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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Online Library of Selected Images:
-- EVENTS -- The 1920s -- 1925
Loss of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925
On 2 September 1925 USS Shenandoah left her base at
Lakehurst, New Jersey, to begin a flight to the Midwest. This
voyage was one of a series of publicity trips by the Navy's airships
that were intended to enhance public support for Naval Aviation,
but which also kept the dirigibles away from the Fleet and reduced
opportunities to serve with the operating forces. Shenandoah's
journey was planned to take her to an air show at St. Louis, Missouri,
then north to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and return by way of Dearborn,
Michigan.
During the early morning darkness of 3 September, Shenandoah
was flying over southeastern Ohio when she abruptly encountered
violent atmospheric conditions. Powerful air currents buffeted
her so severely that her crew was unable to maintain control.
Rising rapidly above her pressure height, then falling and rising
again, her hull structure was overstressed amidships, breaking
the airship in two. Shenandoah's external control car and
two engine cars fell free, carrying the dirigible's Commanding
Officer, Lieutenant
Commander Zachary Lansdowne, and several other men to their
deaths. The stern section came down nearby, while Lieutenant Commander
Charles E. Rosendahl
and several men were able to fly the bow section to ground as
a free balloon. In all, twenty-nine of those on board survived.
Shenandoah's crash was the nation's most dramatic aviation
disaster yet. Fourteen trained crewmen had been killed and a valuable
Navy asset had been lost. Criticism, both public and professional,
was intense. Though the remaining dirigible, USS Los
Angeles (ZR-3), operated safely for several more years,
and new airships were designed to be much stronger than Shenandoah,
her mid-air breakup had forcefully demonstrated the threat that
weather presented to lighter-than-air craft. Less than a decade
later, storms would cause the loss of the new, much larger and
more capable airships Akron
(ZRS-4) and Macon
(ZRS-5), bringing an end to the Navy's brief experiment with
rigid airships.
This page features, and provides links to, all the views
we have related to the loss of Shenandoah (ZR-1)
For additional pictures related to this event, see:
Loss of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1),
3 September 1925 (Part II).
For other images related to USS Shenandoah, see:
USS Shenandoah
(ZR-1), Airship 1923-1925.
Click on the small photograph to prompt
a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 98998
Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925
Wreckage of Shenandoah's bow section on a southern Ohio
farm soon after it crashed.
Note sightseers and their automobiles.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 123KB; 740 x 580 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 42044
Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925
Wreckage of the airship's forward section, soon after it landed
near Sharon, in southeastern Ohio.
Photographed by Dowling, Caldwell, Ohio.
This view shows the forward section from off its starboard side.
Courtesy of Allan J. Drugan, 1967.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 545 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 42041
Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925
Wreckage of the airship's forward section, soon after it landed
near Sharon, in southeastern Ohio.
Photographed by Dowling, Caldwell, Ohio.
This view shows the forward section's port side, from off its
rear end.
Note the split rail fence in the foreground.
Courtesy of Allan J. Drugan, 1967.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 550 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 42043
Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925
Wreckage of the airship's forward section, soon after it landed
near Sharon, in southeastern Ohio.
Photographed by Dowling, Caldwell, Ohio.
This view shows the forward section from off its port side.
Courtesy of Allan J. Drugan, 1967.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 108KB; 740 x 560 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 42037
Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925
Local residents examining some of the airship's wreckage, soon
after she crashed in southeastern Ohio.
Photographed by Dowling, Caldwell, Ohio.
Though the inscription on the photograph states that this view
shows Shenandoah's control car, the structure in the center
more closely resembles one of her engine cars.
Courtesy of Allan J. Drugan, 1967.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 123KB; 740 x 535 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 42034
Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925
Local residents examining some of the airship's wreckage, soon
after she crashed in southeastern Ohio.
Photograph was received from the Office of Naval Intelligence,
7 November 1940.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 136KB; 740 x 610 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 42027
Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925
Men working on the airship's wreckage, possibly during salvage
efforts some time after the crash.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 150KB; 740 x 465 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 52770
USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)
Five of the airship's officers, all of whom were killed when
she crashed on 3 September 1925.
Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken at Naval Air Station
Lakehurst, New Jersey, some time prior to the tragedy, and published
in the "Evening Star", Washington, D.C., Friday, 4
September 1925.
Those present are (left to right);
Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, Commanding Officer;
Lieutenant Commander Lewis Hancock, Jr., Executive Officer;
Lieutenant John B. Lawrence;
Lieutenant Arthur R. Houghton; and
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edgar W. Sheppard.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 181KB; 740 x 530 pixels |
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For additional pictures related to this event, see:
Loss of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1),
3 September 1925 (Part II).
For other images related to USS Shenandoah, see:
USS Shenandoah
(ZR-1), Airship 1923-1925.
Return to Naval
Historical Center home page.
Page made 2 December 2002
New image added 12 December 2003