For a brief moment in history — in the year 1936 — passengers who wanted to cross the Atlantic had an astounding choice: five days of luxury on R.M.S. Queen Mary, the world’s largest ocean liner, or two days of speed on Hindenburg, the world’s fastest transatlantic passenger aircraft.
I recently sat down with maritime historian Brian Hawley to compare Cunard Line’s Queen Mary and Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei’s Hindenburg and discuss the question:
Queen Mary or Hindenburg: Which would you choose?
Speed
Queen Mary: 5 days across the Atlantic (28.5 knots | 53 km/h | 33 mph)
Hindenburg: 2 days across the Atlantic (67.5 knots | 125 km/h | 78 mph)
Queen Mary’s speed was her signature feature but Hindenburg is the clear winner; a passenger traveling round-trip between the United States and Europe on Queen Mary would spend about two weeks just crossing the ocean; a passenger traveling round-trip on Hindenburg would spent just 4-1/2 days in transit.
Log Abstracts from Queen Mary and Hindenburg
Queen Mary had a maximum speed of 32 knots and made international headlines in 1936 when she captured the Blue Riband, awarded to the fastest ocean liner on the Atlantic: When Queen Mary’s captain, Commodore Sir Edgar Britten, was asked if he would try for the speed record, he replied, “What did we build her for?” But even at a cruising speed of 28.5 knots Queen Mary took five days to carry passengers between Europe and America.
While Queen Mary’s speed was measured in days, Hindenburg’s was measured in hours. Hindenburg’s fastest eastbound crossing took just under 43 hours, and even the westbound flight — against the prevailing headwinds — averaged just 65 hours.
Schedule
Queen Mary: Weekly service (in connection with running mates)
Hindenburg: Sporadic service (10 round-trip lyages to North America in 1936)
1936 Transatlantic Schedules
This may have been the biggest competitive difference between ocean liners and Hindenburg.
Queen Mary and her running mates — Berengaria and Aquitania — offered a weekly service: One of the liners left New York and Southampton every Wednesday, twelve months a year. Passengers wanting to travel or send mail across the Atlantic could count on a Cunard ship to do the job every week like clockwork.
Hindenburg was the prototype for a new service and did not have a running mate in 1936 (although several were under construction or on the drawing board). Hindenburg therefore operated a sporadic and irregular schedule, and while it was the fastest way to travel or send mail between Europe and the Americas, it was useful only if the airship’s timetable happened to coincide with a passenger’s needs.
Price
Queen Mary: $93 – $663 (per person, one way)
Hindenburg: $400 (per person, one way)
Hindenburg’s passengers paid a premium to cross the Atlantic twice as fast; while Queen Mary was one of the world’s most expensive ships, a comfortable First Class cabin on Queen Mary could still be booked for significantly less than passage on Hindenburg.
Cabin S10 on Queen Mary’s Sun Deck — a spacious First Class outside cabin with a private bathroom — was available for $295: 25% less than the $400 fare on Hindenburg.
Queen Mary Cabin S10: $295
For the same $400 price as a tiny cabin on Hindenburg, a passenger could book a truly grand suite on Queen Mary, such as M68/70 on Main Deck, which featured a bedroom, separate living room, and private bathroom.
For the same price ($400): Queen Mary’s Suite M68/70 and Hindenburg Cabin
The difference in size between similarly-priced cabins on Queen Mary and Hindenburg was astounding.
Similarly priced cabins on Queen Mary vs Hindenburg
Hindenburg cabin superimposed on similarly-priced Queen Mary cabin
And passengers who wanted Queen Mary’s speed without her First Class luxury could travel in Third Class for just $93, less that a quarter of the fare on Hindenburg.
Cabins
Queen Mary is the clear winner for cabin comfort: Even the ship’s humblest cabins were larger and more comfortable than the railroad-like compartments on Hindenburg.
Queen Mary Cabin | Hindenburg Cabin
First Class passengers on Queen Mary could choose from a variety of cabins — all of which were decorated with rare woods and comfortable furniture — ranging from inside staterooms to some of the largest suites at sea. Queen Mary’s best suites featured multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, a sitting room, a dining room, an entry vestibule, and a baggage closet that was, by itself, larger than a cabin on Hindenburg.
