USS Macon over New York City in 1933 Career (United States) Namesake: Macon, Georgia Launched: 21 April 1933 Commissioned: 23 June 1933 Struck: 26 February 1935 Fate: Crashed following structural failure on 12 February 1935. General characteristics Type: Airship Tonnage: 108 t (106 long tons) Length: 239 m (784 ft 1 in) Beam: 40.5 m (132 ft 10 in) (diameter) Height: 44.6 m (146 ft 4 in) Propulsion: 8 × 420 kW (560 hp) internal combustion engines Speed: 140 km/h (76 kn; 87 mph) (maximum) Capacity: Useful load: 72 t (71 long tons) Volume: 184,000 m3 (6,500,000 cu ft) Complement: 91 Aircraft carried: 5 × F9C Sparrowhawk biplane fighters USS Macon (ZRS-5) was a rigid airship built and operated by the United States Na vy for scouting and served as a "flying aircraft carrier", designed to carry bip lane parasite aircraft, five single-seat Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk for scouting or two-seat Fleet N2Y-1 for training. In service for less than two years, in 1935 Macon was damaged in a storm and lost off California's Big Sur coast, though mos t of the crew were saved. The wreckage is listed as USS Macon Airship Remains on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Less than 20 ft (6.1 m) shorter than Hindenburg, both the Macon and "sister ship " USS Akron (ZRS-4) were among the largest flying objects in the world in terms of length and volume. Although the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg was longer, the tw o sisters still hold the world record for helium-filled airships.[citation neede d] Contents [hide] 1 Construction 2 Christening and commissioning 3 Early service history 3.1 1933 3.2 1934 4 Leading up to the crash 5 Disaster 6 Wreck site exploration 6.1 2006 expedition 6.2 Protection 7 In popular culture 8 See also 9 References 10 Bibliography 11 External links Construction[edit] USS Macon was built at the Goodyear Airdock in Springfield Township, Ohio by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation.[1] Because this was by far the biggest airship e ver to be built in America, a team of experienced German airship engineers—led by Chief Designer Karl Arnstein—instructed and supported design and construction of b oth U.S. Navy airships Akron and Macon.[2] Macon had a structured duraluminum hull with three interior keels.[3] The airshi p was kept aloft by 12 helium-filled gas cells made from gelatin-latex fabric. I nside the hull, the ship had eight German-made Maybach 12-cylinder, 560 hp (418 kW) gasoline-powered engines that drove outside propellers.[4] The propellers co uld be rotated down or backwards, providing an early form of thrust vectoring to control the ship during takeoff and landings. The rows of hull's slots were par t of a system to condense out the water vapor from the engine exhaust gases for use as buoyancy compensation ballast to compensate for the loss of weight as fue l was consumed. Christening and commissioning[edit] Macon was christened on 11 March 1933 by Jeanette Whitton Moffett, wife of Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, Chief of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics.[5] T he airship was named after the city of Macon, Georgia, which was the largest cit y in the Congressional district of Representative Carl Vinson, then the chairman of the House of Representative's Committee on Naval Affairs.[4] The airship first flew one month later, shortly after the tragic loss of the Akr on. Macon was commissioned on 23 June 1933, with Commander Alger H. Dresel in co mmand. Early service history[edit] 1933[edit] On 24 June 1933 Macon left Goodyear's field for Naval Air Station (NAS) Lakehurs t, N.J., where the new airship was based for the summer while undergoing a serie s of training flights.[6] The Macon had a far more productive career than the Akron, which crashed on 4 Ap ril 1933. The commanders of the Macon developed the doctrine and techniques of u sing her on-board aircraft for scouting while the airship remained out of sight of the opposing forces during exercises.[7] The Macon participated in several fl eet exercises, though the men who framed and conducted the exercises lacked an u nderstanding of the airship's capabilities and weaknesses.[8] It became standard practice to remove the landing gear of the Sparrowhawks while aboard the airshi p and then replace it with a fuel tank, thus giving the aircraft 30 percent more range.