British Airships, Past, Present, and Future Part 10

Speed: Full 45 miles per hour Normal = 2/3 38 " " "

Cruising = 1/3 32 " " "

Endurance: Full 18 hours = 800 miles Normal 26 " = 1,000 "

Cruising 50 " = 1,600 "

No. 9 having finished her trials was accepted by the Admiralty in Mar.

1917, and left Barrow, where she had been built, for a patrol station.

In many ways she was an excellent ship, for it must be remembered that when completed she was some years out-of-date judged by Zeppelin standards. Apart from the patrol and convoy work which she accomplished, she proved simply invaluable for the training of officers and men selected to be the crews of future rigid airships. Many of these received their initial training in her, and there were few officers or men in the airship service who were not filled with regret when orders were issued that she was to be broken up. The general feeling was that she should have been preserved as a lasting exhibition of the infancy of the airship service, but unfortunately rigid airships occupy so much s.p.a.ce that there is no museum in the country which could have accommodated her. So she pa.s.sed, and, except for minor trophies, remains merely a recollection.

RIGID AIRSHIP No. 23 CLa.s.s

After the decision had been made in 1915 that work on No. 9 should be restarted, the Admiralty determined that a programme of rigid airships should be embarked upon, and design was commenced.

Several ships of the same cla.s.s were, ordered, and the type was to be known as the 23 cla.s.s. Progress on these ships, although slow, was more rapid than had been the case with No. 9, and by the end of 1917 three were completed and a fourth was rapidly approaching that state.

The specification, always ambitious, laid down the following main stipulations.

(1) The ship is to attain a speed of at least 55 miles per hour for the main power of the engines.

(2) A minimum of 8 tons is to be available for disposable weights when full.

(3) The ship must be capable of rising at an average rate of not less than 1,000 feet per minute, through a height of 3,000 feet starting from nearly sea level.

As will be seen later this cla.s.s of ship, although marking a certain advance on No. 9 both as regards workmanship and design, proved on the whole somewhat disappointing, and it became more evident every day that we had allowed the Germans to obtain such a start in the race of airship construction as we could ill afford to concede.

We may here state that all of the ships of this cla.s.s which had been ordered were not completed, the later numbers being modified into what was known as the 23 X cla.s.s; four in all of the 23 cla.s.s were built, of which two--Nos. 23 and 26--were built by Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., at Barrow, No. 24 by Messrs. Wm. Beardmore and Co., at Glasgow, and No. 25 by Messrs. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., at Selby, Yorkshire.

In many respects the closest similarity of design exists between No. 9 and No. 23, especially in the hull, but it will be of interest to mention the salient differences between the two ships.

The length of the hull, which in No. 9 was 520 feet, was increased in No. 23 to 535 feet, and the number of gasbags from seventeen to eighteen. This gave a total volume of 997,500 cubic feet compared with 890,000 cubic feet in No. 9, with a disposable lift under specification conditions of 5.7 tons as opposed to 3.8 tons.

The longitudinal shape of No. 23 is a modified form of "Zahm" shape, the radius of the bow portion being twice the diameter of the parallel portion, while the stern radius is three times the same diameter.

In design the hull framework is almost a repet.i.tion of No. 9, particularly in the parallel portion, the same longitudinal and transverse frames dividing the hull into compartments, with tubes completely encircling the section between each main transverse frame.

The system of wiring the hull is precisely the same in both the ships, and nets are employed in the same way.

The triangular section of keel is adhered to, but its functions in No.

23 are somewhat different. In No. 9 it was intended to be sufficiently strong to support all the main vertical bending moments and shearing forces, but in No. 23 it was primarily intended to support the distributed weights of water ballast, petrol tanks, etc., between the main transverse frames. Unlike No. 9, the keel is attached to the main transverse frames only. The cabin and wireless cabin are disposed in the keel in the same manner, and it also furnishes a walking way for the total length of the ship.

The stabilizing fins, both vertical and horizontal, are similar to those attached to No. 9, but the system of rudders and elevators is totally different. In place of the box rudders and elevators in No. 9, single balanced rudders and elevators are attached to the fins; they have their bearing on the outboard side on the external girders of the fins, which are extended for the purpose. The elevators and rudders are composed of a duralumin framework, stiffened by a kingpost on either side with bracing wires.