Hindenburg Cabin
Hindenburg’s cabins were tiny, and similar to the overnight sleeping compartments on railway trains of the 1930s. About 36 square feet (approximately 78″³ x 66″³), they had nothing but narrow upper and lower berths with thin mattresses, a wash basin of lightweight plastic with taps for hot and cold running water, a small fold-down desk, and a tiny “closet” covered with a curtain in which a few suits or dresses could be hung. There were no drawers or shelves and most clothes had to be kept in a suitcase stowed under the lower berth. The walls and doors were made of thin lightweight foam covered by fabric that offered no soundproofing and little privacy from neighbors, and the sleeping accommodations available in 1936 were all inside cabins, with no view outside the airship.
Bathrooms
Queen Mary is the clean winner here as well. Literally.
Almost all Queen Mary’s First Class cabins had a private bathroom with a tub or shower, although passengers in a few of the less expensive cabins used a bathroom down the corridor. Queen Mary offered both salt and fresh water bathing options and there was no limit about how much water a passenger could use; passengers could bathe or shower as often as desired.
Shared public toilet on Hindenburg | Private bathroom with tub and shower on Queen Mary
None of Hindenburg’s cabins had private bathroom facilities; toilets for men and women were located one deck below the cabins. Hindenburg did offer passengers a single shower, but it was more of a novelty; because water is so heavy it was in short supply on a lighter-than-air vessel, and the shower could be used for only a few minutes, and it provided a weak stream of water that was “œmore like that from a seltzer bottle” according to one passenger.
Even worse, stewards cleaned Hindenburg’s washrooms only once a day, and even in the words of the Zeppelin airline’s North American representative, F. W. von Meister: “The washrooms do not give the impression of cleanliness, particularly when 72 passengers are being carried.”
Baggage
Queen Mary passengers could bring unlimited baggage, and many people traveled with multiple suitcases and steamer trunks; the Duke and Duchess of Windsor famously travelled with 25 pieces of luggage. Items that passengers did not need during the voyage were carried in the hold free of charge.
Hindenburg passengers were limited to 20 kg (about 40 lbs) carried free aboard the airship, but an additional 100 kg (about 200 lbs) could be shipped on a German steamship such as Bremen or Europa at no extra charge.
Queen Mary Baggage Tag| Hindenburg Baggage Tag
Dress
Queen Mary passengers often changed clothes several times a day; different clothes were appropriate for morning strolls on the deck and afternoon tea in the lounge, and passengers were expected to dress for dinner in the evening; First Class passengers wore black tie every night of a crossing except the first and the last.
Travel on Hindenburg was much less formal, largely because of the very limited space for luggage. Hindenburg passengers rarely changed clothes during the day and did not dress for dinner.
Public Rooms
Queen Mary’s First Class passengers enjoyed thousands of feet of public space spread over eight decks. The luxurious accommodations included a dining room, lounge, library, smoking room, lecture room, music room, children’s playroom, drawing room, two writing rooms, bars, a barber shop, gymnasium, squash court, sauna, and something the lighter-than-air Hindenburg could never have provided: a swimming pool.
Queen Mary’s First Class Swimming Pool
(Colorized & courtesy Michael Davisson, facebook.com/rmsqueenmary)
Hindenburg was itself remarkably spacious for an aircraft, and featured impressive public rooms for passengers to enjoy during their two-day journey across the Atlantic. The airship’s passenger decks included a dining room, a lounge with a specially-built aluminum piano, a writing room, a bar, a smoking room, and two promenades with large windows that opened to the scenery passing below.
Queen Mary Dining Room | Hindenburg Dining Room
Queen Mary Main Lounge | Hindenburg Lounge
Queen Mary Writing Room | Hindenburg Writing Room
Queen Mary Observation Bar | Hindenburg Bar
Queen Mary Corridor | Hindenburg Corridor
Food
Cunard was famous for “Savoir Faire, Service, and Food,” according to travel writer Temple Fielding. A dizzying array of choices was available, from an hors d’oeuvre trolley with a rotating selection to the best quality meats and seafoods. Menus changed daily and featured dozens of choices. Favorites included crown rack of lamb, pressed duck, various preparations of lobster, and tableside service including cherries jubilees, crepes suzette, and other flambé specialities. Queen Mary’s chefs were also famous for trying to accommodate requests for items that were not on the menu. Rattlesnake, anyone?
