Zeppelin P Class
| P Class | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Q-class (lengthened P class) LZ 66 | |
| Role | Bomber and patrol airship |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Zeppelin Luftschiffbau |
| Designer | Ludwig Dürr |
| First flight | 3 May 1915 |
| Primary user | German Navy German Army |
| Number built | 22 |
The Zeppelin P Class was the first Zeppelin airship type to be produced in quantity after the outbreak of the First World War. 22 of the type were built as well as 12 of a lengthened version, the Q Class . They were used for many of the airship bombing raids on the United Kingdom in 1915-16, for naval patrol work over the North Sea and Baltic and were also deployed on the eastern and south-eastern fronts.
The P class was an enlarged version of the preceding M class. On 5 August 1914 the Zeppelin company put forward a proposal to the German Navy Ministry for a design based on LZ 26. This had been started as a passenger carrying craft for DELAG and was the first Zeppelin with a duralumin framework, and also had the strengthening keel inside the hull structure. The proposed design was larger, with the volume increased from 25,000 m3 (880,000 cu ft) to 31,900 m3 (1,126,000 cu ft) and a fourth engine was added. As well as being larger, allowing a greater range and bomb load, the P class introduced enclosed crew accommodation: the gondolas of the first M class Zeppelins were open.
The P class had a more streamlined hull shape than previous Zeppelins, with only 60 m (197 ft) of the 163.5 m (536 5 in) overall length being parallel sided. Power was initially provided by four 210 hp (160 kW) Maybach CX six cylinder engines. Later examples were fitted with four 180 kW (240 hp) Maybach HSLu engines. The framework was divided into sixteen 10 m (32 ft 9 in) bays, with an intermediate frame between each of the principal wire-braced ring frames to reduce lateral loads on the triangular section longitudinal girders, of which there were 17, the uppermost of which was doubled to form a W-section girder. The 16 gasbags were usually made from three layers of goldbeater's skin on a cotton backing, but shortages meant that sometimes heavier rubberised cotton was used instead. Automatic pressure relief valves were placed at the bottom of the gasbags: there was no trunking to carry vented hydrogen to the top of the craft and waste gas simply diffused upwards in the space between gasbags and the covering, whose top surface was left undoped to allow the hydrogen to escape. Some gasbags were also fitted with a manually operated manoeuvering valve at the top. The ship was controlled from the forward gondola, which was divided into two structurally separate sections in order to avoid transmission of engine vibration to the crew accommodation: the small gap between the two sections was faired over with fabric. The forward section was divided into three compartments, with the control area at the front; aft of this was the radio compartment, and then the officer's rest area, the windows of which had a machine-gun mounting either side. The engine compartment contained a single engine driving a propeller at the rear through a reduction gear. The aft engine gondola carried three engines arranged in line, the aft engine driving a propeller at the back of the gondola and the other two driving a pair of propellers mounted either side of the hull. These were reversible to aid manoeuvering during mooring. As in the forward gondola, a machine-gun mounting was fitted either side. Further defensive armament consisted of a single machine gun in a small cockpit at the stern behind the rudders and a gun position mounting two or three machine guns on top of the hull, which was reached by a ladder from the forward gondola. The bomb load was slung from the keel girders, the bombs being electrically released from the control car.
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