LZ 43

L 12 in the water off Ostend

L 12 when being towed into the port of Ostend

L 12 on the quay in Ostend

The burned-out wreckage of L 12

The Zeppelin LZ 43 was Count Zeppelin's 43rd airship and the twelfth airship of the Imperial Navy .

history

The first trip from LZ 43 took place on June 21, 1915. The navy took over the airship under the military identification L 12.

L 12 was stationed in Nordholz and Hage . The zeppelin was used for aerial reconnaissance over the North Sea and for bombing raids against Great Britain .

End of LZ 43 / L 12

On the night of 9-10 August 1915, L 12 attacked London , Harwich and targets on the Humber . During this war voyage, the airship was badly damaged by English defensive fire.

Three gas cells of the Zeppelin had lost their lifting gas over England and the airship was tilted 20 degrees forward and up. To compensate for the lean, Commander Oberleutnant zur See von Peterson ordered all the men in the rear gondola except for the two machinists to move forward, and to reduce the weight of the ship, all furnishings including the petrol tanks, oil barrels, machine guns and radio equipment were thrown overboard. Finally, the L 12 buckled in the stern and sank, stern first, into the sea at Ostend .

The floating wreck was towed into the port of Ostend and tied to a quay. During the dismantling work on the quay, the wreck caught fire and burned out.

Technical specifications

• Carrying gas volume: 31,900 m³ hydrogen
• Length: 163.50 m
• Diameter: 18.70 m
• Payload: 15 t
• Drive: four six-cylinder Maybach engines, each with 210 hp (154 kW)
• Speed: 26.7 m / s

See also

• List of Zeppelins

literature

• Peter Meyer: Airships - The History of the German Zeppelins. Wehr & Wissen, Koblenz / Bonn 1980.

Web links

Commons : LZ 43 / L 12  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ernst A. Lehmann : On air patrol and world travel . Wegweiser-Verlag, Berlin 1936, pages 92-93