Zeppelins raid America, 1918

[lordroel]

A German raid on America would be pretty shocking to the American's. Yes we'd be 'pissed' but we'd also be scared because we'd gotten used to being 'isolated' from most conflicts because of the two oceans that surrounded us. I don't see it being an actual game-changer in terms of the war or its after-math, (unless it's a chemical or biological attack in which case frankly Germany is toast. there was a pretty reasonable logic for NOT attacking civilians with gas or bio if you could avoid it) but in general this is going to shake America's ability to consider 'isolationism' seriously. Sure U-boats had been a problem but at this point American soil has been directly attacked and that in and of itself (2 decades before Pearl Harbor has the same effect OTL) makes it very clear that the oceans are no longer enough to provide 'protection' for America.

What this would do is clearly show that America can't just 'sit-back' and let the world go it's own way so we'd likely be less likely to fully disarm and stand down. Airship wise it's likely we go further than OTL as it would be clear that they can actually project power to a long range even though they are going to have a lot of issues. More practically if the US still goes for helium production we would actually put more resources and money into the infrastructure unlike OTL where it was always lack-luster and short.

Randy

Also if some German submarines shell some targets on mainland United States, the United States will not be so happy with Germany if they surrender.

 

[drejr]

Tourists thought U-156's raid on Orleans was great entertainment. The US East Coast was fairly heavily patrolled by aircraft, particularly around New York. Seaplanes with 3" guns might dissuade zeppelins from attacking at low level in daylight.

(Of course Navy planes only managed to hit U-156 with a monkey wrench because their bomb fuzes didn't work.)

 

[Hood]

I'm rather sceptical that we can reliably estimate how a population may have responded to bombardment or air attack in 1918. Especially in the case of the USA who had been sheltered from direct outside attack since 1846 but whose older generations would still have remembered the carnage of the civil war. There was also a much larger German immigrant community in the USA, would they suffer backlash or would it temper the mob?
I'm not sure the Pearl Harbor analogy is applicable, there were other factors at stake there and any raid in 1918 would be during American's involvement as a belligerent.

The populations of some of the bigger coastal towns along Britain's East coast had endured shelling from German battlecruisers right on their doorstep. London and dozens of smaller places and little hamlets got caught up in the Zeppelin and Gotha raids.
There was anger, there were mobs smashing up shops which had any remotely German sounding name on them and in part this addition to the general anti-German loathing made one very famous family change their dynastic name to one of the castles they owned. We can't also ignore that a smooth propaganda machine swung into action, posters dubbing Zeppelin's as "baby killers" to stoke up public opinion.
Yet with hindsight, 51 Zeppelin raids unleashing 5,000 bombs would only kill 557 and injure 1,358 people, the Gotha's did far better in terms of casualties - 27 raids killing 835 and injuring 1,972. If anything this highlights how ineffective Zeppelins were.

But on the other hand, morale wasn't crushed, people didn't flee London, just as many who would hide would also stand and stare at the action overhead and some at the time this reluctance to shelter had increased casualties - even in 1940 people would often watch dogfights overhead as a form of entertainment.
There is a telling passage in John Buchan's Mr Standfast, published in 1919 and describing Richard Hannay caught up in an air raid on London in late 1917, which was probably inspired by Buchan's own experiences in London around that time.

The man who says he doesn’t mind being bombed or shelled is either a liar or a maniac. This London air raid seemed to me a singularly unpleasant business. I think it was the sight of the decent civilised life around one and the orderly streets, for what was perfectly natural in a rubble-heap like Ypres or Arras seemed an outrage here. I remember once being in billets in a Flanders village where I had the Maire’s house and sat in a room upholstered in cut velvet, with wax flowers on the mantelpiece and oil paintings of three generations on the walls. The Boche took it into his head to shell the place with a long-range naval gun, and I simply loathed it. It was horrible to have dust and splinters blown into that snug, homely room, whereas if I had been in a ruined barn I wouldn’t have given the thing two thoughts. In the same way bombs dropping in central London seemed a grotesque indecency. I hated to see plump citizens with wild eyes, and nursemaids with scared children, and miserable women scuttling like rabbits in a warren.

The drone grew louder, and, looking up, I could see the enemy planes flying in a beautiful formation, very leisurely as it seemed, with all London at their mercy. Another bomb fell to the right, and presently bits of our own shrapnel were clattering viciously around me. I thought it about time to take cover, and ran shamelessly for the best place I could see, which was a Tube station. Five minutes before the street had been crowded; now I left behind me a desert dotted with one bus and three empty taxicabs.

