Friedrichshafen enabling
Zeppelin to build bigger ships which could give the performances he felt
was essential.

[PLATE 17: Zeppelin Airship Bldg. Co.'s Colossal Plant at
Staaken (1919). Near Berlin.

Consisting of two large sheds (at the left) between which is
located the Traverse Ring Fabrication Shed. The Administration
Bldg. is shown in the right foreground.

Zeppelin Airship Bldg. Co.'s Staaken Plant. (View taken from a
Zeppelin).

By far the largest and most complete airship building plant in
the world.]

The first of these, the LZ-38, left the shed in April, 1915, and joined
the army. It had 1,130,000 cubic feet (32,000 cubic meters) of hydrogen
capacity and was fuller, that is, its ratio of length to diameter was 9
to 1 where in the former ships it was 11 to 1. The wider girth afforded
more freedom in design and the stern was drawn out much finer, resulting
in more speed; on later ships reaching 58.1 miles per hour (26 meters
per second). The LZ-38 could carry a useful load of 30,865 pounds
(14,000 kilograms) besides her own weight, more than 37% of her total
lift. The Zeppelins of this type (Plate 10--LZ-77) proved from the day
they were first flown equal to all the demands made upon them.

North Sea Patrol Flights

They cruised over the North Sea scouting and guarding the coastline,
remaining in the air for thirty hours at a time. They flew out from the
western outlet of the Kiel Canal, northward along the shores of Denmark
to the Norwegian coast and thus were able virtually to command the sea
hundreds of miles around with powerful glasses.

One day when the true details of the Skagerrak Naval Battle are given to
the world, it will realize the vital part which the Zeppelins played.
They consistently hampered the enemy's mine laying operations and
rendered timely and valuable support to the counteractions of the fleet.
In discovering mines they were particularly effective; and this work
alone, about which the world was uninformed, justified fully the time
and labor put into their construction.

[PLATE 18: The Maybach Motor Works, 1916.

Practically all of the Airship motors were made in this plant.

Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen, G.M.B.H., 1915. (The Cog-wheel
and Gear Works).

Part of Friedrichshafen and Lake Constance in the background.]

Ten Zeppelins of the L-38 type were delivered to the navy in 1915,
numbered from L-10 to L-19 in