The SSP (Submarine Scout Pusher) were a class of Royal Navy
non-rigid airship
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 ...
or "blimp" developed by the United Kingdom during
World War I
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 ...
as a successor to the earlier
SS class airship
SS (''Submarine Scout'' or ''Sea Scout'') class airships were simple, cheap and easily assembled small non-rigid airships or "blimps" that were developed as a matter of some urgency to counter the German U-boat threat to British shipping during ...
. Found to be inferior to a parallel development, the
Submarine Scout Zero non-rigid, only a few were built.
The main role of these craft was to escort convoys and scout or search for German
U-boats
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare rol ...
.
Design and development
In 1916, design commenced at
RNAS Kingsnorth
RNAS Kingsnorth was a First World War Royal Navy air station for airships, initially operating as an experimental and training station, it later moved on to large scale production of airships. It also provided anti-submarine patrols. A number o ...
on an SS class -type airship that would have a more comfortable purpose-built car,
''Twenty-One Years of Airship Progress.''
flightglobal.com. Retrieved on 28 March 2009. and not simply be an adaptation of an aeroplane fuselage. The SSP cars were of rectangular cross-section, had a blunt nose, and could accommodate a crew of three.[Whale (2008), p.60.]
As the name suggests, the SSP was powered by a Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
engine mounted on bearers to the rear of the car, powering a diameter four-bladed propeller in pusher configuration
In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...
. Four examples of the type were later fitted with 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 ...
engines.[
Six SSPs entered service between January and June 1917,][SSP-class airship specifications and logs.]
AHT. Retrieved on 25 March 2009. but because of the success of the SSZ type it was decided that these would become the standard SS variant, and the SSP programme was terminated.[
]
Operators
;
Specifications
See also
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
External links
SS-class airships on the Airship Heritage Trust website
{{RNAS blimps
Airships of the United Kingdom
1910s British patrol aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1917