RIGID AIRSHIP 23 X CLASS
During the early days of building the airships of the 23 class, further information was obtained relating to rigid airship construction in Germany, which caused our designers to modify their views. It was considered a wrong policy to continue the production of a fleet of ships the design of which was becoming obsolete, and accordingly within ten months of placing the order for this class a decision was reached that the last four ships were to be altered to a modified design known as the 23 X class. As was the case with the ships of the preceding class when nearing completion, they were realized to be out of date, and special efforts being required to complete the ships of the 33 class and to release building space for additional larger ships, the construction of the second pair was abandoned.
The main modification in design was the abolition of the external keel, and in this the later Zeppelin principles were adopted. This secured a very considerable reduction in structural weight with a corresponding large expansion of the effective capabilities of the ship.
It has been seen that the purpose of the keel in No. 9 was to provide a structure sufficiently strong to support all the main vertical bending moments and shearing forces, and that in No. 23 this principle was somewhat different, in that the keel in this ship was primarily intended to support the distributed weights of petrol, water, ballast, etc., between the transverse frames.
In this later design, namely, the 23 X class, it was considered that the weights could be concentrated and suspended from the radial wiring of the transverse frames and that the keel, incorporated in the design of the former ships, could be dispensed with.
For all practical purposes, apart from the absence of the keel, the 23 X class of airship may be regarded as a slightly varied model of the 23 class. The main dimensions are nearly the same, and the general arrangement of the ship is but little changed. The loss of space owing to the introduction of the internal corridor is compensated by a modification of the shape of the bow, which was redesigned with a deeper curve. The hull structure was also strengthened by utilizing a stronger type of girder wherever the greatest weights occur. In these strengthened transverse frames the girders, while still remaining of the triangular section, familiar in the other ships, are placed the opposite way round, that is, with the apex pointing outwards.
The walking way is situated at the base of the hull passing through the gas chambers, which are specially shaped for the purpose. The corridor is formed of a light construction of hollow wooden struts and duralumin arches covered with netting.
In all other leading features the design of the 23 class is adhered to; the gasbags are the same, except for the alteration due to the internal corridor, and the system of valves and the various controls are all highly similar.
The arrangement of gondolas and the fitting of engines in all ways corresponds to the original arrangement of R 23, with the exception that they were suspended closer to the hull owing to the absence of the external keel. The substitution of the wing car of the 33 class for the original after gondola, carried out in the modifications undergone by the ships of the 23 class, was not adopted in these ships, as the wireless compartment installed in the keel in the former was fitted in the after gondola in the latter.
The disposable lift of these ships under standard conditions is 7 1/2 tons, which shows considerable improvement on the ships of the former classes.
Summarizing as before, the performances appear as under--
Speed:
Full 56 1/2 miles per hour
Normal 53 " " "
Cruising 45 " " "
Endurance:
Normal 19 hours = 1,015 miles
Cruising 23 1/2 " = 1,050 "
The two ships of this class, which were commissioned, must be regarded within certain limits as most satisfactory, and are the most successful of those that appeared and were employed during the war. Escort of convoys and extended anti-submarine patrols were carried out, and certain valuable experiments will be attempted now that peace has arrived.
In spite of the grave misgivings of many critics, the structure without the keel has proved amply strong, and no mishap attended this radical departure on the part of the designers.