The bags, eighteen in number, are made of rubber-proofed fabric lined with gold-beater's skin. It is interesting to note that the number of skins used for the bags of a ship of this cla.s.s is approximately 350,000. The system of valves is entirely different from that in No.

9. The Pa.r.s.eval type of valve with the pressure cone at the bottom of the bag is omitted, and in the place of the two top valves in the former ship are a side valve of the Zeppelin type entirely automatic and a top valve entirely hand controlled. The side valve is set to blow off at a pressure of from 3 to 5 millimetres. The outer cover was fitted in the same manner as in No. 9. Two cars or gondolas, one forward, the other aft, each carry one engine provided with swivelling propellers and gears. They are enclosed with sides and a fireproof roof, and are divided into two compartments, one the navigating compartment, the other the engine room. The cars are in all respects very similar to those of No. 9, and are suspended from the hull in a similar manner. The remaining two engines are carried in a small streamline car situated amidships, which has just sufficient room in it for the mechanics to attend to them. Originally this car was open at the top, but it was found that the engineers suffered from exposure, and it was afterwards roofed in.

The engine arrangements in this ship were totally different to those of No. 9, four 250 horse-power Rolls Royce engines being installed in the following order. Single engines are fitted in both the forward and after cars, each driving two swivelling four-bladed propellers. In the centre car two similar engines are placed transversely, which drive single fixed propellers mounted on steel tube outriggers through suitable gearing.

The engines are the standard 12 cylinder V-type Rolls Royce which will develop over 300 brake horse-power at full throttle opening.

The engine is water cooled, and in the case of those in the forward and after cars the original system consisted of an internal radiator supplied by an auxiliary water tank carried in the keel. It was found on the flight trials that the cooling was insufficient, and external radiators were fitted, the internal radiator and fan being removed. In the case of the centre car no alteration was necessary, as external radiators were fitted in the first instance.

The engines are supported by two steel tubes held by four brackets bolted to the crank case, these being carried by twelve duralumin tubes bolted to the bearers and transverse frames of the car respectively.

The drive from the engine is transmitted through a universal joint to a short longitudinal shaft, running on ball bearings. This shaft gears into two transverse shafts, which drive the propellers through the medium of a gear box to the propeller shafts, making five shafts in all.

The engines in the centre car being placed transversely the transmission is more direct, the engines driving the propellers through two gear wheels only. The propeller gear box is supported by steel tube outriggers attached by brackets to the framework of the car. The petrol is carried in a series of tanks situated beneath the keel walking way, and are interconnected so that any tank either forward or aft can supply any engine, by this means affording a.s.sistance for the tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of the ship.

Four-bladed propellers are used throughout the ship.

Water ballast is carried in fabric bags also situated beneath the keel walking way, and a certain amount is also carried beneath the floor of the car.

Engine-room telegraphs, swivelling propeller telegraphs, speaking tubes and telephones, with a lighting set for the illumination of the cars and keel, were all fitted in accordance with the practice standard in all rigid airships.

The lift and trim trials taken before the initial flight trials showed that the ship possessed a disposable lift under standard conditions of 5.7 tons. The original disposable lift demanded by the specification was 3 tons but this was reduced by 2 tons owing to the machinery weights being 2 tons in excess of the estimate. Since then these weights had been increased by another half-ton, making a total of 2 1/2 tons over the original estimate. It was evident that with so small a margin of lift these ships would never be of real use, and it was decided to remove various weights to increase the lift and to subst.i.tute a wing car of a similar type to those manufactured for the R 33 cla.s.s for the heavy after car at present in use.

R 23 carried out her trials without the alteration to the car, which was effected at a later date, and the same procedure was adopted with R 24 and R 25. In the case of R 26, however, she had not reached the same stage of completion as the other two ships, and the alterations proposed for them were embodied in her during construction. The gasbags were of lighter composition, all cabin furniture was omitted and the wing car was fitted in place of the original after car. This wing car is of streamline shape with a rounded bow and tapered stern.

