Editing USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) (section)

===Inquiry===
[[File:Navy board investigating Shenandoah disaster, 10-8-25 LCCN2016850604.tif|thumb|United States Navy board investigating the ''Shenandoah'' airship crash]]
The official inquiry brought to light the fact that the fatal flight had been made under protest by Commander Lansdowne (a native of [[Greenville, Ohio]]), who had warned the Navy Department of the violent weather conditions that were common to that area of Ohio in late summer. His pleas for a cancellation of the flight only caused a temporary postponement: his superiors were keen to publicize airship technology and justify the huge cost of the airship to the taxpayers. So, as Lansdowne's widow consistently maintained at the inquiry, publicity rather than prudence won the day.<ref>[http://www.americanheritage.com/content/death-dirigible Death of a Dirigible] www.americanheritage.com</ref> This event was the trigger for [[United States Army|Army]] Colonel [[Billy Mitchell]] to heavily criticize the leadership of both the Army and the Navy, leading directly to [[Billy Mitchell#Court-martial|his court-martial]] for insubordination and the end of his military career. Heinen, according to the ''Daily Telegraph'', placed the mechanical fault for the disaster on the removal of eight of the craft's 18 safety valves, saying that without them he would not have flown on her "for a million dollars".  These valves had been removed in order to better preserve the vessel's helium, which at that time was considered a limited global resource of great rarity and strategic military importance; without these valves, the helium contained in the rising gas bags had expanded too quickly for the bags' valves' design capacity, causing the bags to tear apart the hull as they ruptured (the helium which had been contained in these bags became lost into the upper atmosphere).<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Shenandoah disaster|journal=Flight|date=10 September 1925|page=580|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1925/1925%20-%200580.html}}</ref>

After the disaster, airship hulls were strengthened, control cabins were built into the keels rather than suspended from cables, and engine power was increased. More attention was also paid to weather forecasting.<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/aviation/she.htm Shenandoah Crash Site] www.nps.gov</ref>