During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

trained crews at British bases, and operated British designed and built

blimp A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hydr ...

s on combat patrols. The Navy purchased three types of British blimps. Operations were flown in a US SSZ and

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

s operated by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

SSZ class

The US Navy purchased two SSZ class blimps, which were long, in diameter and had a volume of . They were propelled by a single

Rolls-Royce Hawk The Rolls-Royce Hawk was a British aero engine designed by Rolls-Royce in 1915. Derived from one bank of six cylinders of the Rolls-Royce Eagle, it produced 75 horsepower at 1,370 rpm. Power was progressively increased to 91 hp by Februar ...

engine. A replacement SSZ-23 was acquired in November 1917 and first operated from

Cranwell Cranwell is a village in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Cranwell and Byard's Leap and is situated approximately north-west from Sleaford and south-east from the city and county town o ...

for training. It was then assigned patrol duties from RNAS

Howden Howden () is a market and minster town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of York to the north of the M62, on the A614 road about south-east of York and north of Goole, which lies across the Ri ...

. These operations included at least 24 operational missions in the spring of 1918. Ensign Phillip Barnes received the Distinguished Flying Cross from King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

during one of those flights. The SSZ-23 then was transferred to

Lowthorpe Lowthorpe is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north-east of Driffield town centre and south-west of Bridlington town centre. It lies south-east of the A614 road and just north-west of the York ...

and completed another 24 operational flights by August, when it returned to Howden where it was destroyed in an accident. While preparing to mate the old SSZ-23 envelope to a spare control car, the US maintenance crew started a fire which burned the SSZ-23, SSZ-38, SSZ-54 as well as the rigid airship ''R27''. A replacement airship, also designated SSZ-23 was acquired on 22 November 1917 and was eventually shipped to the United States and erected at

Cape May Cape May consists of a peninsula and barrier island system in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is roughly coterminous with Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May County and runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay fro ...

in early February 1919. Served at Cape May until April of that year and was stricken from the Navy registry in June 1920. The SSZ-24 was assembled and tested by the Navy and Goodyear in March 1918. It was shipped to

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

. There are no records of any operations at Hampton Roads. The SSZ-24 may have been burned in the summer of 1918.

North Sea class

The US Navy purchased one North Sea class airship. ''N.S.14'' was sold to the US in early November 1918 after flying 206 hours in British service and the USN designation NS-1. NS-1 was shipped to Wingfoot Lake, and then Hampton Roads, but there is no record it was ever flown while owned by the US Navy. North Sea blimps were long, had a diameter of and a volume of . They had a top speed of , an endurance of 24 hours and were powered by two

Rolls-Royce Eagle The Rolls-Royce Eagle was the first aircraft engine to be developed by Rolls-Royce Limited. Introduced in 1915 to meet British military requirements during World War I, it was used to power the Handley Page Type O bombers and a number of oth ...

engines or two Fiat engines.

SST class

The US Navy purchased three SST (Sea Scout Twin) airships from Britain in 1919. The SST-9, SST-11 and SST-12 were transferred to the USN; the Navy designations were probably to be SST-1, 2, and 3. The three SSTs were transferred directly to the US Army and operated by that service between 1920 and the winter of 1923–24."US Navy Pressure Airships 1915–1962" Appendix IV, page IV-3.Shock, James R; . SST class airships were long, in diameter and had a top speed of . They were powered by two engines, either

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunl ...

s, and carried a crew of five.

References

{{Reflist Airships of the United States Navy