AH-WR-0778

USS Akron

Airship · United States · Lost 1933 · The New Jersey Coast

The Navy's giant airship USS Akron, home-ported at Lakehurst, crashed into the sea off Atlantic City in an April 1933 storm, killing 73 of her 76 crew.

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Documented Likeness. Drawn from surviving builder's plans or clear photographs of this vessel. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

USS Akron was a rigid airship built to serve as a flying aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy, based at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey. On a night flight in April 1933 she was caught in a violent storm off the New Jersey coast and crashed into the Atlantic, killing all but three of the 76 men aboard. The disaster, one of the deadliest in airship history, hastened the end of the Navy's rigid airship program. The wreck was surveyed by the submarine NR-1 in 2003.

Vessel

Built: 1931
Registry: ZRS-4
Builder: Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation
Yard: Akron, Ohio
Material: Not established
Length: 785 ft
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: 200
Propulsion: Eight internal combustion engines driving external propellers
Owners: United States Navy

Loss

Date: April 4, 1933
Cause: Storm
Location: Off the New Jersey coast, east of Atlantic City
Water: Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey → New England (radio calibration exercise)
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: 76
Lives lost: 73
Master: Cmdr. Frank C. McCord

The Wreck Today

Depth: 105 ft
Condition: Collapsed lightweight duralumin framework scattered on the bottom
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 39.36° N 74.42° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Region: The New Jersey Coast

General area only: coordinate of Atlantic City, New Jersey from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named place of loss (off the New Jersey coast, east of Atlantic City) recorded for this vessel, not a surveyed wreck position.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)

The precise coordinates of the wreck are not established in the sources reviewed; its area east of Atlantic City is documented.

Naval History and Heritage Command
Service history, loss circumstances, casualties, and 2003 NR-1 survey.
USGS Geographic Names Information System — Atlantic City
coordinate of the named place of loss