The USS Akron was a 785-foot U.S. Navy airship, a flying aircraft carrier that could launch and recover fighter planes in midair. On the evening of April 3, 1933, she left Lakehurst, New Jersey with 76 men aboard, including Rear Admiral William Moffett, chief of the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics. She flew into a violent storm, and just after midnight on April 4 she was driven down; her tail struck the sea and she broke apart off the New Jersey coast. The crew had not been issued life jackets. The German ship Phoebus pulled four men from the water; one died aboard. 73 were lost, more than twice the toll of the Hindenburg. The Navy blimp J-3 crashed during the search, killing two more. When her sister ship Macon went down in 1935, life jackets were aboard and 70 of 72 survived.
In memory of the 73 men of the USS Akron and the two crewmen of the blimp J-3, lost April 4, 1933.
Images: public-domain and CC0 archival photographs and engravings (see sources.md). Two short motion clips were animated from real public-domain archival photos. Music: original composition. Sound design: original.
Sources: Wikipedia “USS Akron”, citing Richard K. Smith, The Airships Akron & Macon (1965); Naval History and Heritage Command; Wikipedia “Hindenburg disaster” (36 dead).
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