WWI Zeppelins & Airships

Airship Number Hansa (LZ13)

The airships of the Zeppelin Company were cigar-shaped, with the maximum diameter being reached at one-eighth of the overall length. The diameter stays constant to about the last one-eighth of the ship’s length, where it reduces to the tail. The ship is a “rigid airship” in that it has an aluminum, or duralumin, skeleton and a keel along the bottom, from which all of the ship’s weight was carried – crew, gondolas, ordnance, ballast, fuel, radio, etc.

Airship Number	Hansa (LZ13)
Manufacturer	Zeppelin Company
Military Branch	Army
Assigned Base(s)	Gotha, Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin, Jütterbog, Fuhlsbûttel
Beginning Service Date	April 25, 1912
Last Service Date	August 1, 1914
Postal Marking	MP KOMMANDO
Dispatch Type	Personal
Value	$$

Notes

A civilian ship transporting passengers prior to the war for the Zeppelin Company, it was brought into the military inventory and used as a training ship. The passenger comforts, including seating and interior decor, were removed.

This cover is distinctive because: (1) it bears a propaganda label “Gott Strafe England”; it has a new thrust type postal marking for this ship in violet Luftschiffkommando,,Hansa”; it has a photo actually taken from the ship!; show an assembled crowd at an important patriot fundraising event. Datestamp BERLIN 17.9.15

Commander: Ernst Lehmann
Crew: 14
Final Status: Decommissioned

Dimensions: Length -158 meters; Diameter - 15 meters
Volume of Hydrogen: 22,500 cubic meters
Engines: 3 Maybach MB-IV