R.M.S. Queen Mary Menu
Hindenburg’s fare was less elaborate, given the ship’s small galley and severe weight restrictions; menus offered one main course which was usually a traditional German dish.
L.S. Hindenburg Menu
Fellow Passengers
Queen Mary carried about 800 passengers in First Class, 600 in Second Class, and 550 in Third Class.
Hindenburg carried berths for 50 passengers in 1936, increased to 72 in 1937.
For those wanting to get lost in a crowd, Queen Mary was the best way to cross; for those who were willing to mix and mingle with a small group of people in relatively tight quarters, Hindenburg was ideal.
Queen Mary passengers Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Max Schmeling
Queen Mary’s First Class passengers also had the chance to mingle with some of the world’s most celebrated, powerful, and wealthy people. Regular passengers included movie stars like Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Clark Gable, Fred Astaire, Marlene Dietrich, and Noel Coward, along with industrialists, politicians, diplomats, aristocrats, and wealthy socialites.
Hindenburg passengers Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Max Schmeling
Hindenburg passenger lists were more modest; the airship usually carried a mix of businessmen, a few socially prominent individuals, and ocassional members of the Nazi elite. Movie stars and real celebrities were rare, although actor Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and boxer Max Schmeling were on the ship’s August 5, 1936 flight to North America. For the most part there was truth to the comment of fictional Hindenburg passenger Mildred Breslau who thought that ocean liners had “the best society.”
Hindenburg menu and fellow passengers
Politics
It would have been impossible for Hindenburg passengers to forget they were on a German ship during the time of National Socialism; from the giant swastikas on the tail to the portrait of Adolf Hitler in the lounge, passengers had constant reminders of the New Germany. Queen Mary was a much less political experience.
Queen Mary’s Jewish synagogue | Hindenburg’s Lounge with portrait of Adolf Hitler
Views
Crossing the Atlantic by Queen Mary was an indoor activity most of the year. The Atlantic was often grey, stormy, cold, and foggy, and there wasn’t much to see.
Hindenburg’s Promenade Windows
Hindenburg, in contrast, offered spectacular views from the large windows on the airship’s two promenades.
Hindenburg generally cruised just a few hundred feet above the ground and offered breathtaking sights over both land and water. Passengers commented on the cathedrals and castles on land and icebergs and ships on the ocean, and a highlight of North American crossings was the airship’s flight over the skyline of New York City at just a few hundred feet in the air.
Even at night the views were amazing; passenger Louis Lochner described Stuttgart in the dark: “We were simply overwhelmed by the beauty of the picture unfolded beneath us. Myriads of electric lights burning in this busy Württemberg capital gave an almost unreal picture. We could discern the main streets by their greater profusion of lights, and we realized that Stuttgart has a great white way with red and blue and green and white lights. We could almost pick out for ourselves where the movie houses must be, where the former royal palace was placed, where the airdrome was located. It was one of those sights that one cannot describe in words.”
Re-creation at Zeppelin-Museum Zeppelinheim (© Zeppelin-Museum Zeppelinheim)
Even the sky itself was a new and fascinating experience for passengers: “A carpet of white, fleecy clouds was spread out beneath us, looking at times like an immense stretch of glaciers, then again like a magnified collection of fluffy woolen tufts,” as Lochner wrote.
Five days staring at the ocean from the decks of Queen Mary could hardly compare.
Smoking
Almost every adult smoked in the 1930s and passengers could smoke virtually anywhere on Queen Mary.
While the First Class smoking room was an especially elegant place for a man to enjoy a cigar, pipe, or cigarette, passengers were free to smoke in their cabins, in the dining room, and almost everywhere else. One thing we tend to forget when looking at photos of the ship’s elegantly-dressed passengers is that they all smelled very much like an ashtray, but people of the 1930s would have experienced the same thing anywhere else, from office buildings to railroad trains.
Queen Mary Smoking Room | Hindenburg Smoking Room
Because Hindenburg was inflated with highly-flammable hydrogen, smoking was strictly limited, and passengers were required to hand all matches and lighters to a steward before being allowed to board. But Hindenburg’s designers knew that a smoke-free airship was not likely to appeal to the nicotine-addicted travelers of the day and came up with an ingenious way to allow passengers to satisfy their cravings without destroying the airship; a pressurized smoking room entered through an airlock. The air pressure in the smoking room was kept higher than ambient pressure, so that no leaking hydrogen could enter the room, and a steward carefully monitored the door to make sure that no passenger left with a lighted cigarette, cigar, or pipe.
