Zeppelin LZ 45

Zeppelin LZ 45 was the 45th airship built by Count Zeppelin and the thirteenth operated by the Imperial German Navy, under the military designation L 13. It made its first flight on 23 July 1915, was based at Hage, flew bombing raids on England and reconnaissance over the North Sea, and supported the departure of German submarines. On the night of 8 to 9 September 1915 it made the first air raid on the centre of London, setting fire to textile warehouses north of St Paul's Cathedral for damage put at 530,000 pounds. On 18 August 1916 it spotted part of the British fleet and radioed its position to Admiral Scheer. In all it completed 45 reconnaissance missions and 15 bombing raids, dropping 20,667 kilograms of bombs, and was decommissioned and dismantled on 25 April 1917 as outdated.