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In the following years until the outbreak of World War I in summer 1914, a total of 21 more Zeppelin airships (LZ5 to LZ 25) were finished. (See List of Zeppelins for a complete reference).
In 1909, LZ6 became the first Zeppelin to be used for commercial passenger transport. For this purpose, it was taken over by the world's first airline, the newly founded Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG). Another six airships were sold to the DELAG by 1914, and were given names in addition to their production numbers. Two such were the LZ11 "Viktoria Luise" ( 1912) and the LZ17 "Sachsen" ( 1913). Four of these ships were destroyed in accidents, mostly while being transferred into their halls. There were no casualties.
Altogether, the DELAG airships traveled approximately 200,000 km, and transported about 40,000 passengers.
The remaining 14 pre-war Zeppelins were purchased by the German Army and Navy, who labeled their aircraft Z I/II/... and L 1/2/..., respectively. (During the war, the Army changed their scheme twice: following Z XII, they switched to using the LZ numbers, later adding 30 to obscure the total production.)
When World War I broke out, the military also took over the three remaining DELAG ships. By this time, it had already decommissioned three other Zeppelins (LZ3 "Z I" included). Five more had been lost in accidents, in two of which people died: a storm pushed Navy Zeppelin LZ14 "L 1" down into the North Sea, drowning 14 soldiers, and LZ18 "L 2" burst into flames following an engine explosion, killing the entire crew.
By 1914, state-of-the-art Zeppelins had lengths of 150-160 m and volumes of 22,000-25,000 m3, enabling them to carry loads of around 9 tonnes. They were typically powered by three Maybach motors of around 200 horsepower (150 kW) each, thus reaching speeds up to about 80 km/h.
Zeppelins were used as bombers during World War I but were not notably successful. At the beginning of the conflict the German command had high hopes for the craft, as they appeared to have compelling advantages over contemporary aircraft - they were almost as fast, carried many more guns, and had a greater bomb load capacity and enormously greater range and endurance, but their great weakness was their vulnerability to gunfire.
The first offensive use of Zeppelins was just two days after the invasion of Belgium. A single craft, the Z VI, was damaged by gunfire and made a forced landing near Cologne. Two more Zeppelins were shot down in August and one was captured by the French. Their use against well-defended targets in daytime raids was a mistake and the High Command lost all confidence in the Zeppelin, leaving it to the Naval Air Service to make any further use of the craft.
The main use of the craft was in reconnaissance over the North Sea and the Baltic, where the admirable endurance of the craft led German warships to a number of Allied vessels. During the entire war around 1,200 scouting flights were made. The Naval Air Service also directed a number of strategic raids against Britain, leading the way in bombing techniques and also forcing the British to bolster their anti-aircraft defences. The first airship raids were approved by the Kaiser in January 1915. The nighttime raids were intended to target only military sites, but after blackouts became widespread, many bombs fell randomly in East Anglia.
The first raid was on January 19, 1915, the first bombing of civilians ever, in which two Zeppelins dropped 50 kg high explosive bombs and ineffective 3 kg incendiaries on King's Lynn, Great Yarmouth and the surrounding villages. In all five people were killed, although the public and media reaction were out of all proportion to the death toll. There were a further nineteen raids in 1915, in which 37 tons of bombs were dropped, killing 181 people and injuring 455. British defences were initially divided between the Royal Navy and the Army at first, before the Army took full control in February 1916, and a variety of sub 4-inch calibre guns were converted to anti-aircraft use. Searchlights were introduced, initially manned by the police, but their inexperience led to a number of illuminated clouds being mistaken for attacking airships. Aerial defences against Zeppelins were haphazard and the lack of an interrupter gear in early aircraft meant that the basic technique of downing them was to drop bombs on them. The first man to bring down a Zeppelin in this way was R. A. J. Warneford of the RNAS, flying a Morane Parasol on June 7, 1915. Dropping six 9 kg bombs, he set fire to LZ 37 over Ghent and as a result won the Victoria Cross.
Raids continued in 1916. London was accidentally bombed in May and in July the Kaiser allowed directed raids against urban centres. There were twenty-three airship raids in 1916 in which 125 tons of ordnance were dropped, killing 293 people and injuring 691. Anti-aircraft defences were becoming tougher and new Zeppelins were introduced which were able to fly at twice the altitude, increasing the operating altitude from 1,800 m to 3,750 m. To avoid searchlights these craft flew above the cloud layer whenever possible, lowering an observer through the clouds to direct the bombing. The improved safety was counteracted by the extra strain on the airship crews and the British introduction in mid-1916 of forward-firing fighters. The first night-fighter victory came on September 2, 1916 when W. Leefe-Robinson shot down one of a sixteen strong raiding force over London. He too won the Victoria Cross. Early in the morning of September 24, 1916 an airborne fighter and anti-aircraft guns caused the L.33 Zeppelin to crash land at Little Wigborough near Colchester, Essex on its first raid, the pilot was Kapitanleutnant Bocker. A close inspection of its wrecked structure enabled the British to understand where their own rigid airship designs had been deficient. Furthermore, one 250hp engine recovered from the crashed L.33 was subsequently substituted for two (of four) 180hp engines on a Vickers-built machine, the hitherto underpowered R.9.
The introduction of effective fighters marked the end of the Zeppelin threat. New Zeppelins came into service that could operate at 5,500 m but exposed them to extremes of cold, and changeable winds could, and did, scatter many Zeppelin raids. In 1917 and 1918 there were only eleven Zeppelin raids against England, and the final raid occurred on August 5, 1918 which resulted in the death of KK Peter Strasser, commander of the German Naval Airship Department.
A total of eighty-eight Zeppelins were built during the war. Over sixty were lost, roughly evenly divided between accident and enemy action. Fifty-one raids had been undertaken, in which 5,806 bombs were dropped, killing 557 people and injuring 1,358. It has been argued that the raids were effective far beyond material damage in diverting and hampering wartime production, and diverting twelve squadrons and over 10,000 men to air defences.
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