I found the Tube entrance filled with excited humanity. One stout lady had fainted, and a nurse had become hysterical, but on the whole people were behaving well. Oddly enough they did not seem inclined to go down the stairs to the complete security of underground; but preferred rather to collect where they could still get a glimpse of the upper world, as if they were torn between fear of their lives and interest in the spectacle. That crowd gave me a good deal of respect for my countrymen. But several were badly rattled, and one man a little way off, whose back was turned, kept twitching his shoulders as if he had the colic.

It leavens the feeling of panic and puts the moral case rather interestingly, bringing the battlefield to 'civilised' London seemed repugnant, although we could point out the poor people of Ypres or Arras probably didn't think it natural to have their towns obliterated by artillery...
There is always a taste of exceptionalism, not a year before the novel was published Trenchard had wanted to meet out similar punishment on German cities with HP O/100s and O/400s and Vimys but the hundred. Likewise the USAAS was keen to build its own fleet of Handley Pages for strategic bombing.

 

[lordroel]

Tourists thought U-156's raid on Orleans was great entertainment. The US East Coast was fairly heavily patrolled by aircraft, particularly around New York. Seaplanes with 3" guns might dissuade zeppelins from attacking at low level in daylight.

Would those planes guns be armed with a mix of Pomeroy bullets, Brock bullets containing potassium chlorate explosive, and incendiary Buckingham bullets containing pyrophoric yellow phosphorus.

 

[iverson]

I'm rather sceptical that we can reliably estimate how a population may have responded to bombardment or air attack in 1918. Especially in the case of the USA who had been sheltered from direct outside attack since 1846 but whose older generations would still have remembered the carnage of the civil war. There was also a much larger German immigrant community in the USA, would they suffer backlash or would it temper the mob?
I'm not sure the Pearl Harbor analogy is applicable, there were other factors at stake there and any raid in 1918 would be during American's involvement as a belligerent.

The populations of some of the bigger coastal towns along Britain's East coast had endured shelling from German battlecruisers right on their doorstep. London and dozens of smaller places and little hamlets got caught up in the Zeppelin and Gotha raids.
There was anger, there were mobs smashing up shops which had any remotely German sounding name on them and in part this addition to the general anti-German loathing made one very famous family change their dynastic name to one of the castles they owned. We can't also ignore that a smooth propaganda machine swung into action, posters dubbing Zeppelin's as "baby killers" to stoke up public opinion.
Yet with hindsight, 51 Zeppelin raids unleashing 5,000 bombs would only kill 557 and injure 1,358 people, the Gotha's did far better in terms of casualties - 27 raids killing 835 and injuring 1,972. If anything this highlights how ineffective Zeppelins were.

But on the other hand, morale wasn't crushed, people didn't flee London, just as many who would hide would also stand and stare at the action overhead and some at the time this reluctance to shelter had increased casualties - even in 1940 people would often watch dogfights overhead as a form of entertainment.
There is a telling passage in John Buchan's Mr Standfast, published in 1919 and describing Richard Hannay caught up in an air raid on London in late 1917, which was probably inspired by Buchan's own experiences in London around that time.

The man who says he doesn’t mind being bombed or shelled is either a liar or a maniac. This London air raid seemed to me a singularly unpleasant business. I think it was the sight of the decent civilised life around one and the orderly streets, for what was perfectly natural in a rubble-heap like Ypres or Arras seemed an outrage here. I remember once being in billets in a Flanders village where I had the Maire’s house and sat in a room upholstered in cut velvet, with wax flowers on the mantelpiece and oil paintings of three generations on the walls. The Boche took it into his head to shell the place with a long-range naval gun, and I simply loathed it. It was horrible to have dust and splinters blown into that snug, homely room, whereas if I had been in a ruined barn I wouldn’t have given the thing two thoughts. In the same way bombs dropping in central London seemed a grotesque indecency. I hated to see plump citizens with wild eyes, and nursemaids with scared children, and miserable women scuttling like rabbits in a warren.

The drone grew louder, and, looking up, I could see the enemy planes flying in a beautiful formation, very leisurely as it seemed, with all London at their mercy. Another bomb fell to the right, and presently bits of our own shrapnel were clattering viciously around me. I thought it about time to take cover, and ran shamelessly for the best place I could see, which was a Tube station. Five minutes before the street had been crowded; now I left behind me a desert dotted with one bus and three empty taxicabs.

