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Photo # NH 42044: Wreckage of USS Shenandoah's bow section, 3 September 1925

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- EVENTS -- The 1920s -- 1925

Loss of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925

On 2 September 1925 USS Shenandoah left her base at Lakehurst, New Jersey, to begin a flight to the Midwest. This voyage was one of a series of publicity trips by the Navy's airships that were intended to enhance public support for Naval Aviation, but which also kept the dirigibles away from the Fleet and reduced opportunities to serve with the operating forces. Shenandoah's journey was planned to take her to an air show at St. Louis, Missouri, then north to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and return by way of Dearborn, Michigan.

During the early morning darkness of 3 September, Shenandoah was flying over southeastern Ohio when she abruptly encountered violent atmospheric conditions. Powerful air currents buffeted her so severely that her crew was unable to maintain control. Rising rapidly above her pressure height, then falling and rising again, her hull structure was overstressed amidships, breaking the airship in two. Shenandoah's external control car and two engine cars fell free, carrying the dirigible's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, and several other men to their deaths. The stern section came down nearby, while Lieutenant Commander Charles E. Rosendahl and several men were able to fly the bow section to ground as a free balloon. In all, twenty-nine of those on board survived.

Shenandoah's crash was the nation's most dramatic aviation disaster yet. Fourteen trained crewmen had been killed and a valuable Navy asset had been lost. Criticism, both public and professional, was intense. Though the remaining dirigible, USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), operated safely for several more years, and new airships were designed to be much stronger than Shenandoah, her mid-air breakup had forcefully demonstrated the threat that weather presented to lighter-than-air craft. Less than a decade later, storms would cause the loss of the new, much larger and more capable airships Akron (ZRS-4) and Macon (ZRS-5), bringing an end to the Navy's brief experiment with rigid airships.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have related to the loss of Shenandoah (ZR-1)

For additional pictures related to this event, see:

  • Loss of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925 (Part II).

    For other images related to USS Shenandoah, see:

  • USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), Airship 1923-1925.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 98998

    Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925


    Wreckage of Shenandoah's bow section on a southern Ohio farm soon after it crashed.
    Note sightseers and their automobiles.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 123KB; 740 x 580 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42044

    Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925


    Wreckage of the airship's forward section, soon after it landed near Sharon, in southeastern Ohio.
    Photographed by Dowling, Caldwell, Ohio.
    This view shows the forward section from off its starboard side.

    Courtesy of Allan J. Drugan, 1967.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 545 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42041

    Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925


    Wreckage of the airship's forward section, soon after it landed near Sharon, in southeastern Ohio.
    Photographed by Dowling, Caldwell, Ohio.
    This view shows the forward section's port side, from off its rear end.
    Note the split rail fence in the foreground.

    Courtesy of Allan J. Drugan, 1967.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 550 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42043

    Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925


    Wreckage of the airship's forward section, soon after it landed near Sharon, in southeastern Ohio.
    Photographed by Dowling, Caldwell, Ohio.
    This view shows the forward section from off its port side.

    Courtesy of Allan J. Drugan, 1967.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 108KB; 740 x 560 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42037

    Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925


    Local residents examining some of the airship's wreckage, soon after she crashed in southeastern Ohio.
    Photographed by Dowling, Caldwell, Ohio.
    Though the inscription on the photograph states that this view shows Shenandoah's control car, the structure in the center more closely resembles one of her engine cars.

    Courtesy of Allan J. Drugan, 1967.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 123KB; 740 x 535 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42034

    Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925


    Local residents examining some of the airship's wreckage, soon after she crashed in southeastern Ohio.
    Photograph was received from the Office of Naval Intelligence, 7 November 1940.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 136KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42027

    Crash of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925


    Men working on the airship's wreckage, possibly during salvage efforts some time after the crash.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 150KB; 740 x 465 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 52770

    USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)


    Five of the airship's officers, all of whom were killed when she crashed on 3 September 1925.
    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, some time prior to the tragedy, and published in the "Evening Star", Washington, D.C., Friday, 4 September 1925.
    Those present are (left to right);
    Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne, Commanding Officer;
    Lieutenant Commander Lewis Hancock, Jr., Executive Officer;
    Lieutenant John B. Lawrence;
    Lieutenant Arthur R. Houghton; and
    Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edgar W. Sheppard.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 181KB; 740 x 530 pixels

     

    For additional pictures related to this event, see:

  • Loss of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 3 September 1925 (Part II).

    For other images related to USS Shenandoah, see:

  • USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), Airship 1923-1925.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 2 December 2002
    New image added 12 December 2003