Zeppelin Naval Service

The airship arm of the Imperial German Navy, the Marine-Luftschiff-Abteilung, which flew rigid Zeppelins for North Sea reconnaissance and bombing in the First World War. Under Peter Strasser, it scouted ahead of the High Seas Fleet and conducted strategic raids on Britain from 1915. The hydrogen-filled ships proved vulnerable to weather, anti-aircraft fire, and incendiary-armed fighters; losses mounted through 1917 and 1918. Strasser died when L70 was shot down off Norfolk on 5 August 1918, effectively ending the naval Zeppelin offensive.