LZ 31

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L 6
Sister ship L 7 in Tondern
Type: Zeppelin type w
Design country:

German EmpireThe German Imperium German Empire

Manufacturer:

Airship construction Zeppelin

First flight:

May 11, 1914 LZ 24 / L3

Commissioning:

L 6 : November 3, 1914

Production time:

1914/15

Number of pieces:

12

The naval airship L 6 was the 31st airship of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin ( LZ 31 ). It was the sixth type m zeppelin , which made its first voyage in November 1914. Its first commandant was the Oberleutnant zur See Freiherr von Buttlar , who later became the Pour le Mérite carrier .

The zeppelin, last used as a training ship, burned on September 16, 1916 in its hall in Fuhlsbüttel while refilling gas together with the airship L 9 ( LZ 36 ).

history

The first trip from LZ 31 took place on November 3, 1914. The navy took over the airship under the military identification L 6 . The first ports of operation for the airship were Fuhlsbüttel and Nordholz .

L 6 was mainly used for reconnaissance trips over the North Sea. A special voyage took place on December 25, 1914, when the airship cleared up English naval activities near the German coast ( Christmas attack). Three British aircraft mother ships were able to bring seven seaplanes into the air 30 kilometers from Heligoland for a bomb attack on the airship port of Nordholz . L 6 dropped several bombs on the aircraft mother ship Empress, which was returning , but missed the ship.

A bombing raid on England in the night of January 19th to 20th 1915 had to break off L 6 due to heavy icing near Terschelling .

After a search run over the North Sea in February 1915 for missing German aircraft, the zeppelin fell into a forest on landing, blinded by the landing lights. The airship could be recovered and made ready to go again in a few days.

L 11 and L 6 in Fuhlsbüttel 1915

On the night of April 14th to 15th, 1915, the airship dropped 700 kg bombs on Maldon during an attack on England . The ship was badly damaged by defensive fire, but was able to return to the home port.
At the beginning of May, Kapitänleutnant Joachim Breithaupt became the new commander of the airship. The now somewhat outdated zeppelin was only used for reconnaissance trips. At the end of June and the beginning of July he discovered two new mine barriers of the British and marked them with buoys. L 6 was also able to warn in good time of an impending sea air raid.

From August 4, 1915, the ship last used from Hage was only used by DELAG as a training ship under the leadership of the lieutenant captain of the Reserve Blew . Initially deployed from Dresden, L 6 moved back to Fuhlsbüttel in 1916.

End of LZ 31 / L 6

On September 16, 1916, L 6 burned together with L 9 when improperly refilling with lifting gas, which ignited, in his hall in Fuhlsbüttel . The airship had made 91 trips by then and covered 73,921 km; In addition to 36 reconnaissance trips, L 6 was also used on 2 attack trips.

Technical specifications

  • Carrying gas volume: 22,500 m³ hydrogen
  • Length: 158.0 m
  • Diameter: 14.90 m
  • Payload: 9.2 t
  • Drive: three Maybach engines, each 210 hp (154 kW)
  • Speed: 22.4 m / s

See also

literature

  • Hans-Jürgen Becker / Rudolf Höfling: 100 Years of Airships , Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-613-02071-8
  • Peter Meyer: Airships - The History of the German Zeppelins , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1996, ISBN 3-7637-5951-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Meyer: Luftschiffe , p. 46
  2. ↑ Frank Omeda: The German aircraft carrier . 2017, p. 92
  3. ↑ Major General Joachim Breithaupt (1883–1960) , then commanded L 15 , with which he stranded on April 1, 1916 off the English coast and was taken prisoner
  4. ↑ Becker / Höfling: 100 years of airships , p. 147