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Accident to Shenandoah. 

At the time our government decided to construct a rigid air ship the general design was entrusted to Commander J.C. Hunsaker of the Navy, who is perhaps the best informed on lighter than air craft than any other engineer in the world. 

After first securing full data concerning the detail construction of the German, Australian, Italian, French, and English dirigibles, the Z. R. I. was then laid out on paper and carefully checked to insure the greatest strength with the least possible weight, and where necessary weight was sacrificed for strength. 

The German L. 49 was brought down in France and reports were made of the measurements of girders, lattice, wires, etc. that make up the rigid structure of the ship, and copies of this data was furnished Mr. Hunsaker. 

Many tests of the girders and small parts, exact duplicates of the parts used in the ship, were tested to destruction to determine safety factors and the strength necessary to enable the finished ship to ride out any storm of to meet any bonding strain that might later be encountered. The design was passed upon by a number of engineers who all agreed the finished ship would be the strongest of any ship constructed heretofore. 

The fabrication of the parts was done at the Naval Aircraft Factory at Philadelphia, under the direction of Captain G. C. Westervelt and the assembly of the ship at Lakehurst was under the direction of Commander R. D. Weyerbacher. 

As soon as the hull was complete, sand was loaded on the center section and this load was far in excess of any strain calculated the ship would encounter during service. The structure was so rigid that practically no sag occurred, justifying the belief that the Shenandoah was by far the strongest rigid air ship ever constructed. 

Twenty cells formed the gas compartments and were approximately thirty-four feet in length each. A ring made up of latticed girders and braced by wires from the circumference to the center similar to a wire wheel, formed the partition between each of the cells. The cells when inflated with gas pressed each against one another with this net of brace wires between. Should one cell become deflated, the wires and netting partition were strong enough to withstand the pressure of the cells without the slightest danger of buckling. 

Just prior to the accident the Shenandoah was suddenly raised from a low to high altitude by a violent up trend of air, this caused a sudden expansion of the gas in each cell, and as they were not filled to exact proportion a greater pressure developed in one cell more than the others. Many storms were met and safely weathered during the life of the ship but at no time had it been carried so suddenly to such a high altitude.