During the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the US Navy trained crews at British bases, and operated British designed and built blimp

Blimp

A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is a floating airship without an internal supporting framework or keel. A non-rigid airship differs from a semi-rigid airship and a rigid airship in that it does not have any rigid structure, neither a complete framework nor a partial keel, to help the airbag...

s on combat patrols. The Navy purchased three types of British blimps. Operations were flown in a US SSZ and airship

Airship

An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...

s operated by the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

.

SSZ class

The US Navy purchased two SSZ class blimp

SSZ class blimp

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s, which were 142 feet (43.3 m) long, 32 feet (9.8 m) in diameter and had a volume of 70000 cubic feet (1,982.2 m³). They were propelled by a single 75 hp Rolls-Royce Hawk

Rolls-Royce Hawk

|-See also:-Bibliography:*Flight 7 May 1954**Lumsden, Alec. British Piston Engines and their Aircraft. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-85310-294-6....

 engine. A replacement SSZ-23 was acquired in November 1917 and first operated from Cranwell

RAF Cranwell

RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. It is currently commanded by Group Captain Dave Waddington...

 for training. It was then assigned patrol duties from RNAS Howden

RNAS Howden

RNAS Howden was an airship station near the town of Howden south-west of York, UK. Opened on 26 June 1916 during the First World War, to cover the East Coast ports shipping from attacks by German U-boats. From 1916 to 1918 Howden was a Royal Naval Air Service establishment...

. These operations included at least 24 operational missions in the spring of 1918. Ensign Phillip Barnes received the Distinguished Flying Cross

Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...

 from King George V

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

 during one of those flights. The SSZ-23 then was transferred to Lowthorpe

Lowthorpe

Lowthorpe is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north east of Driffield town centre and south west of Bridlington town centre....

 and completed another 24 operational flights by August, when it returned to Howden where it was destroyed in an accident. While preparing to mate the old SSZ-23 envelope to a spare control car, the US maintenance crew started a fire which burned the SSZ-23, SSZ-38, SSZ-54 as well as the rigid airship R27

R23X class airship

-References:* Griehl, Manfred and Joachim Dressel. Zeppelin! The German Airship Story, 1990 ISBN 1-85409-045-3* Morpurgo, J.E. Barnes Wallis - A Biography, Longman, 1972 ISBN 0-582-10360-6...

.
A replacement airship, also designated SSZ-23 was acquired on 22 November 1917 and was eventually shipped to the United States and erected at Cape May

Cape May

Cape May is a peninsula and island ; the southern tip of the island is the southernmost point of the state of New Jersey, United States. It runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean...

 in early February 1919. Served at Cape May until April of that year and was stricken from the Navy registry in June 1920.
The SSZ-24 was assembled and tested by the Navy and Goodyear

Goodyear Aerospace

Goodyear Aerospace Corporation was the aerospace and defense subsidiary of Goodyear.-Early Years:The company began as Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Aeronautics Department and renamed in 1917 as the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation set up to construct dirigibles for the US military...

 in March 1918. It was shipped to Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

. There are no records of any operations at Hampton Roads. The SSZ-24 may have been burned in the summer of 1918.

North Sea class

The US Navy purchased one North Sea class airship

NS class blimp

The British NS class blimps were the largest and last in a succession of non-rigid airship designs that served with the Royal Naval Air Service during World War I; developed from experiences gained with earlier classes to operate off the east coast of Britain on long-range patrols...

. Given the USN designation NS-1, it was in fact N.S.14 which was sold to the US in early November 1918 after flying 206 hours in British service. The NS-1 was shipped to Wingfoot Lake, and then Hampton Roads, but there is no record it was ever flown while owned by the US Navy. North Sea blimps were 260 feet (79.2 m) long, had a diameter of 57 feet (17.4 m) and a volume of 360000 cubic feet (10,194.1 m³). They had a top speed of 57 mi/h, an endurance of 24 hours and were powered by two 250 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle engines or two 240 hp Fiat engines.

SST class

Records indicate that the US Navy purchased three SST

SST class blimp

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 (Sea Scout Twin) airships in 1919. English records show that the SST-9, SST-11 and SST-12 were transferred to the USN. The Navy designations were probably to be SST-1, 2, and 3. The three SSTs were transferred directly to the US Army and operated by that service between 1920 and the winter of 1923–24.
SST class airships were 165 feet (50.3 m) long, 35 in 6 in (10.82 m) in diameter and had a top speed of 57 mi/h. They were powered by two engines, either 100 hp Sunbeam or 75 hp Rolls-Royce Hawk

Rolls-Royce Hawk

|-See also:-Bibliography:*Flight 7 May 1954**Lumsden, Alec. British Piston Engines and their Aircraft. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-85310-294-6....

s, and carried a crew of five.