Posted on 02/14/2010 10:18:06 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the loss of the U.S. Navy airship USS Macon, NOAA today announced that the wreck site on the seafloor within Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Macon, a 785-foot dirigible was one of the largest airships in the world – comparable in size to the RMS Titanic. It was intended to serve as a scout ship for the Pacific Fleet and had the ability to launch and recover Sparrowhawk biplanes. In service less than two years, the Macon, based at Moffett Field in Sunnyvale, Calif., was damaged in a storm on Feb. 12, 1935, and sank in the Pacific Ocean off Point Sur, south of San Francisco. All but two of the Macon’s 83 crewmen were rescued by nearby Navy ships. .
“The USS Macon and its four associated Sparrowhawk biplanes are not only historically significant to our nation’s history, but have unique ties to our local communities, where public museums highlight the airship’s history,” said Paul Michel, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary superintendent. “The National Register listing highlights the importance of protecting the wreck site and its artifacts for further understanding our past.”
The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of cultural places considered worth preserving. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate and protect America's historic and archeological resources. Properties listed in the National Register can qualify for federal grants for historic preservation.
(Excerpt) Read more at noaanews.noaa.gov ...
pics?
awesome
Cool Photo.
Ping to an article on a slightly different archaeological site...
Is that the one Mythbusters have used on occasion?
The USS Macon was one of three rigid airships built by Goodyear in Akron, Ohio. The first was the USS Shenandoah, and the last was the USS Akron. I knew one of the German team of engineers brought over from Germany when Goodyear went into the zeppelin business. I learned navigation under his tutelage.
Eventually they utilized aircraft without landing gear to minimize weight - makes for motivated pilots. And I love the logo.
That must have been fascinating. The Macon had a far more productive career than its sister ship, Akron. Macon’s commanders developed the doctrine and techniques of using its airplanes to do scouting while the airship remained out of sight of the opposing forces in exercises
How the heck did they ‘recover’ aircraft?
She was ultimately scraped thus ending the US Navy's era of "dirigibles" - these being replaced with the "blimps."
[As an FYI - See Airshipwreck by Len Deighton and Arnold Schwartzman, Jonathan Cape Ltd. Thirty Bedford Square, London, WC1, 1978.]
It is a simply amazing place!
“And lest we forget ... USS Los Angles (ZR-3).”
The Los Angeles was built in Germany by Graf Zeppelin and was acquired by the US Navy as war reparations, in the 20’s, renamed the USS Los Angeles. She is the only one of the Navy’s rigid airships that did not crash - scared the hell out of ‘em once at Lakehurst, though, when she was stood on her nose, still moored, by freak conditions.
I’ve been to Air & Space several times but have never been out to see the stuff at Dulles. It’s on my agenda for my next trip to DC. The Boeing Museum of Flight is worth a visit if you make it to Seattle. There is some discussion of them getting one of the Shuttles when they are taken off line. That would be pretty neat!
Those were some brave men.
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