Zeppelin LZ14 L1
LZ14 near to Helgoland
First flight : 7 October 1912
Class : H
Design : Ludwig Durr
Commander : Gunther Hanne
General information :
Built for the Kaiserliche marine to carry out reconnaissance missions over the North sea and enemy territory.
On 9 September 1913 it was on a patrol over the North sea when it run into a thunderstorm. Cold rain made it gas It had to make a forced landing at sea 14 nautical miles North of Helgoland and 14 crew members drowned including commander Hanne and Korvettenkapitän Friedrich Metzing . They were the first ever Zeppelin casualties.
Crew : 20
Length : 158 [m] diameter : 14.9 [m] payload : 8200 [kg]
Volume : 22740 m3 empty weight : 16710 kg useful lift (TOW) : 26100 kg
Useful load : 9400 kg
Power plants : 3 Maybach BY 180 ps Max.speed : 76 km/hr range : 2300 km
L1 flying over ocean liner “Imperator” on the Elbe near Altona (now west Hamburg), 1913. Imperator was launched in 1912 and completed in 1913 at that time it was the world largest passenger ship by gross tonnage.
Illustration of Achille Beltrame
Literature :
The Fischdampfer Orion arrived as first at the crash site and could rescue some crew that clung to the wreckage. Soon SMS Hannover arrived at the site and could also take some crew members before Zeppelin L1 sank into the sea. Only 6 crew members were rescued, 1 drowned man was fished from the water, the bodies of the 13 other crew members were never found.
Memorial at the island Dune, near to Helgoland. It is also a memorial for the torpedo boats S 178 and G 171.
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