The lower portion is plated with duralumin sheets and the upper part is covered with canvas attached to light wooden battens to give the necessary shape. This effected a very considerable reduction in weight. The original 250 horse-power Rolls Royce engine was installed, now driving a single large two-bladed propeller astern. A test having been taken, it was found that the disposable lift under standard conditions was 6.28 tons. It was therefore decided that all the ships of the cla.s.s should be modified to this design when circ.u.mstances permitted. Speed trials were carried out under various conditions of running, when it was found that the ship possessed a speed of 54 1/4 miles per hour with the engines running full out.

To summarize the performances of these ships as we did in the case of No. 9, we find:

Speed: Full 54 miles per hour Normal =2/3 48 " " "

Cruising =1/3 33 " " "

Endurance: Full 18 hours = 1,000 miles Normal 26 " = 1,250 "

Cruising 50 " = 1,900 "

The production of the rigid airship during the war was always surrounded with a cloak of impenetrable mystery. Few people, except those employed on their construction or who happened to live in the immediate vicinity of where they were built, even knew of their existence, and such ignorance prevailed concerning airships of every description that the man in the street hailed a small non-rigid as "the British Zeppelin" or admired the appearance of R 23 as "the Silver Queen." The authorities no doubt knew their own business in fostering this ignorance, although for many reasons it was unfortunate that public interest was not stimulated to a greater degree. In the summer months of 1918, however, they relented to a certain extent, and R 23 and one of her sister ships were permitted to make several flights over London to the intense delight of thousands of its inhabitants, and a certain amount of descriptive matter appeared in the Press.

From that time onwards these large airships have completely captured the popular imagination, and many absurd rumours and exaggerations have been circulated regarding their capabilities. It has been gravely stated that these airships could accomplish the circuit of the globe and perform other feats of the imagination. It must be confessed that their merits do not warrant these extravagant a.s.sertions. The fact remains, however, that R 23 and her sister ship R 26 have each carried out patrols of upwards of 40 hours duration and that, similarly to No.

9, they have proved of the greatest value for training airship crews and providing experience and data for the building programme of the future. At the present time highly interesting experiments are being carried out with them to determine the most efficient system of mooring in the open, which will be discussed at some length in the chapter dealing with the airship of the future.

RIGID AIRSHIP 23 X CLa.s.s

During the early days of building the airships of the 23 cla.s.s, further information was obtained relating to rigid airship construction in Germany, which caused our designers to modify their views. It was considered a wrong policy to continue the production of a fleet of ships the design of which was becoming obsolete, and accordingly within ten months of placing the order for this cla.s.s a decision was reached that the last four ships were to be altered to a modified design known as the 23 X cla.s.s. As was the case with the ships of the preceding cla.s.s when nearing completion, they were realized to be out of date, and special efforts being required to complete the ships of the 33 cla.s.s and to release building s.p.a.ce for additional larger ships, the construction of the second pair was abandoned.

The main modification in design was the abolition of the external keel, and in this the later Zeppelin principles were adopted. This secured a very considerable reduction in structural weight with a corresponding large expansion of the effective capabilities of the ship.

It has been seen that the purpose of the keel in No. 9 was to provide a structure sufficiently strong to support all the main vertical bending moments and shearing forces, and that in No. 23 this principle was somewhat different, in that the keel in this ship was primarily intended to support the distributed weights of petrol, water, ballast, etc., between the transverse frames.

In this later design, namely, the 23 X cla.s.s, it was considered that the weights could be concentrated and suspended from the radial wiring of the transverse frames and that the keel, incorporated in the design of the former ships, could be dispensed with.

For all practical purposes, apart from the absence of the keel, the 23 X cla.s.s of airship may be regarded as a slightly varied model of the 23 cla.s.s. The main dimensions are nearly the same, and the general arrangement of the ship is but little changed. The loss of s.p.a.ce owing to the introduction of the internal corridor is compensated by a modification of the shape of the bow, which was redesigned with a deeper curve. The hull structure was also strengthened by utilizing a stronger type of girder wherever the greatest weights occur. In these strengthened transverse frames the girders, while still remaining of the triangular section, familiar in the other ships, are placed the opposite way round, that is, with the apex pointing outwards.

The walking way is situated at the base of the hull pa.s.sing through the gas chambers, which are specially shaped for the purpose. The corridor is formed of a light construction of hollow wooden struts and duralumin arches covered with netting.