I found the Tube entrance filled with excited humanity. One stout lady had fainted, and a nurse had become hysterical, but on the whole people were behaving well. Oddly enough they did not seem inclined to go down the stairs to the complete security of underground; but preferred rather to collect where they could still get a glimpse of the upper world, as if they were torn between fear of their lives and interest in the spectacle. That crowd gave me a good deal of respect for my countrymen. But several were badly rattled, and one man a little way off, whose back was turned, kept twitching his shoulders as if he had the colic.

It leavens the feeling of panic and puts the moral case rather interestingly, bringing the battlefield to 'civilised' London seemed repugnant, although we could point out the poor people of Ypres or Arras probably didn't think it natural to have their towns obliterated by artillery...
There is always a taste of exceptionalism, not a year before the novel was published Trenchard had wanted to meet out similar punishment on German cities with HP O/100s and O/400s and Vimys but the hundred. Likewise the USAAS was keen to build its own fleet of Handley Pages for strategic bombing.

We know a little about how Americans responded to German-initiated explosions. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion

 

[Hood]

We know a little about how Americans responded to German-initiated explosions.

Hmmmmm, there seems a lot of maybes there. Could have been German agents, could have been Irish republicans, could have been Communists... a lot of could haves for what might have just been an accident. They tried to pin the Kingsland explosion on a German agent too, but that was later determined to be an accident.

 

[kocovgoce]

We know a little about how Americans responded to German-initiated explosions.

Hmmmmm, there seems a lot of maybes there. Could have been German agents, could have been Irish republicans, could have been Communists... a lot of could haves for what might have just been an accident. They tried to pin the Kingsland explosion on a German agent too, but that was later determined to be an accident.

This is interesting for the Irish . What if the Germans used airships to transport weapons to the Irish rebels in 1916. Or transporting weapons to Algerian and Moroccan Bedouins to fight the French. For example in 1916 the Afghan caliphate under the influence of the Ottomans and the Germans declared war on British India what if through Asia Minor and Iran they supplied Afghan fighters with weapons or with German instructors.

 

[iverson]

We know a little about how Americans responded to German-initiated explosions.

Hmmmmm, there seems a lot of maybes there. Could have been German agents, could have been Irish republicans, could have been Communists... a lot of could haves for what might have just been an accident. They tried to pin the Kingsland explosion on a German agent too, but that was later determined to be an accident.

True. But actual responsibility is not really the point here. The question was how America would react to a perceived attack. The explosion was a perceived attack.

The American public's reaction to both actual and perceived German provocation, from torpedoing of ships to the Zimmerman Telegram, was uniform, so much so that Americans with German names faced persecution severe enough to merit name changes. So I suspect that Zeppelin attack on New York would at best (from Germany;s point of view) harden America support for the Allies and for the harshest possible peace terms.

 

[kocovgoce]

What if the Germans use it winds from the Atlantic Ocean to America from submarine to launch small balloons with explosives to America as the Japanese did in 1944?

 

[GTX]

What if the Germans use it winds from the Atlantic Ocean to America from submarine to launch small balloons with explosives to America as the Japanese did in 1944?

Might be a little challenging given the prevailing winds:

 

[kocovgoce]

then they would use the African wind from the Sahara to the Atlantic Ocean to the southern part of U.S of America in the fall

 

[Arjen]

That will get you to Brazil, possibly the Caribbean.

 

[Archibald]

That will get you to Brazil, possibly the Caribbean.

How about a Zeppelin riding the winds to these places, then bombing whatever American cities it can reach - before returning to Germany crossing the Atlantic pushed by the winds ?
That would be one hell of a round trip !!

 

[kocovgoce]

That will get you to Brazil, possibly the Caribbean.

How about a Zeppelin riding the winds to these places, then bombing whatever American cities it can reach - before returning to Germany crossing the Atlantic pushed by the winds ?
That would be one hell of a round trip !!

They will save fuel if they use the winds. But winds can also damage an airship. Perhaps it would be best if the Germans had a base with some Mexican warlords and from here to attack America especially those oil installations in the west.
But what if the Germans used an airship that he did not need as a guided missile to some part of America.

Оtherwise one of the purposes of Goering with the ignition of Graf Hinderburg was to get helium technology in order to make a fleet of helium zeppelin in order easier unloading of troops and materials, especially for the invasion of England, however, 40 km of canal would have been easily passed by the German zeppelin who would have resisted the flammable bullets fired by the British. And very easily the Germans would be able to unload 200 armed commandos at an airport in England.

