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LZ130 Graf Zeppelin II

Airship		Envelope
Design		Volume (cu. ft.)	Useful Lift (lbs.)
LZ127	Graf Zeppelin	3,700,000	62,300	34%
LZ129	Hindenburg	7,063,000	115,000	33%
LZ130	Graf Zeppelin II	7,063,000	127,000	36%
LZ131	(proposed)	7,994,750	181,000

Germany built one last airship, the Graf Zeppelin II, a sister to the Hindenburg. The Graf Zeppelin II first flew on September 14, 1938. However, the start of World War II, coupled with the disaster that had befallen the Hindenburg earlier, kept this airship out of commercial service. It was scrapped in May 1940.

The Zeppelin Works evolved about that time the design of the LZ-125 class to be of about 3,500,000 cu. ft. capacity and nearly 800 feet long. This is the maximum size that could be built in the Friedrichshafen sheds. Except for size the design was similar to earlier ships. In spite of assertions to the contrary, work was never started on one of these large ships and the design appears to have been altered so as to be classed as a commercial ship and, as such, has been rather extensively advertised.

The deadweight of the LZ129 was, by some accounts, about 118 tons, leaving 143,000 lbs. (72 tons) of its 380,000 lbs. of Hydrogen dead-lift to go towards cargo lift. As the LZ130 approached completion, weight-saving design changes relative to the LZ129 had been incorporated (structural hull changes, radiators & piping, electricalsystem, and in particular, a reduction in the scale of the passenger quarters), such that the LZ130 weighed 12,000 lbs less than the LZ129.

Its designers had hoped America would relent and allow the export of helium. When relations with the United States worsened, any possibility of reviving commercial airships vanished. In the summer of 1939, however, Germany discovered another mission for the technology, electronic warfare. Flying along the North Sea coast of England, the airship searched for emissions from British CH (Chain Home) radar stations. But its receivers were tuned to the wrong frequency and found nothing. The project was abandoned.

After the German invasion of Poland started the Second World War on 1 September 1939, the Luftwaffe ordered the LZ127 and L130 moved to a large Zeppelin hangar in Frankfurt, where the skeleton of LZ131 was also located. In March 1940 Göring ordered the destruction of the remaining vessels and the aluminum parts were fed into the German war industry. In May of that year a fire broke out in the Zeppelin facility which destroyed most of the remaining parts. The rest of the parts and materials were soon scrapped with almost no trace of the German 'giants of the air' remaining by the end of the year.

The LZ129 and the LZ130 were the largest flying object ever built. The planned LZ131 and LZ132 would have been even bigger. Although never built, the specifications of the LZ131 were well-documented. It would have used the basic LZ129 design with an additional hull section, bringing the envelope volume to just under 8 million cubic feet. Of particular interest, this airship, with a 13% greater hull volume than the LZ129, would have weighed about 10 tons less than the Hindenburg. These weight savings would, in large part, have come through a new structural material, resembling American Alclad, which after heat treating, would have 25% better strength in compression.