Zeppelins are often described as exploding cigar-shaped balloons, but they are so much more.

The rigid classification of airships included lighter-than-aircraft that feature an internal, lightweight metal skeleton made of consisting of horizontal girders and rings. This design allows rigid airships to be constructed larger, carry heavier cargoes, and have more powerful engines compared to airships such as blimps that require internal pressure to maintain their shape. Zeppelins were cylindrical with rounded ends, until the First World War, when they adopted the more familiar streamlined shape that we know today. The envelope that covered the skeleton and contained the buoyant gas, usually hydrogen, was divided in to sections called cells. They were maneuvered by changing the speed of the engines along with the rudder and elevator fins. They had passenger and crew compartments along the belly of the craft along with other habitable space inside the skeleton.

Ferdinand von Zeppelin, an early 20th century Count, pioneered the rigid airships that now bear his name. He was inspired by the balloons used in the siege of Paris and during the American Civil War. He started his quest to create an airship at the age of 52 after he retired from the military in 1890. He based his original Zeppelin design on one from David Schwarz, a Hungarian inventor. He obtained a patent on August 31 1895. Along with the basic features of a zeppelin, it also had an idea that never was used called “Lekbarer Luftfahrzug” which translates into steerable air-cursing train; it was to provide the ability to connect several airships into a train-like convoy. In 1894 Zeppelin created the Gesellchaft zur Förderung der Luftschiffahrt, which translates to Company for the Promotion of Airship Flight, because no one would fund him.

The construction of the first zeppelin started in 1899. The LZ1, as it was called, was built on a floating hanger on Lake Constance in Friedrichshafen. The hanger was the ideal place to build the airship because it could be aligned with the wind to assist the airship to take off. The LZ1 was 128 meters long and powered by a couple of 14.2 horsepower engines. The LZ1’s first flight, on July 2, 1900 lasted for 18 minutes before the airship had to land due to problems with its balancing weight. It flew two other times before Count Zeppelin ran out of money to fund his project. The LZ1 was dismantled and sold for scrap metal.

The Zeppelin Airship rose from the ashes when donations and profits from a lottery started Count von Zeppelin to airship making again. The LZ2 flew once when both of its engines failed and the airship was damaged in a storm. The usable parts of the LZ2 were but to use in the LZ3 which completed a total of 45 flights and traveled 4398 kilometers before it was decommissioned by the German military who purchased it and used it to train its men. The German Army commissioned the construction of the LZ4 which was destroyed during a demonstration of the airships capability to fly for 24 hours. The crew was forced to make a landing in Echterdingen where it was caught in a storm that smashed it into some trees. The airship then caught fire and was lost.

Before World War I, twenty-one more airships were built by Zeppelin. The LZ6 became the first Zeppelin to be used to transport passengers for commercial gain. By the start of WWI, Zeppelins were about 500 feet long, powered by three 500 horsepower engines, and had envelope volumes of 880,000 cubic feet with a lift of 10 tons and a top speed of 50 miles per hour.

In WWI, the Germans built 88 Zeppelins, over sixty of which were lost between being shot down and accidents. The airships launched 51 raids, dropping 5,806 bombs, killing 557 people, and injuring 1,358 others. Towards the end of World War I, Zeppelins were 650 feet long, had five or six engines with a top speed of 80 miles per hour. With an envelope of 2,430,000 cubic feet they could lift between 44 and 55 tons.

After World War I, Dr. Hugo Eckener took over the deceased Count von Zeppelin who died in 1917. The Treaty of Versailles prohibited the manufacture of German airships for military use, so Eckener looked to more peaceful applications. Two Zeppelins were launched in 1919. They flew 4,000 passengers until 1921. In 1921, the Allies seized the two Zeppelins to compensate for the German war Zeppelins that had been destroyed by their crews to prevent their delivery to Allied forces.

In 1924, the United States of America ordered the ZR-1 USS Shenandoah and another in England. The British R38 broke into pieces and exploded during a test flight, forty-four men were killed in the accident. Eckener won the order for the next American Zeppelin. An engineer named Dr. Dürr drew up the LZ126. Eckener was unable to insure the Zeppelins' delivery across the Atlantic, so he confidently risked everything and the Zeppelin crossed the 8050 kilometers to America in 81 hours and two minutes. Upon arrival, Eckner and the crew were invited by the President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, to the White House. President Coolidge dubbed the Zeppelin an “Angel of Peace.” The LZ126 was renamed the ZR-3 USS Los Angeles and became the most successful American Zeppelin. Los Angeles flew for eight years until it was dismantled in 1932.

In 1928, the LZ127 Graf Zeppelin was launched. It was the largest Zeppelin to date and was the first airship to circumnavigate the globe.

The decline of the Zeppelin is often attributed to the Hindenburg disaster, but there were more serious causes that triggered the fall of these giants of the skies. Improved heavier-than-air designs and the upcoming war ultimately deflated Zeppelins. When the Nazis took power in Germany, they used the airships as flying propaganda. At the outbreak of World War II, the Nazis flew several scouting missions with their zeppelins, but then dismantled them for their aluminum.

The US Navy had four rigid airships: The Shenandoah, the Los Angeles, the Akron, and the Macon.

The Akron and her sister Macon were not just airships; they served as aerial aircraft carriers for planes that were carried to defend the airships. The parasite planes would launch and “land” from the “ trapeze” attached to the belly of the crafts.