NAVAL AIRSHIP WRECK.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 169, 17 July 1919, Page 5

NAVAL AIRSHIP WRECK.

CRAFT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. BLAZING MASS FALLS INTO SEA. CREW OF TWELVE LOST. LONDON, July 16. The British naval airship XSII was struck by lightning, and the crew of 12 lost their lives. Coast dwellers at Cromer, on the coast of Norfolk, saw a glare in the sky, and a - burning mass fall into the sea. Later wreckage of an airship was washed ashore at Sherihgham.—(A. and N.Z. Cable.) NSII was one of the naval dirigibles built for scouting over the North Sea and for the submarine hunting campaign. She was small by comparison with the zeppelins and the R class, but was of a very useful and handy type. She had one ear, and was propelled by twin engines at a speed of 50 miles an hour in calm weather. In March Nil completed a voyage ' round the lower portion of the Xorth Sea, taking in the ■coasts of Denmark, Germany, and Holland, the flight of 1,255 miles being accomplished under very adverse weather conditions in 40* hours, this being at that date the longest overseas flight ever carried out by a non-rigid airship.