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Friday 9 September 2011

Dutch hydrogen for British navy airship HMA 1 in 1911

In the Dutch magazine De Prins dated February 1911 page 36 was a photo published of a seaship which was loaded with 1500 cylinders filled with totally 20.000 cubic metres of hydrogen produced by the NV Electro zuur- en waterstoffabriek at the IJ and Merwedechannel in the Netherlands. Each cylinder contained 14 M3. The hydrogen was especiallt produced for airhsips, the destination of this cargo however was unknown.


The local Dutch newspaper Middelburgsche Courant dated 12 May 1911 supplied unexpectedly some details. A news item that day referred to the complaints of British newspapers that the needed hydrogen for the large navy airship was delivered by a Dutch company.(1) Lord Charles Beresford asked in the Common House for an explanation. The British minister of navy McKenna answered that the builder of the airship had no restrictions dealing with the supplier and that the gas just partly was delivered by a Dutch company and partly by British. The Dutch newspaper Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad daily edition dated 6 May 1911 confirmed that the hydrogen was delivered by an Amsterdam company while a trial was for some time delayed lacking enough gas. This lacking was caused when a so-called hermetically compartment sprung and the gas disappeared in the open air.

Note
1. See also on this weblog the note “The British navy airship/zeppelin HMA 1 Mayfly or nicknamed Won’t Fly 1908-1911”.