GIANT AIRSHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 106, 31 October 1931, Page 10

GIANT AIRSHIP

NtiW ZEPPELIN

SMOKE-ROOM AND BATHS

Tlic new giunt airship being built at Fricdriuhshafcn, at present called "LSI2D," will differ in vital particulars from the Graf Zeppelin, says the "Evening Standard." It will be considerably larger; it will embody many technical improvements, suggested by this experience of tlio Graf Zeppelin; it will surpass the present ship in its arrangements for tlio comfort and security of the- passengers. Tlic difference in size is shown in the following table, giving tlio approximate measurements of the two airships : LSI 29. Graf Zeppelin. Maximum length 271 yards 257 yards Maximum breadth 45 yards 33 yards Maximum height 50 yards 37 yards Nominal gas capacity 260,000 c. yds. 137,000 c. yds. Its carrying capacity, which is almost double that of the Graf Zeppelin, is: 50 passengers, eight tons of mail and luggage, two tons of drinking water, two tons of washing water, six tons of ballast water,' and 00 tons of fuel. The so-called "bridge," tho post of control and command, will not, as in tlio Graf Zeppelin, be close to tho passenger quarters, which are shifted to amidships. Tho "bridge" occupies a apace nearly eleven yards long at tho bow. It is fitted with a periscope, enabling tho watch officer to observe the whole length and the stern of the airship. Above tho "bridge" is tho wireless station. This will not, as heretofore, derive its current from an air-driven motor, but will be supplied with current from tho ship's electric power station. The air-driven motor had the double disadvantage of only working when the airship was in motion, and of offering a certain amount of resistance that diminished the speed of tho ship. This new disposition of the wireless station dispenses with the necessity for the special wireless gondola that is a feature of the Graf Zeppelin.

The power station, served by two oildriven motors, supplies current for the ship's lighting, for the kitchen, and for tho heating apparatus. Incidentally it will enable passengers to have their daily warm bath, which was not possible, hitherto. . : TWENTY-SIX CABINS. The present ship offers rather limited passenger accommodation. — some cabins, a very narrow interior lobby, and one common room that serves as, saloon, reading-room, and dining-room all in one. , On the LSI 29 this will bo entirely different. In;the first place there will be 26 cabins with !52 berths. The dining-room, sixteen yards by six and a half yards, will' be spacious and well-appointed; so will the saloon. There will also be a separate ' reading and writing-room with a library of books and facilities for typing. To starboard and to port there will bo broad lobbies, fitted out with windows placed at an angle of 45 degrees and permitting almost unlimited view around and below the airship. Besides the kitchen and the other conveniences, there will be a bathroom, an officers' messroom, and a purser's office. Finally there will be &, smokeroom. This is a great boon, for the chief objection many people had to Zeppelin travelling was that it was strictly forbidden to smoke.

The stringent; prohibition of smoking in tho Graf Zeppelin is, Oil,course, bocauso there is no separate smoke-room so doviscd as to prevent : danger o.C escapingl gaa floating about the ship j catching fire from opon lights. This (clanger is much smaller in. the new airship, ■which is designed to use noninflamrnable gas; also, the smoke-room will bo so constructed and isolated as to avoid all possibility of conflagration. The new airship will carry no petrol, and helium gas offers no danger of combustion. In addition, in the construction, care has been taken to avoid inflammable substances. Exception must be made in the case of the cover, •which is composed of strips of cotton and cloth, covered with aluminium powder to diminish the influence of the sun's rays on the gas contents. Tho gas cells' partitions are of so-called goldbeater's skin.

In principle, the construction remains the same; the new features are all improvements grafted on the present model. None of these changes is in any way revolutionary or marks a departure from the principles adopted originally by the pioneer of airships, Count Zeppelin. • They arc merely alterations and additions designed 1o increase carrying capacity, speed, comfort, and security..