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SSZ.65

1918 WORLD WAR 1

History

From 1916, during the First World War (1914-1918), a total of 77 airships "Submarine Scout Zero" ("SSZ") were built. These are designed as surface patrol airships and are therefore heavily used by the Royal Navy, US Navy (2 examples) and France (2 examples). The ships took the form of airships typical of the period and lacked the rigid structural support network common to German zeppelins inside - hence the moniker "airships".

Their lifting properties come from the helium gas contained in the shell, which conforms to a predefined shape of its material structure.

Like the Zeppelin, the SSZ-class features a nacelle (called a "car") on the ventral side of the vehicle, as well as a ventral fin and horizontal tail. Piloted by a crew of three (in a row), the plane is 44 meters long, 12 meters wide and 14.3 meters high. Power is provided by a 75-horsepower Rolls-Royce Hawk series engine with a top speed of 52 mph. The engine is fixed at the very end of the undercarriage pod. Defensive armament is very minimal, limited to a 1 x 7.7mm Lewis machine gun mounted on a trainable mount in the forwardmost cockpit.

On the offensive end, the airship can store about 65 pounds of conventionally dropped bombs.

In practice, such ships can be used for maritime reconnaissance, bombardment, and escort protection, as they provide the much-needed "eye in the air" quality that surface combatants lack. Additionally, airships themselves had a long air life and were for some time a better replacement for the short-range fixed-wing aircraft in service at the time.

Airships, while fragile, gave war planners a degree of strategic flexibility that proved crucial at the height of war.

SSZ. The 65 was part of the SSZ class and was able to remain in the air for approximately 254 hours throughout the war, most of which was in 1918, the final year of the global conflict. SSZ. The 65 was eventually retired in 1919 in a massive postwar withdrawal worldwide.