USS Shenandoah's construction was funded by Congress in 1919, as part of the Fiscal Year 1920 Navy appropriations legislation. Her design was based on that of a German dirigible that had been captured in France in 1917, but she was extensively modified to meet American requirements. The first rigid airship built in the United States, she was primarily intended for naval purposes, but it was also expected that she would serve as an experimental prototype for commercial airships, of which great things were then anticipated. Design work began in September 1919 and was completed in early October 1921.
Though originally intended for hydrogen, a series of tragic fires convinced the Navy that the chemically inert helium should be used as her lifting gas. This decision, made while she was under construction, greatly improved the new airship's security against fire. However, helium had only about 90 percent of the lifting force of hydrogen and was vastly more expensive. The resulting reduction in the airship's lifting capacity and range, plus persistent difficulties in obtaining enough helium and a resulting emphasis on conserving the gas, would severely limit her intended employment with the Fleet and cause other operational difficulties. These problems continued throughout the life of the Navy's rigid airship program, greatly restricting its success.
Construction on the new airship, designated ZR-1, was primarily done at the Naval Aircraft Factory, located adjacent to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania. Considerable pioneering work with aluminum was involved, which would pay great dividends when applied to future airplane building. Since the only facility in the United States large enough to erect the dirigible was the new airship hangar at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, ZR-1 was assembled there from parts shipped over from Philadelphia. Her first frame, a midships unit, was set up in April 1922 and her great skeleton of aluminum girders was essentially complete just over nine months later. She then received her fabric covering, which was coated with aluminum paint. Internally, the airship was outfitted with twenty gas cells and a variety of tanks for fuel, lubricants and water ballast, the associated pipework, and wiring for electrical and control purposes. Her externally-mounted control car, located forward, contained one of her six engines. The other five were mounted in individual cars further aft, also externally-mounted, two on each side of the lower hull and one on the centerline.
The nearly complete ZR-1 was fully inflated with helium gas in mid-August 1923 and allowed to lift herself from the hangar floor. She left the hangar for the first time on 4 September, making a brief maiden flight in the vicinity of Lakehurst, and was christened on 10 October 1923, formally receiving the name Shenandoah at that time.
Characteristics of USS Shenandoah:
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Page made 2 December 2002