JERSEY SHORE – Members of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society and American Legion Post 129 of Toms River gathered recently at the Cathedral of the Air located in Lakehurst to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the loss of the rigid Navy airship, USS Shenandoah.
The event commemorated the tragic crash on September 5, 1925, when the airship went down during a stormy night in Noble County, Ohio. Of the 43 crew members aboard, 14 died, while 29 survived.
Its first flight two years earlier was a spectacle of scale and pride as hundreds of Navy personnel strained at the lines to ease the 680-foot silver giant from its vast hangar. It was the first of four U.S. Navy Rigid airships and was constructed between 1922 and 1923 at Lakehurst Naval Station.
It rose into the skies above Ocean County on its maiden voyage on September 4, 1923. The USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) lifted off for the very first time from Naval Air Station Lakehurst and into history.
It marked two firsts: the world’s first helium-filled rigid airship and the first rigid airship built in the United States.
Families, dignitaries, and reporters gathered in anticipation, joining a crowd of 15,000 onlookers who had traveled to Lakehurst to see what was described to be the future of flight.
When the airship finally rose, gas bags shimmering in the sun, the crowd erupted. The New York Times reported that, “Cheered by 15,000 persons, the dirigible, a ‘made in America’ product, rose gracefully, and, after circling the field, took an easterly course to Toms River.”
Residents followed its course across the Pine Barrens and coastal farms. In Toms River, people spilled into the streets as the airship passed overhead – some waving handkerchiefs, others pausing work in fields and shipyards to marvel at the sight. It was unlike anything most had ever seen before.
Aboard her were 29 crew members, cautiously testing her controls and engines during the short 55-minute flight. They circled over the Jersey Shore landscape prior to returning the airship back to Lakehurst.
Though brief, this maiden voyage symbolized more than just a test – it was a bold declaration that the United States could build and fly a rigid airship of its own, safely powered by helium rather than the volatile hydrogen used abroad.
On its 57th flight, the airship was destroyed in a squall line over Ohio. The Shenandoah Monument in Ava, Ohio was created to honor those lost.
For more information about the historic first flight of the USS Shenandoah and the craft’s tragic end visit airandspace.si.edu/uss-shenandoah-accessibility.
