As the ship was designed for hydrogen, there would be additional 'luxury cabins' with windows on the starboard side allowing for a total of 70 passengers (this was added to the Hindenburg over the winter of 1936–1937). The tail fins were 60 cm shorter and the number of intermediate ribs was reduced to save weight and reduce stress on the trailing edge of the fin. Though the LZ 130 was nearly identical in design to the LZ 129 Hindenburg, there were a few minor improvements. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes refused to supply helium, and the Graf Zeppelin II was ultimately filled with hydrogen. After the annexation of Austria in March 1938, U.S. He visited President Roosevelt himself, who promised to supply helium, but only for peaceful purposes. The only source of helium in large enough quantities at that time was in the United States, so Eckener traveled to Washington, D.C. This led to modifications such that the Graf Zeppelin II could be inflated with helium. Hugo Eckener vowed never again to use hydrogen in a passenger airship. Following the Hindenburg disaster in May, 1937, Dr. It was conceived to replace the aging LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin on flying the South American transatlantic route while the Hindenburg would continue flying the North American route. The Graf Zeppelin II was virtually identical to the Hindenburg, and was originally designed to use hydrogen as lifting gas. The airship, along with its LZ 127 namesake were both scrapped in April 1940, and their duralumin framework salvaged to build aircraft for the Luftwaffe. It made 30 flights over 11 months in 1938–39, many being propaganda publicity flights but staff of the Reich Air Ministry were aboard to conduct radio surveillance and measurements. Due to the United States refusal to export helium to Germany, the Graf Zeppelin II was filled with hydrogen and therefore never carried commercial passengers. The Graf Zeppelin ( Deutsche Luftschiff Zeppelin #130 Registration: D-LZ 130) was the last of the German rigid airships built by Zeppelin Luftschiffbau during the period between the World Wars, the second and final ship of the Hindenburg class, and the second zeppelin to carry the name 'Graf Zeppelin' (after the LZ 127) and thus often referred to as Graf Zeppelin II.

Graf Zeppelin at Lowenthal Hangar in 1938

JSTOR ( December 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: 'LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II' – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.

World of warships graf zeppelin 2019