DESTROYED ZEPPELINS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16796, 12 March 1918, Page 6

DESTROYED ZEPPELINS.

THIRTY ACCOUNTED FOR.

FATE OF OTHERS IN DOUBT. ; The Zeppelin bogey has been laid, or, at least its terrors have vanished, einco reliable information shows the reported existence in Germany of great armadas of theso aerial Dreadnoughts to have been absolutely mythical. Altogether little more than one hundred of these dirigibles have been constructed since the late Count Zeppelin launched the first one over Lake

Constance. Up to August, 1914, the total of those built had numbered 25; since hostilities began the two great works at Friedrichshafen and Staaken havo constructed between 75 and 80 j probably nearer the lower than the higher figure. This means an average of two a month. As the mean period for the building of a Zeppelin is known with certainty to be two months, there always must have been four new airships on the stocks at the same time. Most of the Zeppelins launched into the air before the war came to grief, thus leaving in the service of the German army and navy a fleet of less than a dozen when fighting began. Since then nearly all the dirigibles, old and new, have been handed ovor to the German navy, which ha* used them for many kinds of work, such as bombarding expeditions, protection of mine layers and small torpedo-boats at sea, chasing submarines, searching for mine-fields and, last and most important, reconnoitring for the High Seas Fleet. Disaster has attended the flight of an overwhelming majority of theso air monsters, no fewer than thirty of which ere known to hayo been destroyed in one way or another, a* is shown by tho following list. L. I—Destroyed just before the war, when it fell "into the North Sea near Heligoland. L. 2—Burned at Buhlsbuettel just before the war. L. 3---Descended at Fanoe in Denmark at beginning of the war and was burned by its crew. L. 4Descended at Blaavands Huk, Denmark, at beginning of the war and was burned by its crew. L. s—Brought down on the Belgian front in 1915, part of crow saved. L. Burned at Buhlsbuettel in its hangar in September, 1916. 'L. Brought down by British destroyers off Jutland, crew being drowned, in 1915. L. B—Brought down by machine-guns in Belgium, part of crew being killed, in 1915. L. 9—Burned at Buhlsbuettel in its hangar at same time as L 6. L. 10—Struck by lightning near Cuxhaven during its initial flights, and lost with its crew. L. 12—Destroyed at Ostend in 1915 when returning from a raid on England. L. 15—Brought down in the Thames, England, in 1916. L. 16—Destroyed on October 19, 1917. L. 18—Burned in a hangar at Tondern in 1916. L. 19— into the Baltic while returning from a raid on England. L, 22—Burned accidentally while coming out of its hangar at Tondern." L. 25—Fell on the English coast. L. 25—Destroyed while being employed as a training balloon at Wildpark. L. 31—Fell in London in 1916. L. Brought down in London in 1916 (September 23-24). L. 33—Brought down in England September 23,1916, and crew interned. L. Brought down in England. L. Brought down at Compiesme, France, March, 1917. ' L. 40—Fell in the woods near Emden L. 43-Brought down in July, 1917, at Terschelling. L. 44—Brought down afire at SaintClement, October 20, 1917. L. Brought down and burned at Sisteron, October 20, 1917. IQI7 48—Brought down in England, June, L. 49—Brought down at Bourbonne-los-Bains, October 20, 1917. 1917 50 ~ ?c11 *' Dommartin ' October 2°. L. Broke up on its first voyige. Hie last named is the highest number believed to have been in tho service. Missing numbers in the list given abovo are , accounted for as follows :— 1 L. 11.— out of service in 1917, and I believed to bo in shed at Hage. L. 13—In the shed at Hage since May 1917. ■' , |L, 14.—School airship at Nordholz. L. Believed to have been destroyed at sea. L. 20.—Dismantled. L. 21—Dismantled, believed burnt at Tondern. L, 24.—Dismantled. . L. 27, L. 28, L. 29 and L. 30.-De-signed, but never constructed. ■ L. 34.—Believed destroved'off England. L. 37.—Attached to Baltic squadron, but believed destroyed. L. Whereabouts unknown. L. 41, L 42, L. 46, L. 47, L. 51 L. 52 • • ??' kr 54 L 55, and L 56.~1n service in the North Sea. No information is obtainable as to the fate of the remainder of the Zeppelins, nor as to whether their construction was ever completed, but the .'ew other types of dirigible airships used bv the Germans 1 have not been better served by fate than their more renowned sisters. The Schutte-Lanz dirigible is something like a Zeppelin, but with a framework of bamboo instead of aluminium. There have been eight of these in use since the beginning of the war, and their fate or present condition is shown in the followinc list:— ° S.L. 3.— of service a long time S L. 4,-Stmck by lightning in'the S.L. Believed to have fallen into the Baltic. S.L. B.—ln service in the Baltic. S. L. 9—Burnt at Stolp. S. L. 14.—1n service in the Baltic. S. L. 16.—Believed to be still in service. S. L. 20.—1n service. There was also one Gross semi-rigid dirigible, which was put out of service at the end of February, 1915, and Uiree ' Parseval non-rigid airships, one of which was destroyed in Russia, the second used as a school ship, and tho third understood to bo still in service.