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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # 80-G-461642: USS Los Angeles operating with an UO-1 airplane, 20 May 1930

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY AIRCRAFT -- LIGHTER-THAN-AIR --

USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), Airship 1924-1939

USS Los Angeles, a 2,472,000 cubic foot rigid airship was built at Friedrichshafen, Germany. Her construction was partially funded by German World War I reparations and was conditional on her being employed for "civil" purposes. Completed in August 1924 under the builder's number LZ-126, she departed Germany in mid-October 1924 for delivery to the U.S. Navy. After a three day trans-Atlantic flight, the airship arrived at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, where her hydrogen lifting gas was replaced with non-flammable helium. This greatly increased her safety, but also significantly reduced her payload and range. In late November 1924 she was placed in commission as USS Los Angeles and began several years of flight activity to explore the potential of her type for commercial and Naval use. Between February and May 1925, she voyaged twice to Bermuda and one time to Puerto Rico, and made test moorings to the Navy's floating airship base, the oiler Patoka.

In June 1925, Los Angeles began an overhaul at Lakehurst, while her expensive helium gas was transferred to the older dirigible Shenandoah (ZR-1). The latter's tragic loss, on 3 September 1925, produced a temporary shortage of helium, delaying Los Angeles' return to flight service until March 1926. However, she was actively employed for six years after that, five of them as the Navy's only rigid airship. During this time, in addition to her normal training and experimental duties, she was used to calibrate East Coast radio compasses, made several cross-country flights around the eastern and southern United States, landed briefly on the aircraft carrier Saratoga and continued her work with Patoka. A unique incident on 25 August 1927, in which she briefly rose tail-high to a near-vertical position while attached to Lakehurst's tall mooring mast, demonstrated the dangers inherent with this type of facility and led to the adoption of the "stub" mast used for more than three more decades of dirigible and blimp operations.

Also in 1927, Los Angeles began a series of operations that developed techniques for basing airplanes on board airships, a concept that promised to greatly expand the dirigible's potential for fleet scouting. In the winter of 1931, with her "civil use" restrictions diplomatically eased, she flew to Panama to participate in Fleet Problem XII, the first time an airship had taken part in a major U.S. Fleet exercise since 1925. Later in 1931 she operated for a short time with the new USS Akron (ZRS-4), a much larger dirigible whose design owed much to Los Angeles's work. At the end of June 1932, she was decommissioned and placed in preservative storage in Lakehurst's airship hangar. Following reconditioning in 1934, she began three years of non-flying experiments, including open-air moorings. Los Angeles left her hangar for the last time in November 1937 and, in October 1939, was stricken from the Navy list and began the dismantling process. Within a few months, USS Los Angeles, the most successful of the Navy's rigid airships, had been reduced to scrap.

This page features all the views we have of USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) in flight, and provides links to all our other pictures related to this airship.

For further views of USS Los Angeles, see:

  • USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) -- Landing on and Moored to Ships;
  • USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) -- Ground Views; and
  • USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) -- Miscellaneous Views.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 98153

    Airship LZ-126


    In flight, probably over the eastern U.S. after her flight across the Atlantic from Germany, 15 October 1924. Following delivery to the U.S. Navy, she became USS Los Angeles (ZR-3).

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 116KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42024

    Airship LZ-126


    Arrives at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, after her flight across the Atlantic from Germany, 15 October 1924. After delivery to the U.S. Navy, she became USS Los Angeles (ZR-3).
    Note that the airship has no markings.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 83KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 944

    USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)


    Flying over southern Manhattan Island, New York City, circa 1924-1932.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 159KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: 80-G-461642

    USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)


    Operating with an Vought UO-1 airplane, over the Atlantic Ocean off the U.S. East Coast, 20 May 1930.
    Note the trapeze rigged below the airship for launching and recovering the airplane.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 595 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 65298

    USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)


    With the Navy blimps J-2 and ZMC-2, flying over USS Raleigh (CL-7) and another light cruiser, during maneuvers off Atlantic City, New Jersey, 11 October 1930.

    Donation of Franklin Moran, 1967.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 65299

    USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)


    Flies in formation with the Navy blimps J-2 (left) and ZMC-2 (right), during maneuvers off Atlantic City, New Jersey, 11 October 1930.

    Donation of Franklin Moran, 1967.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 50KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     


    USS Los Angeles is seen in the background of the following view of the airship Akron (ZRS-4):

    Photo #: NH 42169

    USS Akron (ZRS-4)


    Flying over Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) in the distance, circa late 1931 or early 1932.
    The Schuykill River waterworks and the Philadelphia Art Museum are visible in the lower center of the photograph.

    This photograph was received from the U.S. Navy Recruiting Bureau, New York, in 1932.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 125KB; 740 x 580 pixels

     

    For further views of USS Los Angeles, see:

  • USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) -- Landing on and Moored to Ships;
  • USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) -- Ground Views; and
  • USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) -- Miscellaneous Views.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 31 October 2002
    Link added 3 December 2002