Hindenburg Smoking Room
Keeping in Touch
Queen Mary’s First Class passengers could pick up the telephone in their cabin and make a phone call to any number in the world through the ship’s advanced radio room and telephone switchboard.
Being at sea for five days did not mean being out of touch, and every cabin telephone informed passengers: “You can telephone to any part of the world whilst at sea.”
Queen Mary radio room, telephone exchange, and cabin telephone
Hindenburg’s passengers were limited to communicating by telegram, but of course they were only in the air for a little more than two days.
Hindenburg radio room and telegram
Safety
This may seem an obvious tie-breaker, but only in hindsight. By 1936 German passenger zeppelins had carried tens of thousands of passengers over millions of miles without a single passenger fatality, while the Titanic disaster, just 24 years earlier, was still fresh in people’s minds.
German airships had begun carrying passengers in 1910 and had never lost a passenger. The world’s first airline was the Zeppelin company DELAG; the world’s first flight attendant worked on a German passenger airship; and in addition to safely carrying passengers around the world in 1929, the airship Graf Zeppelin began passenger service between Germany and South America in 1932, departing Germany for Brazil almost every other Saturday. Graf Zeppelin crossed the South Atlantic 136 times and provided the first regularly-scheduled intercontinental airline service in the world, and did it without a single passenger injury.
Ocean liners could not boast a similar safety record. There were numerous passenger ship tragedies between 1910, when the first zeppelin began carrying passengers, and 1936, including: Yongala (1911; 122 deaths), Titanic (1912; 1517 deaths), Koombana (1912; 150 deaths), Volturno (1913; approx 136 deaths), Empress of Ireland (1914; 1,012 deaths), Eastland (1915; 845 deaths), Afrique (1920; 568 deaths), Principessa Mafalda (1927; 314 deaths), Vestris (1928; approx. 111 deaths), Morro Castle (1934; 137 deaths).
Even great ocean liners were not exempt from accidents; R.M.S. Olympic collided with other ships twice between 1910 and 1936, and Queen Mary herself once collided with another ship.
Hindenburg, in contrast, made 62 safe, accident-free flights before the disaster at Lakehurst in 1937. Many of the world’s most knowledgeable aviation experts had no hesitation about flying on Hindenburg, including Juan Trippe of Pan American Airways, flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker of Eastern Airlines, Jack Frye of TWA, and Eugene Vidal, Director of Aeronautics of the U.S. Department of Commerce and a close personal friend of Amelia Earhart.
While safety seems like a deciding factor in hindsight, it was not obvious at the time.
Seasickness
If anything could “break the tie” between Queen Mary and Hindenburg it was probably this.
As Mark Twain famously described seasickness, “at first you are so sick you are afraid you will die, and then you are so sick you are afraid you won’t.” Even on ships the size of Queen Mary, seasickness was a fact of life; ships of the 1930s lacked stabilizers, and despite her 80,000 tons Queen Mary was known to “roll the milk out of tea.” Seasickness was something that just had to be endured to cross the ocean: Many people dreaded crossing the Atlantic and some refused to do so for any reason.
Freedom from seasickness was Hindenburg’s secret weapon. As one passenger noted, “The real glory of Zeppelin travel”¦is its freedom from seasickness. It is the smoothest form of motion I have ever known, just a continuous floating, with no rolling, no dipping, and almost no change of levels.”
No passenger ever reported getting seasick on Hindenburg, and if airship travel had developed as planned, this might have proved an unbeatable competitive advantage.
A Choice Between Luxury and Speed. Or was it?
People often think of Queen Mary as providing her passengers with luxury. And she did. In a way.
But Queen Mary’s luxurious surroundings were only to distract passengers from an experience that was inherently time-consuming and often unpleasant; two weeks away from business and family with a dose of seasickness thrown in for good measure. Most passengers of the 1930s viewed Queen Mary simply as a way to get to their destination, and the luxurious surroundings simply made a long and uncomfortable journey a little more palatable. In fact, most first class passengers lived more luxuriously at home than on Queen Mary.
