K-Ships Across the Atlantic

During World War II, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company manufactured approximately 130 non-rigid airships, designated as ZPNK-class blimps, for the U.S. Navy. These "K-ships" were used primarily for convoy escorts, antisubmarine warfare (ASW), rescue missions, and mine spotting operations. Prior to the use of significant blimp escorts in 1942, about 63 merchant ships were sunk by German U-boats off the east coast of the United States. As the Navy acquired more blimps and convoy escorts increased, that number decreased to just three in 1943, none in 1944, and two in 1945. It is estimated that only one of approximately 89,000 ships in blimp-escorted convoys was lost by enemy action. These now largely forgotten naval aircraft helped win the war in the Atlantic, and their achievements are an important part of the story of the first century of Naval Aviation. Because of their impressive escort record, new navigation and U-boat detection technologies, and suitability for patrolling in fog or darkness, in 1944 the Navy decided to send a squadron of six K-ships to North Africa for ASW operations around the Strait of Gibraltar. Although several-rigid airships had crossed the ocean since 1919, by 1944 no non-rigid airship had ever attempted such a flight. Sending an entire squadron across the ocean was risky; the decision to do so demonstrates how important ASW was to the Allies during the war.