms have interfered with messages.
The Akron landed in the sea near the Barnegat lightship, and a German tanker,
the Phoebus, was the first on the scene. The Phoebus rescued the chief officer
and 3 of the crew, but the master thinks the remainder were lost. Four
coastguard vessels, a cruiser, a destroyer and all craft in the vicinity are
rushing to the scene of the disaster, where the wreck of the airship is
reported to be afloat still. It is impossible to send an aeroplane owing to a
“ceiling” of only 300ft and bad visibility.
Admiral WA Moffett has been the driving force behind
America’s enthusiasm for lighter than air craft. From the day when the 2R3,
given to America under the reparations agreement, made her historic trip across
the Atlantic from Germany, Admiral Moffett has been an advocate of airships as
the dreadnought of the skies.
The Akron expressed his ideal, for it had an armament
of 16 guns and carried 5 aeroplanes inside the hull. These were equipped for
screening the dirigible with smoke or for concerted attacks on enemy warships.
The Akron, or ZRS4, was given into the charge of the United States Navy by its
constructors, the Goodyear-Zeppelin Company, on August 8, 1931, and the
occasion was one of great national rejoicing.
HUGE CAPACITY
The Akron was only a few feet longer than the German
giant, the Graf Zeppelin, but it had a gas capacity of 6 500 000 cubic feet, or
almost twice that of the Graf Zeppelin. It had a diameter of 133 feet and a
lift capacity of 91 tons. The use of helium which is non-inflammable and
non-explosive, permitted the incorporation of several new features. Former
airships found it necessary to house their engines in gondolas suspended away
from the hull itself to avoid the danger of explosion, but the Akron’s eight
motors were housed inside the hull, which reduces parasite drag to a minimum.
The Akron was 785 ft. in length and the frame of the vessel was made of
duralumin to provide lightness and strength. There were 10 000 000 individual
numbered parts, 54 000 tiny flat braces and 6 500 000 rivets. The deadweight of
the airship empty was about 100 tons.
SEVENTH DISASTER
The crash of the Akron makes the seventh airship
disaster since 1921, states the London correspondent of The Star. In February
of that year the American dirigible, Roma, exploded at Hampton, Virginia, and
34 people died of injuries. On August 24, 1921, the ZR2 collapsed and exploded
over Hull and 42 were killed. The French airship, Dixmude, German-built, was
mysteriously lost in a gale with 30 men on board in 1923. The American airship,
Shenandoah collapsed in a thunderstorm on September 3, 1925, and 14 were
killed. On May 25, 1928, General Nobile’s airship, the Italia, crashed at North
Spitzbergen and 14 were killed, and 3 would-be rescuers also lost their lives. 3
years ago, the British airship R101 exploded at Beauvais, France, and 46 were
killed.
CAUGHT IN STORM
In May, 1932, the Akron fought a terrific battle with
a storm over California, and when attempting to land afterwards broke 3 times
from the moorings. 3 youths were hauled into the air clinging to the mooring
ropes. 2 fell 200 feet and were killed. The other was rescued after dangling in
the air for 3 hours.
REPORT BY MASTER OF THE PHOEBUS
Latest messages received from the German tanker
Phoebus indicates that most of the crew of the Akron are lost. The Master of
the Phoebus describes how he found mattresses and wreckage floating on the
water. He rescued 3 men and saw 3 other men sink before his rescue party could
reach them. He describes a thunderstorm and lightning, which might have struck
the Akron. He suddenly caught a glimpse of the aircraft with her lights
flashing on the water, and he heard men hailing him.
He turned on all the ship’s lights and put out
lifeboats towards the dimly discernible lumps of the wreckage. Reuter, New York
More interesting facts about the USS Akron:
The USS Akron was commissioned in October 1931 and had
its maiden voyage on November 2, 1931. During a full-blown thunderstorm
during the night of April 3-4, 1933, the ship crashed into the stormy Atlantic.
Sadly, of the 76 people on-board, most had died of exposure or drowning in the
turbulent and freezing cold sea. Incredibly, the Akron had not
been equipped with life jackets.
The role of the Akron was to scout for enemy ships and
submarines.
It was 785 feet long - over 3 times longer than a
Boeing 747 airliner.
Nearly seven and half million cubic feet of volume was
displaced.
It had four starboard propellers and the engines’
water reclaiming devices appear as white strips above each propeller.
The emergency rear control cabin was visible in the
lower fin.
It could carry up to five small fighter-reconnaissance
aircraft.
The plane was launched and retrieved via a
trapeze-style mechanism.
Bristled with 8 heavy machine guns, it had a crew of
60.
Range of nearly 7,000 miles.
With a top speed of 79 miles per hour, it was twice as
fast as the latest American Lexington-class aircraft carriers.
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