THE NAVY RIGID AIRSHIP

Lighter-than-air (LTA) craft were used with great success by the Navy for some fifty years. Consideration of the unique capabilities of these craft, particularly rigid airships, suggests that they would be well suited to some present-day Navy missions. This memorandum presents a resume of past experience with rigid airships and outlines their performance characteristics. The most prominent of these include the ability to remain airborne for great lengths of time carrying large payloads, the ability to land and take off vertically and hover, and their apparent campatibility with nuclear propulsion. In view of the considerable technical potential, a mission-oriented systems analysis of updated rigid airship designs is recommended. (Author)

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Distribution limitation now removed.
• Corporate Authors:

  Naval Research Laboratory

  4555 Overlook Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20375-5320
• Authors:
  • Clements, E W
  • O'Hara, G J
• Publication Date: 1972-7

Media Info

• Pagination: 42 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air transportation; Aircraft; Airships; Airspeed; Commodities; Feasibility analysis; Freight transportation; Ground effect; Ground effect; History; Landing; Lighter than air craft; Nuclear power; Performance; Ship operations; Takeoff; Vehicle range; Weight
• Uncontrolled Terms: Naval operations; Payload
• Old TRIS Terms: Lighter-than-air vehicles; Performance engineering; Range distance; Rigid airships
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Freight Transportation; History; Marine Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00143456
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NRL-MR-2463 Final Rpt.
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 17 1977 12:00AM