​

 

[Dilandu]

But what if the Germans used an airship that he did not need as a guided missile to some part of America.

The guidancevtechnology of this time could not be relied on intercontinental ranges. At the closing stage of the war, Germans envisioned a radio-controlled unmanned bomber, capable of striking London and return back - but it was supposed to operate within the range of Telefunken radio direction finding system (the signals of onboard beacon in drone were supposed to be tracked by two land-based RDF, and drone position triangulated). On the transcontinental distance, some other system would be needed.

 

[kocovgoce]

We are talking about 1918 if an attempt was made for flying over the Atlantic with no pilot zeppelin which technology would be used? some form of machine navigation with gears or

Ball-and-disk integrator - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Dilandu]

We are talking about 1918 if an attempt was made for flying over the Atlantic with no pilot zeppelin which technology would be used? some form of machine navigation with gears or

I'm afraid, none would work. The reliability of 1910s mechanics is just too low; all parts of aircrafts, motors, rudders, altitude controls, required constant adjusments and maintenance. Fully automated zeppelin could stay in air several hours at most - then something would break down.

 

[kocovgoce]

We are talking about 1918 if an attempt was made for flying over the Atlantic with no pilot zeppelin which technology would be used? some form of machine navigation with gears or

I'm afraid, none would work. The reliability of 1910s mechanics is just too low; all parts of aircrafts, motors, rudders, altitude controls, required constant adjusments and maintenance. Fully automated zeppelin could stay in air several hours at most - then something would break down.

then it would have to be a small one-way mission to attack certain targets and the zeppelin to be abandoned and destroyed. So the option remains for the zeppelins to be refueled back to Germany by submarines. Something like a combination of zeppelins landing on the sea.

 

[kocovgoce]

the first zeppelins used weights to rotate up or down such as the one in the picture connected to a cable that is, the weight with the cables was lifted back or forward depending on which part of the zeppelin was to be lowered or raised

 

[Dilandu]

the first zeppelins used weights to rotate up or down such as the one in the picture connected to a cable that is, the weight with the cables was lifted back or forward depending on which part of the zeppelin was to be lowered or raised

Yep, but this concept was dropped very fast as less practical than just using elevators.

 

[kocovgoce]

the first zeppelins used weights to rotate up or down such as the one in the picture connected to a cable that is, the weight with the cables was lifted back or forward depending on which part of the zeppelin was to be lowered or raised

Yep, but this concept was dropped very fast as less practical than just using elevators.

Yes newer models used rails where the load went forward or backward along the entire length of the zeppelin.

Until the advent of large zeppelins that used water tanks and pumps to distribute water either forward or to the back

 

[Deleted member 4286]

The Imperial Airship Scheme ended five years before the Hindenburg flew. That will still happen, because airships tend to disintegrate mid-flight after so many flight hours.

Fair point about the blackouts. I suppose they might try to bomb the Statue of Liberty or something then. Maybe they succeed? Maybe they don't? America can build another one with German reparation money either way, and they already tried that so it won't be a surprise to anyone, either. I'm not sure how everything else changes the outcome that airships vanish over the medium term (10-20 years after the war ends). They're just kinda bad.

Flying over the ocean won't lead to America having a stable of intercontinental airship bombers (nor anyone else). It might lead to the Coastal Artillery getting a dozen high caliber AAA guns mounted on Liberty Island I guess.

Routes foreseen for the imperial Airship Scheme (1926-1928)

 

[riggerrob]

Yes newer models used rails where the load went forward or backward along the entire length of the zeppelin.

Until the advent of large zeppelins that used water tanks and pumps to distribute water either forward or to the back

Later blimps used internal air chambers to maintain hull pressurization along with fore-and-aft trim. If they wanted to dive, they filled the forward air chamber with air while collapsing the aft air chamber. This reduces the amount of lifting gas ( hydrogen or helium) in the front of the hull, causing it to dive.

 

[riggerrob]

…. one of the purposes of Goering with the ignition of …. Hindenburg was to get helium technology …..

​

Careful with the conspiracy theories.
Most investigators agree that the Hindenburg crash was simply an accident, perhaps caused by damage to a fin a few days earlier.

Also remember that helium gas has always been in short supply on this planet. Helium is usually found as a by-product in some oil wells, but only a handful of countries produce helium.
Back during the 1930s, the USA supplied something 35 percent of the world’s petroleum exports and the bulk of helium exports. The US Navy tried to restrict exports of helium as they considered helium to be a “strategic resource.”

