Naturally the first airship was ordered by the Deutsche Luftschiffahrt A. G. (“DELAG”)—the German Airship Transportation Company—which had a paid in capital of 3,000,000 marks ($714,000.00) subscribed by a number of public spirited men solely to start a Zeppelin passenger and mail service. It was planned to employ larger ships than those with which Zeppelin had convinced the public, to secure greater lifting and carrying capacity. These ships developed rapidly. Military Value Proved by Commercial Operation They attracted attention among the military authorities who had decided that the Zeppelins offered advantages over the existing types of observation aircraft, that they were in no way difficult to handle in the air or on the ground and, in fact, were better adapted to military purposes than others previously built. A deciding factor in favor of the Zeppelins was the ease with which they could be put into their sheds after each flight. The Government, accordingly, ordered three airships built and equipped for military service. Their performance was kept secret but they were accepted and obviously performed equally as well as their contemporary commercial craft. There was the Zeppelin “=Sachsen=” which flew to Vienna from Baden-Baden in less than eight hours. This commercial flight led the German army to buy three more military ships of the “=Sachsen=” type. Activities Early in the War The Navy followed suit and in October, 1912, bought the L-1 (Plate 6), for experimental and training purposes in connection with the fleet. The L-1 carried 706,200 cubic feet (20,000 cubic meters) of Hydrogen and proved its worth on its trial flight from Friedrichshafen, thence north over Germany to Helgoland in the North Sea, thence to the Baltic, side trips here and there, and finally to the airship harbor at Johannisthal where it was to be stationed. The flight lasted 34 hours. [PLATE 15: Development of the Zeppelin from 1900 to 1919.] This persuaded the Naval officials that Zeppelins were essential in marine warfare both for offense and defense. Another order was placed, this time for a Zeppelin of much larger dimensions. It was christened the L-2 and delivered in September, 1913 (Plate 6). This ship represented an utterly new departure in design, later universally adopted. A corridor was built forming a keel on the inside and bottom of the ship (Plate 7). It had a gas capacity of 953,370 cubic feet (27,000 cubic meters) and was equipped with four motors of 180 horsepower each. Being the first of the kind it was inevitable that the corridor arrangement should develop a flaw. It lacked proper ventilation. Hydrogen leaked out from the ship and was drawn into the motor gondolas. On one of its first flights this caused an explosion on the L-2 which sent it to the ground a wreck. Operations with the Fleet