Zeppelin LZ 13 Hansa (or simply Hansa) was a German civilian rigid airship first flown in 1912. It was built for DELAG to carry passengers and post and flew the first international passenger flight, visiting Denmark and Sweden in September 1912.Post & Tele Museum "Copenhagen - Count Zeppelin oversees everything from the gondola." In 1913 it was hired to the Imperial German Navy as a training craft, and at the outbreak of World War I it was requisitioned by the German military who used it for bombing, reconnaissance, and finally as a training airship.
Design Hansa was the sister ship of LZ 11 Viktoria Luise, the first of the two G Class Zeppelins built. The design was an enlargement of LZ 10 Schwaben, lengthened by to accommodate an extra gasbag and fitted with slightly more powerful engines.
Civilian flights The closed passenger cabin was attached to the hull behind the open control cabin and had room for 24 passengers. From 1912 to 1914, Hansa was operating mostly from Hamburg and Potsdam, and based in Dresden at the outbreak of the war. Count Zeppelin commanded Hansa on the first commercial airship flight from to Denmark and Sweden on 19 September 1912.
This was the first time a commercial Zeppelin flew outside Germany. Click on the blue globes to see the route taken: 03:55 early morning launch from Hamburg, Germany 07:15 over the Hyllekrog spit on Lolland island 07:20 over Gedser 08:00 over Maribo 08:25 over Vordingborg 08:40 over Faxe 09:10 over Herfølge 09:30 over Køge 10:00 over Taastrup 10:20 landed at Copenhagen, where people wrote postcards to family in Germany 11:55 launched from Copenhagen and flew over Malmö 13:30 over Nykøbing Falster 15:30 over Lübeck 16:40 landed back in Hamburg
During two years of commercial DELAG service it carried 6,217 passengers on 399 flights, covering 44,437 kilometres.
Military use
The military added a platform to the top of the hull and installed two machine guns Attack missions on France and reconnaissance missions over the Baltic Sea (involved in the taking of Libau) From early 1915 used as a training airship, making over 500 flights over Berlin Dismantled in August 1916
See also Timeline of hydrogen technologies
Specifications
Notes
References
External links
silhoeuttes of important Zeppelins from 1900 to 1919, Lueger 1904-1920, shows LZ: 1,3,5,6,8,10,13,14,18,21,23,25,26,36,40,59,62,91,94,95,100,104,113,120 photograph of Hansa landed at Copenhagen 1912-09-19 photograph of Count Zeppelin talking from Hansa's gondola at Copenhagen 1912-09-19 photograph of Count Zeppelin shaking hands from Hansa at Copenhagen 1912-09-19 photograph of Hansa leaving Copenhagen 1912-09-19