HM Airship R100 was a privately designed and built rigid 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...

 made as part of a two-ship competition to develop new techniques for a projected larger commercial airship for use on British empire routes. The other airship, R101

R101

R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airship completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Ministry-appointed team and was effectively in competition...

, was built by the UK Air Ministry

Air Ministry

The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...

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One goal was to eventually offer a regular and comfortable trans-Atlantic service, akin to that eventually offered by the German Graf Zeppelin

LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin

LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin was a German built and operated passenger-carrying hydrogen-filled rigid airship which operated commercially from 1928 to 1937. It was named after the German pioneer of airships, Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who was a Graf or Count in the German nobility. During its operating life,...

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