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This is a British SSZ blimp. In total 77 were made and this is one example the US purchased from Blighty in early 1919. The USN needed a few new ideas, because if you read about the early USN blimps, they weren't very good at all. The engine here is a Rolls-Royce Hawk six cylinder overhead cam, weighing only about 375 pounds and very reliable.
Note hand crank for starting engine located on backside of engine. Electric starting motors first coming into commercial use in the 1912 Cadillac.
At first look, before I enlarged the photo I wondered why someone had stuck a bunch of lawn rakes to the side of the airship.
This blimp may be one of the two SSZ airships (SSZ-23 and SSZ-24) operated by the US Navy. SSZ-24 burned in Coastal Virginia in 1918, and SSZ-23 was in active service until the mid-1920s.
The SSZ's were produced in UK for two years – from 1916 to 1918. A total of 77 SSZs were built. These craft were used mostly to escort convoys and search for German submarines. The SSJ was propelled by a water-cooled Rolls-Royce Hawk engine (75 hp) and had an envelope of 70,000 cu ft capacity.
The first decent parachute wasn't invented until 1919.
Oh well.
I hope the pilot didn't forget to yell those words before engine start.
What a setup. I wonder what kind of stress that motor introduced on those cables.
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