BRITISH NAVAL AIRSHIP.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 316, 30 November 1910, Page 6

BRITISH NAVAL AIRSHIP.

Although no date has yet been fixed for the launch of Britain's first naval airship, there is every reason to hope that she will emerge from her huge shed at Barrow some time this month. "Naval Airship No. 1," as she is officially described, will be amphibious in her duties—she will reign in the air and have her home on the water. She is being built on the water, she will be launched on the water, and her home station will be on the water.

The fact that the airship will float is one of her many surprising characteristics. Two gondola-like boats, one at either end of the airship, will preserve her buoyancy on the water. The boats will be the living quarters of the two officers and six men who are to work the vessel, and they are being fitted with every necessary convenience such as sleeping-berths, cooking-galley, stores, and so on—to enable a cruise of two or three days to be made.

The boats are large enough to accommodate at least fifty men, but all the spare space will be devoted to the storage of petrol, as hundreds of gallons will be required on continuous long cruises. The balloon's outer covering is made of the new alloy of aluminium which is much.stronger than aluminium itself and only slightly heavier. The engines have been specially designed to meet the requirements of the Admiralty, and it is believed they will in moderate weather give the airship a speed of fifty miles an hour. It was thought that the cost of the airship would not exceed £70,000, but there have been so many alterations in the original design, due to the discovery of improvements almost every day, that the total amount will probably not be far short of £IOO,OOO.