A reply advised that ZR-1 was in fact over Newark, fifty miles north of Lakehurst, and almost directly over radio station WOR, located on the top floor of the Bamberger Building, downtown. Commercial stations ceased broadcasting as WOR announcer Jack Poppele “talked” with the stricken aircraft and relayed her reports to Lakehurst until 2200, when direct radio contact was established. The wind shifted and began to abate. The decision was made to proceed to Lakehurst, although the ship could not be headed directly into the wind. Thanks to the damaged fin, moreover, steering remained difficult. The Shenandoah was slowly nursed back to base. Finally, out of the gloom, the wounded ship reached a jittery station and “like a crippled bird” landed at 0330 into the tired hands of four hundred ground crewmen.17
It had been a wild night. The gale was one of the worst January storms in fifty years, causing considerable property damage. At Lakehurst, the high winds blew down the aerological instrument shelter and blew in some of the observatory’s windows.
The breakaway flight was the stuff of high drama, and both ship and crew had been worthy of the trial. The press and public were electrified. The Secretary of the Navy congratulated the flight crew. The president also telegrammed his congratulations for their courage and skill. The Board of Investigation found no blame or censure for anyone connected with the accident. It recommended that the mooring device be redesigned to give way before the airship itself could sustain damage. At the department, favorable publicity further encouraged Admiral Moffett as to the proposed Arctic flight, scheduled for June. Others were far less certain as to the wisdom of the expedition. There was considerable criticism in Congress relative to the proposal, for example, and serious doubts were expressed in certain aeronautical circles as well.
ZR-1 bow atop the high mast, 16 January 1924. During mooring trials a severe side gust had initiated a rolling, twisting motion that tore the bow structure free. The ship was adrift with a small crew aboard. The run downwind and return was true drama. Lakehurst’s individual commands tended to be hotbeds of personal politics. The breakaway highlighted animosities, realizing a change of command for both ship and station. NARA
It had been planned to give Shenandoah a complete overhaul and incorporate changes before the Arctic attempt. These preparations were now combined with the necessary repairs. Extensive reconstruction and strengthening was clearly required, and specific improvements were made, notably the removal of the sixth engine and reconstruction of this space as a radio compartment and installation of a water recovery apparatus on the after power car.18 Shenandoah therefore was suspended from the hangar overhead and shored from below and remained so for the next three months. Compounding the delay and expense, one hundred thousand cubic feet of helium had been lost in the accident, further aggravating the shortage.
The breakaway flight had other more far-reaching consequences. The incident highlighted festering personal rivalries in the chain of command prevailing in Lakehurst. A sweeping change was announced, characterized by Moffett as in the best interests of the Navy. Aviation magazine, for one, seemed to approve Washington’s action.
The rumblings and rumors of dissatisfaction and unharmonious conditions at Lakehurst in connection with the Shenandoah have at last had the inevitable result of a general shifting of officers. No one could have visited Lakehurst for the last few months without sensing a condition that was wrong. It was even freely discussed by the enlisted personnel.19
McCrary was relieved of duty as CO of both Shenandoah and the naval air station. Cdr. Jacob H. Klein, USN, station executive officer (XO), was relieved of all duties aboard Shenandoah and assumed command of the base. Weyerbacher was detached from all duties at Lakehurst and with ZR-1; he reported for duty at NAS Pensacola for HTA flight training despite his personal protest to the department.
Shenandoah’s new commanding officer was an inspired choice, a man fully prepared for command of the Navy’s only large airship: Lt. Cdr. Zachary Lansdowne. Lansdowne held more rigid airship flight time than any other officer in the Navy. A 1909 graduate of the Naval Academy, he had served in England as a naval aviator during the war and was an observer on R-34 during the westward leg of her transatlantic crossing to America in 1919. The lieutenant commander had recently returned from Germany, where Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (Zeppelin Company) was building the ZR-3 as compensation to the Americans. In short, the thirty-six-year-old officer was uniquely qualified to command Shenandoah.
Events would prove his officer-like qualities, his skill as a ship handler, and his ability to command the loyalty of his men. Above all, he saw the need to operate the Shenandoah with the fleet to demonstrate her naval capabilities, and while always deferential to Moffett, he attempted to oppose the latter’s publicity mania through channels.20
Lakehurst was intended to be the center for LTA aeronautics in the United States. All Navy LTA at NAS Hampton Roads, for example (homeport for C-7), the first airship of any type to fly with helium, and for the new J-1, was halted in spring 1924. C-7 was placed in storage and J-1 packed for shipment to Lakehurst. The 174,880-cubic-foot nonrigid was inflated in Hangar No. 1 on 2 May; rigging the ship required another week. On 10 May, J-1 was commissioned into the U.S. Navy. At that moment, J-1 was the only blimp in operational inventory, and the J-type would prove highly serviceable, remaining operational until 1940. At 0925, 16 May 1924, J-1 took off with three aboard, Lt. C. H. Havill, USN, commanding. This was the inaugural flight of a nonrigid airship at Lakehurst. Four days later, Lansdowne logged a one-hour sortie in the ship; that same month, Rosendahl’s flight log recorded his first flight aboard a nonrigid, on J-1.
Crew of the Shenandoah (ZR-1), April 1924. The full complement comprised fifty-four men, forty of whom flew with the ship. Short on operating experience, the Navy of necessity flew ZR-1 as a training platform for working out practical problems and doctrine. Lt. Cdr. L. E. Schellberg, USN (Ret.)
The nonrigid type was intended primarily for training. But during the last two weeks of May 1924, J-1 was exploited to promote an upcoming “air circus” to be held the weekend of 30 May. Planning for this gala event, the first of its kind at Lakehurst, had begun in March. In all, J-1 logged five local flights advertising this naval air demonstration. During some of these, flights programs were dropped over the towns en route. This use of the small ship was wonderful publicity and presaged the public relations activities of the Goodyear fleet inaugurated a few years later.21
Virtually all station hands became involved. The final program included a wide variety of events involving airplanes as well as airships. The Navy’s Lt. Alford J. “AI” Williams, a crack pilot and a Moffett favorite, was included, and he would figure prominently in the final program. Exhibits were selected for the hangar spaces, security beefed up, Navy bands engaged, and arrangements prepared for the press.
On Friday, 30 May, most of the participating airplanes arrived. And at 2040 hours, Shenandoah was weighed off in the hangar. This consisted of determining the ship’s static condition and discharging ballast fore-and-aft to being her slightly “heavy” and in trim for walk out. (On takeoff, her weight would be adjusted literally to zero.) ZR-1 was walked through the west doors five minutes later. Ground crews struggled with ZR-1 across the sandy field. It was a windy day, so the ship was not leeward of the high mast until 2140. The main cable from the masthead was coupled to Shenandoah’s bow line; the ship was again weighed off slightly light and in even trim, and she rose