The car was also lowered into the hangar below the upper
deck, the envelope only remaining on the upper level, and
everything worked smoothly. If the war had continued there is no
doubt that some attempt would have been made to test the
practical efficiency of the problem.
Anti-submarine patrol was the chief work of the airship during
the war, and, like everything else, underwent most striking
changes. Submarine hunting probably had more clever brains
concentrated upon it than anything else in the war, and the part
allotted to the airship in conjunction with the hunting flotillas
of surface craft was carefully thought out.
In the case of a suspected submarine in a certain spot, all
surface and air craft were concentrated by means of wireless
signals at the appointed rendezvous. It is in operations of this
kind that the airship is so superior to the seaplane or
aeroplane, as she can hover over a fixed point for an indefinite
period with engines shut off. If the submarine was located from
the air, signals were given and depth charges dropped in the
position pointed out. Incidents of this kind were of frequent
occurrence, and in them the value of the airship was fully
recognized.
The most monotonous and arduous of the airship's duties was the
routine patrol.
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