LZ 13 Hansa

LZ 13 Hansa
Role	Passenger airship
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
First flight	30 July 1912
Retired	1916
Status	Retired
Primary users	DELAG; German military
Number built	1

The Zeppelin LZ 13 Hansa (or simply Hansa) was a German civilian rigid airship first flown in 1912. It was built for DELAG to carry passengers and post and flew the first international passenger flight, visiting Denmark and Sweden in September 1912.[1] In 1913 it was hired to the Imperial German Navy as a training craft, and at the outbreak of World War I it was requisitioned by the German military who used it for bombing, reconnaissance, and finally as a training airship.

Design

The Hansa was the sister ship of LZ 11 Viktoria Luise, the first of the two G Class Zeppelins built. The design was an enlargement of LZ 10 Schwaben, lengthened by 7.9 m (26 ft) to accommodate an extra gasbag and fitted with slightly more powerful engines.

Civilian flights

The closed passenger cabin was attached to the hull behind the open control cabin and had room for 24 passengers. From 1912 to 1914 the Hansa was operating mostly from Hamburg and Potsdam, and based in Dresden at the outbreak of the war.[2] Count Zeppelin commanded the Hansa on the first commercial airship flight from to Denmark and Sweden on 19 September 1912.[1]

This was the first time a commercial Zeppelin flew outside Germany. Click on the blue globes to see the route taken:[1]

03:55 53°33′N 9°59′E early morning launch from Hamburg, Germany
07:15 54°35′N 11°31′E over the Hyllekrog spit on Lolland island
07:20 54°34′N 11°56′E over Gedser
08:00 54°46.5′N 11°30.5′E over Maribo
08:25 55°0′30″N 11°54′37″E over Vordingborg
08:40 55°15′N 12°08′E over Faxe
09:10 55°25′N 12°09′E over Herfølge
09:30 55°27′N 12°11′E over Køge
10:00 55°39′N 12°18′E over Taastrup
10:20 55°41′N 12°34′E landed at Copenhagen, where people wrote postcards to family in Germany
11:55 55°35′N 13°2′E launched from Copenhagen and flew over Malmö
13:30 54°46′N 11°53′E over Nykøbing Falster
15:30 53°52′N 10°41′E over Lübeck
16:40 53°33′N 9°59′E landed back in Hamburg

During two years of commercial DELAG service it carried 6,217 passengers on 399 flights, covering 44,437 kilometres.

Military use

School maneuver of the Zeppelin Hansa near Berlin

The military added a platform to the top of the hull and installed two machine guns
Attack missions on France and reconnaissance missions over the Baltic Sea (involved in the taking of Libau)
From early 1915 used as a training airship, making over 500 flights over Berlin
Dismantled in August 1916

Specifications

Data from Robinson, H. Giants in the Sky, p.330

General characteristics

Capacity: 20

Performance

Notes

Post & Tele Museum "Copenhagen - Count Zeppelin oversees everything from the gondola."
"DELAG: The World's First Airline". airships.net. 2017. Retrieved 2017-02-14.

References

Robinson, Douglas (1973). Giants in the Sky. London: Foulis. ISBN 0-85429-145-8.
"Luftskibet Kommer!".

External links

silhoeuttes of important Zeppelins from 1900 to 1919, Lueger 1904-1920, shows LZ: 1,3,5,6,8,10,13,14,18,21,23,25,26,36,40,59,62,91,94,95,100,104,113,120
photograph of Hansa landed at Copenhagen 1912-09-19
photograph of Count Zeppelin talking from Hansa's gondola at Copenhagen 1912-09-19
photograph of Count Zeppelin shaking hands from Hansa at Copenhagen 1912-09-19
photograph of Hansa leaving Copenhagen 1912-09-19

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[ptm-1] Post & Tele Museum "Copenhagen - Count Zeppelin oversees everything from the gondola."

[airships-DELAG-2] "DELAG: The World's First Airline". airships.net. 2017. Retrieved 2017-02-14.