User:TheLongTone/List of Naval Zeppelin bases

Revolving shed at Nordern, 1917 Note the extension to the shed and the shodow of the Zeppelin from which the photograph was taken at upper left.

This is a list of the airship bases used by the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) during World War 1

Map

54|56|N|08|51

Nordholz

Aalhorn

Wittmundhafen

Tondern

Fuhlsbüttel

Hage

sss (Germany)

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hohum

As well as a varying number of airship sheds the bases had accommodation for the airship crews and maintenance personnel and a barracks for the substantial number of men needed for ground-handling the airships into and out of the sheds. Some bases had hydrogen generating plants, while others relied upon delivery of hydrogen by railway.

List of bases

Nordholz

53°46′04″N 008°39′36″E
Headquarters of the Naval Airship Division 14 Oct 1914–24 July 1917 and 10 January 1918–9 November 1918. Also the location of one of the frst two radio direction finding stations used to assist airship navigation. Still in use as a military airfield, Nordholz Naval Airbase.

Hydrogen plant capacity 43,000 m³ (1,520,000 cu ft) per day
Low-pressure storage 30,000 m³ (1,060,000 cu ft) usable capacity
High pressure storage 150,000 m³ (5,280,000 cu ft).
Compressor capacity 20,405.8 m³ (720,624 cu ft) per day.

Initially had barracks for 543 troops for ground handling: by April 1917 this had been increased to accommodation for 1293 men.

Sheds:

• Hertha, later Nobel: Twin single-ship revolving shed. First shed completed August 1914, second completed November 1914. Lengthened May 1917, demolished 1921.
• Nora: Single shed, completed January 1915, demolished 1921.
• Hindenburg: later Norbert. Single shed, completed January 1915, demolished 1921.

Ahlhorn

52°53′06″N 008°13′57″E
Headquarters of the Naval Airship Division 25 July 1917–9 January 1918. On 5 January 1918 a series of explosions destroyed two sheds and severely damaged the other two sheds at Ahlhorn. 14 were killed, 134 injured (30 severely) and five airships were destroyed. Neither the cause of the initial explosion, in No. I shed, nor the reason for the subsequent explosions in the other sheds, two of which were about a kilometer away, was ever established.

Hydrogen plant capacity 29,900 m³ (1,056,000 cu ft) per day in autumn 1917, expanded to71,800 m³ (2,534,000 cu ft) by the end of the war
Low-pressure storage 25,000 m³ (882,850 cu ft) usable capacity
High pressure storage 120,000 m³ (4,400,000 cu ft) in autumn 1917, 219,300 m³ (7,744,000 cu ft) at end of war.
Compressor capacity 12,000 m³ (425,000 cu ft) per day in autumn 1917, 36,000 m³ (1,270,000 cu ft) at end of war.

Initially had barracks for 911 troops for ground handling: by April 1917 this had been increased to accommodation for 1299 men.

Sheds:

• I Aladin: Double shed. Completed August 1916. Damaged on 5 Jan 1918. Rebuilt then dismantled and handed over to Italy as war reparations, but not re-erected.
• II Albrecht: Double shed.Completed August 1916. Damaged on 5 Jan 1918. Only partially rebuilt at end of war, when it was abandoned. Demolished 1921.
• III Alrun: Double shed. Completed September 1916. Double shed. Destroyed on 5 Jan 1918.
• IV Alix: Double shed. Completed September 1916. Double shed. Destroyed on 5 Jan 1918.
• V Alma: Double shed. Completed April 1918. Dismantled and handed over to Italy as war reparations but not re-erected.
• VI Alarich: Double shed. Completed July 1918. Dismantled and handed over to France as war reparations, but not re-erected.

Hage

(originally Norden). Closed 5 April 1917.
Hydrogen plant capacity 16,745 cubic metres (591,360 cu ft) per day
Low-pressure storage 5,000 cubic metres (176,000 cu ft) usable capacity
High pressure storage 50,000 cubic metres (1,760,000 cu ft)

Sheds

• Tirpitz later Hanna
• Luise later Hannibal
• Lclin later Harald
• Goeben later Hasso

Tondern

54°56′N 08°51′E Used as a stand-by base from July 1918, following the Tondern raid. There is now a small museum on the site..
Hydrogen plant capacity 9,900 cubic metres (350,000 cu ft) per day in 1917: reduced to 5,900 cubic metres (210,000 cu ft) in 1918.
Low-pressure storage 29,900 cubic metres (1,056,000 cu ft) usable capacity
High pressure storage 25,100 cubic metres (888,000 cu ft), enlarged to 29,900 cubic metres (1,056,000 cu ft) in 1918.

Sheds

• Matine later Toni — Single shed completed March 1915, demolished mid-1918.
• Joachim later Tobias — Single shed completed early 1915, demolished 1921.
• Toska — Double shed completed November 1915, demolished 1921.

There was also a hangar to accommodate five fighter aircraft for defence of the airfield: these aircraft had been withdrawn from the base by March 1918. On 19 July 1918 the base was the target of the first aircraft carrier-lauched airstrike in history, when it was bombed by seven Sopwith Camels launched from HMS Furious, destroying two airships.

Wittmundhafen

53°32′52″N 007°40′02″E
Taken over from the Army 1n April 1917. Now Wittmundhafen Air Base.

Sheds

• Wille— Double shed, completed November 1916.
• Wünsch— Double shed, completedJune 1917.

Fuhlsbüttel

Used by DELAG, used by Navy from April 1913. Navy in Now the site of Hamburg airport. One double shed: badly damaged fy a fire 16 September 1916 and subsequently demolished.

Hage (Norden)

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