air or on the ground and, in fact, were better adapted to military
purposes than others previously built. A deciding factor in favor of the
Zeppelins was the ease with which they could be put into their sheds
after each flight. The Government, accordingly, ordered three airships
built and equipped for military service. Their performance was kept
secret but they were accepted and obviously performed equally as well as
their contemporary commercial craft.

There was the Zeppelin "=Sachsen=" which flew to Vienna from Baden-Baden
in less than eight hours. This commercial flight led the German army to
buy three more military ships of the "=Sachsen=" type.

Activities Early in the War

The Navy followed suit and in October, 1912, bought the L-1 (Plate 6),
for experimental and training purposes in connection with the fleet. The
L-1 carried 706,200 cubic feet (20,000 cubic meters) of Hydrogen and
proved its worth on its trial flight from Friedrichshafen, thence
north over Germany to Helgoland in the North Sea, thence to the Baltic,
side trips here and there, and finally to the airship harbor at
Johannisthal where it was to be stationed. The flight lasted 34 hours.

[PLATE 15: Development of the Zeppelin from 1900 to 1919.]

This persuaded the Naval officials that Zeppelins were essential in
marine warfare both for offense and defense. Another order was placed,
this time for a Zeppelin of much larger dimensions. It was christened
the L-2 and delivered in September, 1913 (Plate 6). This ship
represented an utterly new departure in design, later universally
adopted. A corridor was built forming a keel on the inside and bottom of
the ship (Plate 7). It had a gas capacity of 953,370 cubic feet (27,000
cubic meters) and was equipped with four motors of 180 horsepower each.

Being the first of the kind it was inevitable that the corridor
arrangement should develop a flaw. It lacked proper ventilation.
Hydrogen leaked out from the ship and was drawn into the motor gondolas.
On one of its first flights this caused an explosion on the L-2 which
sent it to the ground a wreck.

Operations with the Fleet

Early in the spring of 1914 another Zeppelin, the L-3 (Plate 8) was
delivered. It held 787,400 cubic feet (22,300 cubic meters) of hydrogen
and carried besides its own weight approximately 19,840 pounds (9,000
kilograms). The average speed was 43.5 miles (70 kilometers) per hour
with motors aggregating 630 horsepower. It c