Hindenburg was not “luxurious,” either, when compared to the private homes and hotels familiar to its passengers, but the airship crossed the Atlantic in half the time of Queen Mary. If a large fleet of airships had been built as planned, offering frequent service across the Atlantic on a weekly or daily basis, the airship would have given the ocean liner a run for its money, just as the fixed-wing airliner did in the 1950s.
But still, from a modern point of view, who wouldn’t want to spend five days as a First Class passenger on Queen Mary?
So”¦ Queen Mary or Hindenburg? Which would you choose?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Brian Hawley of LuxuryLinerRow for his collaboration on this post. Brian is an ocean liner researcher, author, and collector who takes frequent crossings and cruises and often lectures about ocean liner history at sea. In addition to his deep knowledge of R.M.S. Queen Mary, Brian also has a passion for R.M.S. Olympic and published a book about that ship. Brian’s other favorite ship is Cunard’s Caronia of 1949, about which he co-authored a book with well-known maritime writer and our mutual friend Bill Miller. Working with Brian on this project was a pleasure.
If I had a choice I would clearly vote for the Hindenburg. In all its glory the Queen Mary as well as any ship only move in two dimensions. In contrast the Hindenburg moves in three. It floats in the air like a whale in the sea. This is the true fascination of air ship travel
I would have loved to have flown in a zeppelin to South America, or to Chicago for the 1933 World’s Fair (my grandmother in upstate New York said it flew almost directly over her town). But, no trip, no time machine — I’m out of luck, and gas! TP
An interesting article, but you missed several points for consideration.
‘Queen Mary’ was the first ship to cross the Atlantic in under four days, when she claimed the ‘Blue Riband’ from her French rival ‘Normandie’ in 1938 (a record she would hold for the next fourteen years). Whilst the ‘Hindenburg’ was clearly faster, liners like ‘Queen Mary’ (& predecessors like ‘Mauretania’; ‘Aquitania’; ‘Olympic’ and ‘Majestic’) were beloved ‘ships of state’. There was already a ‘cache’ about passenger liners (their image appeared on everything from cigarette cards to biscuit tins), in terms of their size, speed and luxury accommodation, which never emerged for the airships. Whether it would have done in time, had the disaster at Lakehurst not occurred, is debatable. In the minds of many in Belgium; France and Great Britain (even before the rise of National Socialism), airships were still the detested ‘Zeppelins’ which had bombed and killed civilians during WW1.
On the mention of war, the use (in times of conflict) of either vehicle is also relevant. Liners had proved useful as merchant raiders; hospital ships and troop transports during WW1, and this was repeated in WW2. In July 1943, Queen Mary carried 15,740 soldiers and 943 crew (total 16,683), a standing record for the most people ever transported on one vessel. In fact, Winston Churchill credited the efforts of the ‘Queen Mary’ (& her sister the ‘Queen Elizabeth’ with reducing the duration of WW2 by a whole year. In contrast, whatever advantages the airship had had in WW1, no longer existed due to advances in aircraft design. The remaining airships (Graf Zeppelin and Graf Zeppelin II) were scrapped in March 1940.
An issue related to speed is punctuality, as customers want to know that a service will depart and arrive on time. There is no doubt that the weather could delay travel by air and sea. Fog delayed the arrival of the ‘Queen Mary’ in New York on her maiden voyage in 1936, just as a thunderstorm delayed the ‘Hindenburg’ in 1937. However, it appears that air travel was more affected. During the 1936 season, ‘Hindenburg’s’ ten westward trips took 53 to 78 hours and eastward trips took 43 to 61 hours, meaning she arrived up to a day late (adding 50% to some journey times). No doubt there were times when the ‘Queen Mary’ was delayed, but I’m not aware she ever docked more than half a day behind schedule.
With regard to ‘The Views’, just like the ‘Hindenburg’, the ‘Queen Mary’ could offer spectacular views. Not only from behind the large windows of the promenade deck but also from the boat deck above and sun deck above that. In addition, I believe the airship only offered views to either side, whereas the ‘Queen Mary’ also offered her passengers views fore and aft via her tiered decks and glassed in observation lounges. The Atlantic ‘was often grey, stormy, cold, and foggy’ and this applied to both forms of travel. An empty ocean, with waves rolling beneath an empty grey sky, is equally boring, regardless of whether it is viewed from the deck of a liner or an airship.
Finally, regarding reference — there is no contest. I’d choose travelling on the ‘Queen Mary’ every time.
