During this year other German rigid airships had been brought
down, namely L 15, which was destroyed at the mouth of the Thames
in April, but which was of an old type, and from which little
useful information was obtained; and also the Army airship L.Z.
85, which was destroyed at Salonica in the month of May. A
Schutte-Lanz airship was also brought down at Cuffley, on
September 2nd, and afforded certain valuable details.
All these ships were, however, becoming out of date; but L 33 was
of the latest design, familiarly called the super-Zeppelin, and
had only been completed about six weeks before she encountered
disaster.
In view of the fact that the rigid airships building in this
country at this date, with the exception of the wooden
Schutte-Lanz ships were all based on pre-war designs of Zeppelin
airships, it can be readily understood that this latest capture
revolutionized all previous ideas, and to a greater extent than
might be imagined, owing to the immense advance, both in design
and construction, which had taken place in Germany since 1914.
All possible information having been obtained, both from the
wreck of the airship itself and from interrogation of the
captured crew, approval was obtained, in November of the same
year, for two ships of the L 33 design to be built; and in
January, 1917, this number was increased to five.
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