[9] Some design details Inside Macon's aircraft hangar. Sparrowhawk scout/fighter aircraft on its exterior rigging. Inside Macon's secondary control node. Aerial reconnaissance "spy car" observer's basket which could be lowered below c louds with a tether. The Macon first docked an aircraft on 6 July 1933 during trial flights out of La kehurst, New Jersey. The planes were stored in bays inside the hull and were lau nched and retrieved using a trapeze. The Macon departs the East Coast on 12 October 1933 on a transcontinental flight to the scout ship's permanent homebase at NAS Sunnyvale (now Moffett Federal Ai rfield) near San Francisco in Santa Clara County, California.[10] 1934[edit] In 1934, two two-seat Waco UBF XJW-1 biplanes equipped with skyhooks were delive red to the USS Macon. In June, 1934, Lieutenant Commander Herbert V. Wiley took command of the airship , and shortly afterwards he surprised President Franklin D. Roosevelt (and the N avy) when the Macon searched for and located the heavy cruiser Houston, which wa s then carrying the president back from a trip to Hawaii. Newspapers were droppe d to the President on the ship, and the following communications were sent back to the airship: "from Houston: 1519 The President compliments you and your plane s on your fine performance and excellent navigation 1210 and 1519 Well Done and thank you for the papers the President 1245." The commander of the Fleet, Admira l Joseph M. Reeves, was upset about the matter: but the Commander of the Bureau of Aviation, Admiral Ernest J. King[11] was not. Wiley, one of only three surviv ors of the crash of the Akron, was soon promoted to commander, served as the cap tain of the battleship West Virginia in the final two years of World War II, and then retired from the Navy in 1947 as a rear admiral. Leading up to the crash[edit] Question book-new.svg This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this s ection by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challe nged and removed. (February 2014) USS Macon over Moffett Field During a crossing of the continent, Macon was forced to climb to 6,000 ft (1,800 m) to clear mountains in Arizona. As the ship's pressure height (the height at which the gas cells would start to leak and eventually rupture due to pressure d ifference) was less than 3,000 ft (910 m), a large amount of helium was vented i n reaching this altitude. To compensate for the loss of lift, 9,000 lb (4,100 kg ) of ballast and 7,000 lb (3,200 kg) of fuel had to be dumped. Macon was being f lown 15,000 lb (6,800 kg) "heavy" and was operating at full power not only in or der to have sufficient dynamic lift, but also to have enough control to fly in t he severe turbulence through a mountain pass near Van Horn, Texas. Following a s evere drop, a diagonal girder in ring 17.5, which supported the forward fin atta chment points, failed. Rapid damage control by Chief Boatswain's Mate Robert Dav is repaired the girders before further failures could occur. Macon completed the journey safely but the buckled ring and all four tailfins were judged to be in need of strengthening. The appropriate girders adjacent to the horizontal and lo wer fins were repaired, but the repairs to the girders on either side of the top fin were delayed until the next scheduled overhaul, when the adjacent gas cells could be deflated. Disaster[edit] On 12 February 1935 the repair process was still incomplete when, returning to S unnyvale from fleet maneuvers, Macon ran into a storm off Point Sur, California. During the storm, the ship was caught in a wind shear which caused structural f ailure of the unstrengthened ring (17.5) to which the upper tailfin was attached . The fin failed to the side and was carried away. Pieces of structure punctured the rear gas cells and caused gas leakage. Acting rapidly and on fragmentary in formation an immediate and massive discharge of ballast was ordered. Control was lost and, tail heavy and with engines running full speed ahead, Macon rose past the pressure height of 2,800 ft (850 m), and kept rising until enough helium wa s vented to cancel the lift, reaching an altitude of 4,850 ft (1,480 m).[12] It took 20 minutes to descend and, settling gently into the sea, Macon sank off Mon terey Bay. Only two of the 76 crew members were lost thanks to the warm conditio ns and the introduction of life jackets and inflatable rafts after the Akron tra gedy. Radioman 1st Class Ernest Edwin Dailey jumped ship while still too high ab ove the ocean surface to survive the fall and Mess Attendant 1st Class Florentin o Edquiba drowned while swimming back into the wreckage to try to retrieve perso nal belongings.