Dirigible R-34 At Mineola
During the war great airships like this were sent long distances into enemy territory, sometimes to discover and report the location of supply depots and manufacturing plants, sometimes to hover in the enemy’s rear, miles behind the firing line, and observe the number and disposition of his troops. Sometimes they carried a cargo of high explosives, to blow up rail heads and other bases of military activity. Painted a light gray, and with muffled engines, they sped silently, like ghosts, through the heavens. Often the first indication of their presence was a deafening explosion, followed by falling roofs and collapsing walls.
Their journey through the uncharted heavens was attended by constant peril. The currents of the air were often as unstable as those of the sea and these airships, huge though they were, were tossed about and buffeted as the waves of the ocean batter vessels during a storm. Eddies, squalls and swirling currents of air carried them out of their course. At any time they might spring a leak and the escaping hydrogen gas, mixing with the air, cause an explosion that would send them flaming to earth. Searchlights might pick them up and shells destroy them.
We can plainly see the outlines of the ribs of the ship -- the structural frame which stiffens the gas bag. The "lines" of an airship are just as important as those of a vessel which sails the ocean. If correctly designed the ship will glide through the air without friction; but if the design is faulty, currents of air will cling to the vessel and impede its progress, as weeds and grass do to a boat forcing its way through the water.