AIR RAID NEW YORK: 1918

[Frank Hipper]

Inspired by another thread, at another board....

Peter Strasser, the commandant of the German Naval Airships, had in the planning stages a raid on New York by Zeppelins at the time of his death.

To give some idea of Zeppelin capabilities, consider the flight of the L59 of 1917 from Jamboli, Bulgaria to German West Africa, and back.
Carrying a cargo load of 32,000 lbs, L59 made a round trip flight of some 4199 miles, the flight lasting 95 hours. They carried that load round trip, learning en route that the forces they were attempting to re-supply had surrendered. Upon their return to Bulgaria, it was estimated that they had sufficient fuel on board for a further 64 hours flight time, or an additional 3728 miles.

Now then, consider American air defenses at the time.
There were NONE.

With a range of nearly 8000 miles, and a theoretical bombload of some fifteen tons, and zero opposition, what chances would you give this scenario? What do think a likely American response would have been?

And remember, the figures I gave are for a smaller, less capable ship than those available in 1918.

[Darth Fanboy]

Private pilots would be drafted and theyd go up with rifles to shoot the buggers down?

Assuming they didn't get spotted during the long lumbering journey then they might be ableto drop some bombs but It doesn't seem to me like they could hit anything of enough value to make the operation worthwhile.

EDIT:

Change Target to DC though then you make it interesting.

[Sea Skimmer]

The weather is not good for such an operation. Damage will be totally insignificant, and while people might call out for protection they're also going to get extremely pissed off at the Huns. Germany really doesn't need an extremely angry multi million man American army facing it.

Its also inviting more bombing attacks on its own cities, which historically drew a lot of fighters and guns away from the front as well.

[El Moose Monstero]

Just as a point of interest, my dad (who deals with industrial and historically recent archaelogy back home) was telling me about these two large concrete concave dishes that were erected in Newcastle (and presumably elsewhere too), apparently, they were designed to pick up the noise of Zeppelin engines and magnify so they could be identified well in advance.

Quite a nifty pre-radar thing, especially as I assume that if Zeppelins shut down their engines and running lights once they reach target then w/o searchlights then they're a bugger to track.

[Sea Skimmer]

Just as a point of interest, my dad (who deals with industrial and historically recent archaelogy back home) was telling me about these two large concrete concave dishes that were erected in Newcastle (and presumably elsewhere too), apparently, they were designed to pick up the noise of Zeppelin engines and magnify so they could be identified well in advance.

Quite a nifty pre-radar thing, especially as I assume that if Zeppelins shut down their engines and running lights once they reach target then w/o searchlights then they're a bugger to track.

There suppose to function as big acoustical mirrors. It was a good idea, but it really didn't work. In the 1920's and 30's the RAF built them all along the North Sea coast. But experiments found they where lucky to even tell you that a formation of planes where coming, and any directional information was hopeless. But the time you get any possibly useful information, a ground observe at the same spot would have already see to aircraft.

Later the Soviet Union looked at the idea again, and developed a system called Big Ears that used electronic equipment. This was deployed in Siberia where there was little industrial or city noise, but where it was also very hard to get decent radar coverage. It however also didn't work very well. Though against supersonic missiles and aircraft it might give a bearing, though a very outdated one.

Overall sound just isn't fast or accurate enough.

[Exonerate]

With Zepplins? Uh, wouldn't they explode once they got hit?

It would be more of a psychological thing, like Doolittle's raid over Japan...

[Sea Skimmer]

With Zepplins? Uh, wouldn't they explode once they got hit?

It would be more of a psychological thing, like Doolittle's raid over Japan...

They did catch fire, but only when hit with incendiary bullets. Those didn't show up until around 1917, might have been 1916, but where never available in very great numbers. Any raid on the US would be totaly psychological. Germany dumped over 18,000 tons of bombs on London during the Blitz but failed to knock out the cities industries or port.

Course Allied bombing efforts in that conflict proved somewhat more effective...

[Frank Hipper]

With Zepplins? Uh, wouldn't they explode once they got hit?

It would be more of a psychological thing, like Doolittle's raid over Japan...

That's the whole point. What are you going to hit them with?

The U.S., unlike the U.K., did not possess a single aircraft that could operate at a Zeppelin's operating altitude. Nor were there any AA batteries or searchlight installations. With the "height climber" Zeppelins of the late war operating at over 20,000 feet, British defenses were practically helpless until the advent of the SE5-A.

The amount of material damage will of course be insignificant, even with a possible six-ship raid, but the psychological effects will be enormous. Split those six ships up into three groups to attack New York, Boston, and D.C. and you would have absolute hysteria on the east coast. How do you think recalling American airmen from the Western front would effect the air war there, where Germany had operated under a numerical disadvantage since day 1 of the war to begin with?
And what would a counter-attack on Germany be carried out with?