I love to time-travel, when I am drifting off in bed, or onboard jet aircraft. I have Diamond Medallion Status on Delta and get a ton of perks, including almost-guaranteed upgrades, so I get snuggly front-cabin seating. I have “flown” on the Hindenburg, “taken” many transoceanic trips on White Star, Cunard, the German lines, United States Lines, with memory images and facts from my lifelong fascination. I add an imaginary trip, San Francisco to Manila on the Pan American clipper. I am a foodie, too, so perusing First Class menus has long fascinated me. The Clippers had simple menus of the time, including “Creamed Tuna on Toast”. The meals at the Pan Am island hotels weren’t lavish, either, as everything had to be flown or sent by ship. My fantasy trip includes a visit to the 1939 San Francisco Worlds’ Fair on Treasure Island, the site of the Pan Am Terminal. I have spent time at the La Guardia Terminal 1, the relic from the glory days, where the Clippers took off for Europe and South America. I am delighted with this website and will visit from time to time.
Oh my gosh, I do the SAME thing!
My two great loves… at least we can still visit the Queen Mary and stay on her, I plan to do so on Thanksgiving for the royal brunch in the first class dining room… [sigh] what I would do to fly on an airship though. I have only this year discovered how real airships were but I have always fantasized about a ship that flies through the sky. I originally got the idea from video games (almost ALL have at least one) and fantasy but I thought they were exactly that, fantasy. Now that I know they have a long (almost 100 years) relatively successful history before the airplane even existed in any feasible manner I find it an injustice that just bad PR for hydrogen put an end to it when all forms of mass travel were dangerous back then. I have always considered myself a Ship Geek though and, thinking of how people have always anthropomorphized ships and thought of them as having personalities, I think the Queen Mary appreciates how people have tried to restore her and still enjoy her… I wonder how Hindenburg would feel if she still existed in a similar situation. Airships are definitely a great dream that humanity woke up from, I don’t think they ever had to and I wish the dream can continue and be realized someday.
http://www.searlecanada.org/volturno/volturno01.html#jan has an authoritative site on the Volturno fire. It states 134 deaths, but has a contemporary 1913 Newspaper clipping that says 136 deaths. According to the first website, this website:http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~daamen1/volturno/ is the most authoritarian Volturno fire website.
@Alan Briggs, Thanks! I will add a hyperlink in the article. Much appreciated!
The 1913 Volturno ship fire had 136 dead, and not 540 dead, as reported here.
@Alan Briggs, Thanks for the comment! I have amended the text, but could you send me an authoritative citation for my records? It would be much appreciated!
(Obviously, Wikipedia does not count. 🙂 )
It would also be interesting to compare the comfort of the Hindenburg vs the Pan Am Clipper flying boats that by 1939 were going to be the wave of the future.I think that the Hindenburg was probably much more comfortable then them as you would have much for space to walk around in and still not have airsickness.The Queen Mary had a clientele of passengers who preferred its comfort and you would have had a clientele who preferred the Hindenburg and those who would have preferred the flying boats.Personally I would have preferred the Hindenburg or the Graf Zeppelin 2.
Thanks for this article Dan. Some thoughts:
1. The comparison of cabins is not entirely fair as one reader contrasted the two ships as being totally different. The LZ129 was more comparable to a train than a ship. Trains of that era were a very effective and widely used means of cross country transportation. The airship took the train cabin, and simply put it in the air with less noise, vibration and far greater range than a train could achieve before having to replenish coal, boiler water, fresh water and food.
2. The designers of the Hindenburg had to work with very tight margins of weight to achieve what is a very nice, clean and pleasant aesthetic inside the passenger accommodations. The overall look of the accommodations on the Hindenburg were commensurate with the look of modernism in the Bauhaus movement which was alive back then. Contrast that with the heavy Art Deco ornamentation of the Queen Mary’s accommodations. Granted, the ship can carry tons of material easily so liberal use of all sorts of heavy materials like wood, stone and tile could be employed only to the limits of good decor and sound design tastes. The R-101 interior sported fluted columns in the Lounge as decorative elements in the classic style of architecture common in upper crust establishments of that era. They looked odd with the plated floor and wicker furniture but that was all given a side nod to the novelty of flying in the air which was then very much a novelty. The designers of the R-100 made the ship interiors look like that of a cruise liner, even sporting round portholes from the sleeping cabins into the observation deck, which sported cruise ship styled folding beach chairs.
