1.) LZ 129 Hindenburg – 245 m
With a total length of 245 meters, the German-made LZ 129 Hindenburg was the world’s largest airship ever built. This commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship is also the longest flying machines of any kind. The airship flew from March 1936 until May 1937. It was destroyed by a fire while landing in New Jersey, USA and killing 36 people. This airship was operated by 61 crews and can accommodate 72 passengers. Its maximum speed was 135 km/h. 2.) LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II – 244 m Read more: http://scienceray.com/technology/worlds-largest-airships-ever-built-and-their-disasters/#ixzz0rg4M2n2w
The Graf Zeppelin II is the 2nd longest dirigible in history, just one meter shorter than the LZ 129 Hindenburg. It was the last of the great German rigid airships built by the Zeppelin Luftschiffbau. It has a crew of 40 and 40 passenger capacity. It has a maximum speed of 131 km/h, a bit slower than the LZ 129 Hindenburg. 3.1) ZRS-4 USS Akron – 239 m
USS Akron (ZRS-4) is the 3rd largest airship ever built. It was an American helium-filled rigid airship that was lost in a weather-related accident off the New Jersey coast early on April 4, 1933. Seventy-three people died on the incident. The airship also served as a flying aircraft carrier for launching F9C ‘Sparrowhawk’ biplanes.
With a length of239 m, USS Akron and her sister USS Macon, were the largest helium-filled airship. LZ 129 Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen. It can fly as fast as 133 km/h. It was operated by 89 officers and men. It was equipped with 7 machine guns and carried 4 aircraft. 3.2) USS Macon – 239 m
USS Macon (ZRS-5), sister of USS Akron, was a large rigid airship used as flying aircraft carrier and served the US Navy for almost two years. 4.) R101 – 237 m
This 237 meter-long British rigid airship named R101 was completed in 1929. The3 creation of this dirigible was a disaster. In October 1930, it crashed in France and killed 48 people, more disastrous than the USS Akron crash in 1933. This airship with a crew of 45 had a capacity of 100 and can attain a maximum speed of 114 km/h. It’s the 4th largest dirigible ever built. 5.) LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin – 236.53 m Read more: http://scienceray.com/technology/worlds-largest-airships-ever-built-and-their-disasters/#ixzz0rg4ZWmrP
LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin is the 5th largest dirigible ever built. This large German passenger-carrying rigid airship operated commercially for almost 10 years from 1928 to 1937 and was named after Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the pioneer of airships.
This dirigible made 590 flights and travelled more than a million miles, the first aircraft to do so. It also made 144 ocean crossings and carried 13,110 passengers with a perfect passenger safety record, making it the most successful rigid airship ever built. This 236.5 meter long aircraft can accommodate 20 passengers and can attain a maximum speed of 128 km/h. 6.) Zeppelin LZ 104 – 226.5 m
The Zeppelin LZ 104 of the German Imperial Navy was a large airship used during World War I. This 226.5 meter-long dirigible had a maximum speed of 103 km/h. It’s the 6th largest airship ever constructed. 7.) HM Airship R100 – 219 m
This 219 meter-long dirigible is the 7th largest in the airship in the world. It was a privately designed and built rigid airship for use on British Empire and transatlantic routes. This 219 meter-long dirigible had a maximum speed of 131 km/h and can endure for 64 hours. 8.) R38 Class – 212 m
The R38 Class was a large airship of the Royal Navy of Great Britain used during the last phase of World War I. At the time of her first flight in 1921, she was the world’s largest airship. It was destroyed while on flight due to structural failure in August 1921 where 44 of the 49 crew aboard were killed. This is more disastrous than the famous Hindenburg Disaster where 35 were killed. This large airship had a maximum speed of 114 km/h. It is also commonly known as the A Class. It’s the 8th largest airship in the world. 9.) USS Shenandoah – 207.2 m
USS Shenandoah was a 207.2 meter-long airship built from 1922 to 1923. This US Navy airship was destroyed during its 57th flight in 1925. It had a maximum capacity of 60 knots and equipped with 6 x .30 cal. Lewis Machine Gun and an 8 x 500-pound bombs. It’s the 9th largest dirigible ever built. 10.) USS Los Angeles – 199.95 m
The 199.95 meter-long USS Los Angeles is the 10th largest airship ever built. It was created in 1923-1924 by Germany for the US as a gift. The airship went on to log a total of 4,398 hours of flight, covering a distance of 319,300 nautical km. It travelled all over from places in the Pacific to the Atlantic. This airship also served as an observatory, as an experimental platform and as a training ship for other airships.
Due to the disasters encountered by many dirigibles that claimed scores of lives, they grew out of importance . Although some dirigibles are still in used today, these are for advertisement purposes and telecommunication used only.They have been replaced by airplanes.
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