Sep 3, 2026 - History

Remembering the USS Shenandoah Disaster

Sam Allard

Historical black and white photos of people in a field gathered around the wreckage of a downed rigid airship, with a propeller, metallic frame and exterior tarpaulin visible. — Crowds gathered to scavenge for souvenirs of the wrecked Shenandoah. Photo: Bettman via Getty Images.

One of America's worst early aviation disasters unfolded in the skies over eastern Ohio 101 years ago Thursday.

Why it matters: The disaster came more than a decade before the Hindenburg and exposed weaknesses in America's emerging airship program.

Flashback: On Sept. 3, 1925, the Navy's USS Shenandoah encountered violent wind squalls above Noble County during a publicity tour of the Midwest.

The 680-foot rigid airship — America's first Navy-built dirigible — broke apart in the storm. Its control car plunged to the earth, while sections of the ship drifted for miles and took nearly and hour to land.

By the numbers: Fourteen of the 43 crew members died, including commander Zachary Lansdowne, an Ohio native.

What happened: The Navy strengthened subsequent designs, but its next two major rigid airships, the USS Akron and USS Macon, also crashed.

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, National Guard troops and FBI agents guarded the site, near Caldwell, but gawkers and souvenir hunters flocked to Noble County to carry off pieces of the wreckage.

Flash forward: Monuments and historical markers, and even a mobile museum housed in a trailer, now commemorate the crash around Noble County.

Go deeper: The Crash of the USS Shenandoah

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Remembering the USS Shenandoah Disaster

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