The entire genre of the airship was really more a morphing of the realities of engineering with train accommodations (another faster way of travel). Comparing the Hindenburg to a cruise liner is fair in it’s initial attempt, but the airship is more like the train was then in many respects as well.
Let’s talk the future.
The thin fabric covered foam walls of the Hindenburg could be honeycomb aluminum foil and resin composite panels which are structural, lightweight and strong enough to used as partitions. They are also far more soundproof than foam panels.
Propulsion systems are more efficient and powerful than the Daimler diesels of that time. Water condensation collection systems would be a must however, something the Hindenburg didn’t have to factor with. Use of a gaseous fuel might be the answer if stored properly in compressed cylinders. Gaseous fuels lack the BTU’s of liquid fuels and if in a short range solution offer a viable solution to the ageless issue of static equilibrium.
Water use is still an issue but plumbing fixtures and other weight saving gains could see a private shower in a bathroom in each cabin much like what you see in a RV camper or a train cabin bathroom. No airliner today can boast that. If on a short run with daily stops for shore excursions, water use can be more liberal knowing only a 24 hours supply is needed. For longer runs, there may be the need of rationing.
The Hindenburg fare was the best German cooks could offer and they did extremely well with what they had. Food is not a major factor in the overall weight of the ship and galley equipment is a static loading issue. There’s every possibility that a new airship can have almost equivalent culinary service as that of a cruise ship, but on a smaller scale to accommodate a smaller number of passengers.
The notion of traveling somewhere unique and off the beaten path is solely the realm of the airship. As we are now getting so used to the typical island hopping treadmill of cruising, the airship offers adventures to anywhere there’s a open field to land, and a place to see where cruise liners cannot access due to their size. Add to the fact that the airship can take the cabin, the dining and comfort inland to where the sights are versus a third party on a small boat or bus taking you on an excursion which is usually added cost over the cost of the cruise.
Airships indeed are possible again in the alternate travel experience for folks tired of the typical vacation. Look at Amtrak’s overnight sales – they are often booked months in advance for cabins costing more than first class on most airlines in cabins that are a far cry from the trains of the 1930’s and 40’s. There is a opportunity here!
Thanks again Dan for this forum. All the best!
An interesting side note to the QM vs. the LZ129: The SS United States offered a solution between the airship and the ocean liner with a fast ocean liner. She averaged 30 knots but made a crossing of the Northern Atlantic in 3 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes. Compare that to the Hindenburg’s 2 days and the QM’s 5 days. The United States also was a destination for the celebrities who enjoyed this new fast liner as a means to cross the Atlantic in comfort and luxury.
The United States did not solve the sea sickness issue as she was also narrow-beamed like the QM was (both lovely hulled vessels compared to the floating Clorox bottles of today). She was in service for 17 years until the late 60’s when the entire ocean liner industry saw a major loss in public interest over the evolving and far more comfortable jetliner. It would be a fair analogy to compare the SS United States as the Concorde of her time (in relation to other cruise ships) as the Hindenburg was to air travel in general. Now cruise ships are basically floating shopping malls and theme parks. Their popularity and boutique offshoots (like Viking River Cruises) will ensure the cruising industry a good future. This is where the airship in my opinion would exist – as an adjunct to the cruising experience.
Airships acting like cruise ships visiting destinations, offering excursions to far off places, and going where cruise ships can’t is the answer. With the airship’s ability to loiter over interesting places and offer spectacular views is feasible when used in a short hop overnight arrangement where the water and other consumables can be replenished on a daily basis while offering grand service to the passengers. Cruise ships will often dock during the day for shore excursions, and then sail at night to make the next port of call. Airships can achieve the same plus offer a fantastic view. The replenishment time would be shorter with an airship allowing for overnight and partial daytime flights.
Great article Dan and many thanks for your exhaustive and interesting research.
SS United States was about 3-4 knots faster than Queen Mary. This was huge speed margin amongst the liners (usually Blue Riband records were only broken by fractions of a knot) but it meant less than 10 hours difference in crossing times.
Blue Riband times are measured “from lighthouse to lighthouse” and do not include arrival to harbour, docking etc. Hindenburg flights began from Frankfurt, making them about 1000km longer than Blue Riband runs.