 

[A Tentative Fleet Plan]

I certainly wouldn't want to do trans-Atlantic bombing in an LZ-112/L70-class due to the structural weaknesses of the height-climbers, let alone endurance. Britain managed to do a two-way trip with the L-30-class derived R.34, but were able to refuel in the US, an option that would obviously be denied to any Germany Zeppelin conducting a raid, and the L30s were much more strongly built than their height-climber successors. L70s are a little longer, but the same diameter as the L30s, but structurally weaker, I can't imagine they would carry much more in the way of fuel and ordnance.

The abortive LZ-119/L100 class might have been a little safer, certainly the LZ-125 that was supposed to be sold to the US in the early 1920s was based on this class in the belief that a smaller ship could not make it safely across the Atlantic, and the later LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin was of a similar size and made multiple successful voyages, both trans-Atlantic and . The smaller LZ-126/ZR-3 Los-Angeles also successfully crossed the Atlantic, but again, only one-way.

Even then, the first L100s were not expected to be completed until well into 1919, at which point Allied armies may have probably advanced to put their bases and building sheds well within range of airpower (with the Handley Page V/1500 in service, then bases in the UK would suffice), assuming the German Army and Home Front haven't completely collapsed by that point (given that both collapsed in late 1918, that is a big assumption).

If they can get to the US, and can accurately find US cities and bomb them, 1000kg bombs and Elektron incendiary bombs (the latter of which were very similar to Second World War incendiary bombs, and had been stockpiled woth the intention of being used against British cities prior to the Armistice) would cause some damage, although still limited by Second World standards. Although each Zeppelin might carry the equivalent bombload of a Second World War heavy bomber, the number of Zeppelins taking part in a single raid will most likely be in the single digits, and barely tow digits at most, taking multiple days to cross the Atlantic and, and likely scattered across the Eastern seaboard, certainly not an equivalent to the sustained multi-hundred or even one-thousand bomber raids of the Second World War.

 

[Dilandu]

I certainly wouldn't want to do trans-Atlantic bombing in an LZ-112/L70-class due to the structural weaknesses of the height-climbers, let alone endurance. Britain managed to do a two-way trip with the L-30-class derived R.34, but were able to refuel in the US, an option that would obviously be denied to any Germany Zeppelin conducting a raid, and the L-30s were much more strongly built than their height-climber successors. L-70s are a little longer, but the same diameter as the L-30s, but structurally weaker, I can't imagine they would carry much more in the way of fuel and ordnance.

That's why I suggested not the X-class, but W-class derivative:

Most likely, it would not be X-class high-climbers, but adapted design of W-series (long-range transports to which L-59 belong).

Designed more for range, not altitude (since America have next to zero air defense by 1918, there is no point to climb higher).

If they can get to the US, and can accurately find US cities and bomb them, 1000kg bombs and Elektron incendiary bombs (the latter of which were very similar to Second World War incendiary bombs, and had been stockpiled woth the intention of being used against British cities prior to the Armistice) would cause some damage, although still limited by Second World standards. Although each Zeppelin might carry the equivalent bombload of a Second World War heavy bomber, the number of Zeppelins taking part in a single raid will most likely be in the single digits, and barely tow digits at most, taking multiple days to cross the Atlantic and, and likely scattered across the Eastern seaboard, certainly not an equivalent to the sustained multi-hundred or even one-thousand bomber raids of the Second World War.

Of course. But the main effect is essentially psychological; firstly demonstrate, that America isn't invulnerable, secondly to disrupt the American militarization efforts by forcing them to spend resources on homeland defense. As I mentioned in original post - Americans aren't exactly prepared to even limited air attacks, and even very limited bombardment would clearly caused much confusion, fear and outright panick. While it would not be very important, Wilson's government would be forced to address it with at least SOME defensive measures. Which would means (considering the size of US West Coast) diverting a significant part of guns, planes and trained gun crews to watch the sky over American cities.

 

[A Tentative Fleet Plan]

That's why I suggested not the X-class, but W-class derivative:


Designed more for range, not altitude (since America have next to zero air defense by 1918, there is no point to climb higher).

Putnam's Zeppelin: Rigid Airships 1893-1940 by Peter W Brooks describes the L70/X-class as essentially production version of the L57/W-class with one less 15m bay (although this additional bay was built back into later ships of the L70 class). The L57/W-class are themselves lengthened versions of the L53/V-class with two extra 15m bays. Structurally it still seems that they are height-climbers, and the L70/X-class were designed with seven engines to ensure that they would not be helplessly blown off course by high-altitude winds. The L57/W-class have the same number engines as the earlier height climbers.

