USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)

USS Shenandoah, hull number ZR-1, was the first of four rigid airships operated by the United States Navy. It was constructed during 1922 and 1923 at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, in the one hangar large enough to hold it, while its parts and girders were fabricated at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia. The ship first flew in September 1923. It developed the Navy's experience with rigid airships and made the first crossing of North America by airship. Shenandoah was destroyed in a squall line over Ohio in September 1925, on its 57th flight.