LZ 13 Hansa
Role	Passenger airship Type of aircraft
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
First flight	30 July 1912
Retired	1916
Status	Retired
Primary users	DELAG German military
Number built	1

The Zeppelin LZ 13 Hansa (or simply Hansa) was a German civilian rigid airship first flown in 1912. It was built for DELAG to carry passengers and post and flew the first international passenger flight, visiting Denmark and Sweden in September 1912.^[1] In 1913 it was hired to the Imperial German Navy as a training craft, and at the outbreak of World War I it was requisitioned by the German military who used it for bombing, reconnaissance, and finally as a training airship.

Design

The Hansa was the sister ship of LZ 11 Viktoria Luise, the first of the two G Class Zeppelins built. The design was an enlargement of LZ 10 Schwaben, lengthened by 7.9 m (26 ft) to accommodate an extra gasbag and fitted with slightly more powerful engines.

Civilian flights

The closed passenger cabin was attached to the hull behind the open control cabin and had room for 24 passengers. From 1912 to 1914 the Hansa was operating mostly from Hamburg and Potsdam, and based in Dresden at the outbreak of the war.^[2] Count Zeppelin commanded the Hansa on the first commercial airship flight from to Denmark and Sweden on 19 September 1912.^[1]

This was the first time a commercial Zeppelin flew outside Germany. Click on the blue globes to see the route taken:^[1]

• 03:55 53°33′N 9°59′E / 53.550°N 9.983°E / 53.550; 9.983 early morning launch from Hamburg, Germany
• 07:15 54°35′N 11°31′E / 54.583°N 11.517°E / 54.583; 11.517 over the Hyllekrog spit on Lolland island
• 07:20 54°34′N 11°56′E / 54.567°N 11.933°E / 54.567; 11.933 over Gedser
• 08:00 54°46.5′N 11°30.5′E / 54.7750°N 11.5083°E / 54.7750; 11.5083 over Maribo
• 08:25 55°0′30″N 11°54′37″E / 55.00833°N 11.91028°E / 55.00833; 11.91028 over Vordingborg
• 08:40 55°15′N 12°08′E / 55.250°N 12.133°E / 55.250; 12.133 over Faxe
• 09:10 55°25′N 12°09′E / 55.417°N 12.150°E / 55.417; 12.150 over Herfølge
• 09:30 55°27′N 12°11′E / 55.450°N 12.183°E / 55.450; 12.183 over Køge
• 10:00 55°39′N 12°18′E / 55.650°N 12.300°E / 55.650; 12.300 over Taastrup
• 10:20 55°41′N 12°34′E / 55.683°N 12.567°E / 55.683; 12.567 landed at Copenhagen, where people wrote postcards to family in Germany
• 11:55 55°35′N 13°2′E / 55.583°N 13.033°E / 55.583; 13.033 launched from Copenhagen and flew over Malmö
• 13:30 54°46′N 11°53′E / 54.767°N 11.883°E / 54.767; 11.883 over Nykøbing Falster
• 15:30 53°52′N 10°41′E / 53.867°N 10.683°E / 53.867; 10.683 over Lübeck
• 16:40 53°33′N 9°59′E / 53.550°N 9.983°E / 53.550; 9.983 landed back in Hamburg

During two years of commercial DELAG service it carried 6,217 passengers on 399 flights, covering 44,437 kilometres.

Military use

• The military added a platform to the top of the hull and installed two machine guns
• Attack missions on France and reconnaissance missions over the Baltic Sea (involved in the taking of Libau)
• From early 1915 used as a training airship, making over 500 flights over Berlin
• Dismantled in August 1916