Having seen postings about US airships on the "NavWarGames" forum on the Internet, I remembered something I had read years before in a copy of National Geographic. The article in question was one written about the discovery of the remains of the USS Macon, a rigid airship lost of the Californian coast. The Macon which was the sister ship of the USS Akron, (named after the location of the constructors - Goodyear-Zeppelin of Akron Ohio) were "rigid" airships as their means of lift was a metal "cigar", which was compartmentalised and filled with gas. Non-rigid airships or Blimps differ in having a bag filled with gas as their means of lift, and they are much smaller due to the need to keep the bag of gas from flexing.
After WW1, Zeppelin technology had been much sought after by the allies in fact examples of the German airships had to be delivered to Britain and the USA after the armistice. Now armed with this technology, including the ability to manufacture "duraluminium" (a light metal invented by Germany in WW1) both countries began experimenting with their own designs. Britain, which had already built rigid airships during the Great War even built the R-38 for the US, but after its crash in 1921, which killed forty-four people, lost interest in pursuing the rigid airship program. The US continued the development of rigid airships, perhaps as it had a major advantage - helium, which although had much less lift than hydrogen, did not have its nasty habit of exploding!
The US Navy was left responsible for the development of American airships after the Army's project was amalgamated with its own to save money. To support the program, airship bases were built at Lakehurst, New Jersey and Sunnyvale, California and airships were built and procured. One of the US' first airships was the Shenandoah, the gondola of which was a copy of the one recovered from a wrecked German Zeppelin, the L49. The Akron and the Macon, which followed up this ship, all ended their service careers as air disasters, the only US airship which ended its days safely was the USS Los Angeles. The Shenandoah was wrecked in storms above Ohio in 1925, with 14 of its 43 crew dying; the Akron was lost in a storm over the Atlantic on April 4th 1933, with only 3 of its crew of 76 surviving.
The USS Macon was built in 1933, and made its maiden
flight just three weeks after the loss of the Akron, under the command of
Comdr Alger H. Dressel. Lt. Comdr Herbert V. Wiley (the Akron's EO and one
of its 3 survivors) succeeded Dressel soon afterwards. Under Wiley the Macon
was used to seek out the vacationing President Roosevelt, who was headed
for Hawaii on the cruiser USS Houston, because Wiley wanted to prove the
airships scouting potential. In order to scout more effectively, and for
some measure of self- defence the Macon carried four F-9C Sparrowhawk biplanes.
These were stored in a hangar in the airship's belly, and were launched
by being dropped from a crane once the aircraft were powered up. Recovery
of aircraft was a very difficult task, as the pilots needed to fly their
planes so that a loop on the top wing of the aircraft snagged on the hook
of the crane (see image at end of article). In addition to the crane the
Macon possessed a similar device (the "perch") which allowed a
second plane to "land" while waiting for another plane to be brought
inside. In times of war four mountings were fixed to the bottom of the airship,
allowing the Sparrowhawks to be permanently ready for launch. The dangerous
"landing" procedure earned the pilots of the Macon's air wing
the name of "Trapeze artists", and hence their badge (below).
Originally the F-9Cs were equipped with an under carriage, but eventually
on over water operations this was replaced by an extra fuel tank. 
On the 12th February 1935, the Macon was destroyed while
returning to Moffett Field near San Francisco (See Map). A freak gust of
wind caused the supporting ring of one of Macon's tail fins to collapse,
thus puncturing 3 helium cells. Without control the airship plunged nose
first into clouds, venting water ballast and fuel in an attempt to regain
level flight but with out success (normally, to aid the alteration of trim,
crew would run from end to end of the airship to provide a mobile form of
ballast). However the pressure release valves, which operated automatically
above 2 800 ft began venting helium, causing the Macon to plunge in to the
sea, where the airship remained floating for 40 minutes. Of the 83 man crew,
only two were killed, one a radio operator who jumped from the falling craft,
and the other a mess steward who became trapped inside and was eventually
drowned, the remainder were picked up by nearby cruisers. 
Since the ultimate intended use of the Macon
was as an airborne lookout over the Hawaiian bases, an interesting "what
if" game can be created assuming that she was not destroyed, and continued
to see service into WW2. The outcome of the attack on Pearl harbour could
have been quite different if the Macon had seen the Japanese approach, and
therefore warned the defences. Alternatively, what if the Akron had also
survived into WW2, it would have made an interesting ASW weapon, using the
F-9Cs to attack U-boats. In order to wargame these scenarios, I have prepared
some stats and rules for Macon/Akron for use with General Quarters. 