Evening Star Newspaper, November 23, 1930, Page 92

How the NAVY'S GIANT AIRSHIP Secured to the nose a movable stub mast on wheels stands ready to draw the ship out into the open air. This is a ticklish job, as the least bump into the sides of the hangar may disable the ship. The Navy has carefully developed this tech- Rrique for five years. Never Be fbre Revealed Are These Details, Thrilling, but Accurate, Showing Just What Would Happen Aboard This Flying Cruiser Should It Be Ordered to Sea—How It Could Harass the Enemy Day and Night, Scout, Bomb, Fight and Carry Airplanes Thousands of Miles From Its Base and Hundred of Miles in Advance of Its Own Country’s Fleet. BY ISRAEL KLE]N. HOULD war come to the United States within the next 15 years, a new element will be added to the drama of the great war machine getting under way. Using data of the Navy Department, the following picture may be drawn with some hope that it would be an accurate one: Out into the Atlantic, sailing in neat forma- wn.nneetorwvasselsisproeeedlncm quest of the enemy. In the great dock at Lakehurst, the Navy’s new airship, the Akron, looming & mass of 6,500,000 cubic feet overhead, is being made ready to accompany the fleet and act as scout against the enemy approaching the coast. The veteran crew of 12 officers and 45 men has been strengthened by others to man the 16 50-caliber rapid-fire guns, to prepare and fly the five pursuit or observation planes in its hull, to attack with bombs and fulfill other duties that might become necessary in the naval campaign to come. Sixty tons of fuel, calculated for a flight of nearly 11,000 miles, have been taken aboard. ‘Water ballast has been added, engine oil, kero- sene for cleaning, drinking water and food stores brought up. REPARATORY to leaving, the captain has received weather and temperature reports covering flying conditions over the ocean. On the basis of this information, and his knowledge that he might have to climb to extreme alti- tudes, he calculates the maximum amount of helium he can carry as lifting gas for the safe flight and maneuvering of-the Akron. The gas s purged of impurities through a special puri- fication plant, and the cells are inflated to the required fullness. On either side of the huge airship the sand- bags have been rep by a train of trolleys which, firmly secured to the ship by means of gig-zagging cables, act as anchorages and kewp the Akron steady against any possible cross- drafts when it is moved out of the dook. Secured to the nose, a movable stub mast is ready to draw the ship out into the open &r. of gas, metal and fabric must be “statically balanced” and “put in trim” before it can be moved an inch. time in the operation has come. Once its nose is out, the entire body must be taken out with- out hesitation. But with the present perfection of mechanical handling means, undocking an airship is not the hazardous undertaking it once was. This mechanical gear has been ly developed by the Navy at Lake- hurst in the last five years. Now, with time so short and therefore so valuable, with an enemy fleet advancing, there can be and need be no delay, no waiting for a lull. The Akron must get out and be om its way. The ship has been made “ready for sea” in every respect. The engines have been warmed up and tested and all “sea stores” are aboard. Everything is set for the adventure, and the captain gives his first command: © “Weigh off!” The trolley cables are slackened, the men loosen their hold on the control room forward and the fin aft, all extra ballast—about 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of water—is cast off. The Akron is being tested for “static equilibrium.” Weights are added or dropped until the ship just “floats” on even keel, that is, until it weighs exactly the same as the air displaced by the ship’s lifting gas. Satisfied with the Akrog's static condition in the dock, the captain orders part of the crew aboard. The trolley cables are set tdut again, the crew mans the mechanical handling gear, and all is ready for the ship to be “walked out.” Heretofore between 200 and 400 men have been required to “walk out” a rigid airship, holding down the great mass from bow to stern by means of lines and “spiders,” keep- ing her well steadied against any gusts. In place of this large ground handling crew, the two trains of weighted trolleys on tracks along both sides of the ship and extending out of the dock keep the Akron in position by means of the zig-zag cables. Only a few men are required to hold down the tail and man the mast and trolleys. Slowly the mast, moving on caterpillar wheels, pulls the Akron out of the dock. Once out, the trolley cables aft are detached, the ship is allowed to swing into the wind, the rest of the flight crew is embarked, and the captain orders another “weigh off.” The handling lines are loosed and the ship again is tested for static equilibrium. If it is heavy, ballast is dropped. If too light, more weight is taken on in the form of more operation, the captain turns to the enginegr officer on the starboard side, with the order: been received and understood. Eight rs begin rotating slowly, some of them & horizontal position, ready to give an up- ward thrust to the ship in rising, most of them vertical, to afford forward push. At the ballast controls, on the port side, the first lieutenant is ready to drop ballast at any place in‘the ship, if the Akron doesn’t rise properly. At the bow, the executive officer is “conning” the rudder man. The officer of the Everything set, and the captain gives the command: “Let go!” The mooring officer on the ground passes the word to his men on the mast and along the ground. Immediately the mast’s “pelican hook,” which holds the ship’s “short pendant” or moor- ing cable, is tripped, the men release their hold on the ship’s lines, and the Akron rises slowly, drawing its mooring cone out of the cup at the tip of the mast and the short pendant after it. 'HE Akron now is acting as a huge free balloon, its engines only idling, giving no forward or upward thrust to the ship. When the airship is clear of the mast, however, the the speed is set at “standard” or but this is an emergency. An going full speed ahead. Those have been tilted for upward thrust are turned back to the vertical position to help move the " great bulk forward as fast as 72 nautical miles, or nearly 84 land miles, an hour. In the ship as it takes off every man of the entire crew is at his post—the captain, four officers and two men in the control room, an officer in the chart room immediately abaft the control room, an officer and two men in the radio room above, two men in each of the eight engine rooms, other officers and men distributed through the length of the ship on both sides and along the gangway on top. The control room, lined with instruments of all sorts for control and operation of the Akron, is only 8 feet wide by Il feet long, about the size of a small bed room, but seven men are occupying it. The captain “at the conn,” in command of the ship, takes up his post at the forward port window or moves about as he pleases. In the very nose of the room stands the rudderman, a boatswain’s mate or coxswain. Besides the rudder wheel in front of him, to assist in controlling the ship “in yaw” or hori- zontally, are two rudder angle indicators that give the exact position of each rudder. BEBIDS these are a gyro repeater steering compass and a magnetic steering compass. Two clutches are nearby, by which either top or bottom rudder may be “clutched out” in case of damage, leaving the control to the of THE SUNDAY STAR, WAS CLOUD BANK - — e B — — The two drawings above show how the huge airship may hide above a cloud- bank and let down an observer in a gondola or nacelle through the clouds to report on an enemy fleet.