The L100 class (and potentially also the abortive S.L.24, also bigger than the L70s, although I don't know how many engines it had) seem to be the only craft that can probably survive a flight across the Atlantic (assuming they aren't also built like height climbers) and return, thus enabling them to conduct repeat raids.

 

[Dilandu]

Putnam's Zeppelin: Rigid Airships 1893-1940 by Peter W Brooks describes the L-70/X-class as essentially production version of the L-57/W-class with one less 15m bay (although this additional bay was built back into later shios.of the L-79 class). The L-57/W-class are themselves lengthened versions of the L-53/V-class with two extra 15m bays. Structurally it still seems that they are height-climbers, and the L-70/X-class were designed with seven engines to ensure that they would not be helplessly blown off course by high-altitude winds. The L57/W-class have the same number engines as the earlier height climbers.

I rather doubt that W-class cargo zeppelins were build as lightly as height climbers. After all, they needed to survive flight over Africa in quite possibly less than ideal weather coniditions.

 

[A Tentative Fleet Plan]

I rather doubt that W-class cargo zeppelins were build as lightly as height climbers. After all, they needed to survive flight over Africa in quite possibly less than ideal weather coniditions.

They were made on an existing production line of relatively standardised Zeppelin designs with the same diameter, engines, engine cars etc. Not to mention the long range and cargo carrying capacity could be maximised by keeping structural weight to a minimum. I doubt there was sufficient time, given the perceived urgency of the situation, to make significant design changes, especially given the first Afrika-Zeppelin, LZ-102/L57 crashed and caught fire shortly after setting off, requiring LZ-104/L59 to be hurriedly ordered and constructed.

If Putnam is right, and X-class/L70s are W-class/L57 derivatives, then we know that they had similar structural weaknesses (although this may also have been exacerbated by the L70s greater engine power), and the X-class/L70s were never intended as anything other than height-climbing strategic bombers.

 

[riggerrob]

Remember that Imperial Germany had colonies in Cameroon and Togo which were well situated as coaling-stations for Zeppelins embarking on voyages to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Since they were close to the equator, Zeppelins could take advantage of trade winds blowing towards the Americas.

 

[A Tentative Fleet Plan]

Remember that Imperial Germany had colonies in Cameroon and Togo which were well situated as coaling-stations for Zeppelins embarking on voyages to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Since they were close to the equator, Zeppelins could take advantage of trade winds blowing towards the Americas.

Not in 1918 they didn't, Germany's overseas colonies had all fallen at that point. And coaling stations are unimportant for Zeppelins given they used aviation fuel.

 

[riggerrob]

Not in 1918 they didn't, Germany's overseas colonies had all fallen at that point. And coaling stations are unimportant for Zeppelins given they used aviation fuel.

I was using the term “coaling station” as slang for any resupply depot.

 

[A Tentative Fleet Plan]

The problem is that every German colony has fallen by 1918, with the only forces still fighting outside of Europe and the Middle East being von Lettow-Vorbeck's troops, and they're on the wrong side of Africa, and are essentially living off the land, and require support rather than being in a position to provide it.

Even if a colony still survives they have no aviation fuel, no spare parts, no hydrogen plants, no stocks of bombs, no bases and no hangars, they're incapable of supporting a sustained strategic bombing campaign by Zeppelins.

 

[1635yankee]

About the only thing attacks on the East Coast of the US would be to piss Americans off. Germany would have probably had more success funding the German-American Bund and similar groups to commit more terrorist acts.

 

[Deleted member 4286]

Routes foreseen for the imperial Airship Scheme (1926-1928)

Routes foreseen for the imperial Airship Scheme (1926-1928)

And the 1926 memorandum about "The approach towards a system of imperial air communication"

 

[riggerrob]

About the only thing attacks on the East Coast of the US would be to piss Americans off. Germany would have probably had more success funding the German-American Bund and similar groups to commit more terrorist acts.

Forget about terrorist attacks.
If they fund corrupt labour unions they could seriously delay key American Defense manufacturers. Alternately, repeatedly delay internal shipments by rail or canals.
Remember that the US Interstate Highways were only built after WW2.

 

[1635yankee]

Forget about terrorist attacks.
If they fund corrupt labour unions they could seriously delay key American Defense manufacturers. Alternately, repeatedly delay internal shipments by rail or canals.
Remember that the US Interstate Highways were only built after WW2.

...or corrupt corporate executives.