C-5 (blimp)

C-5 was a hydrogen-filled C class blimp operated by the U.S. Navy in 1918 and 1919. It was part of a 10-blimp series built by Goodyear and Goodrich and was intended to capitalize upon the navy's experience operating blimps during World War I. The C-5's engines were built by Hispano-Suiza, and its control car was built by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. In early May 1919, the C-5 made a pioneering flight from its home base at Cape May, New Jersey to Montauk Point, New York and St. John's, Newfoundland, becoming the first airship to reach that city and in the process sending the first radio voice transmission from Newfoundland. The C-5's goal was to fly across the Atlantic, paralleling the route used by the U.S. seaplane NC-4. Previous attempts to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon were unsuccessful. The most famous of these attempts was that of the dirigible America in October 1910.

On 14 May 1919, the C-5 departed Montauk Point in clear weather. It made good time, but encountered fog near Saint Pierre Island, Canada and became lost for several hours. It eventually regained its way, but the extended trip caused the crew to exhaust its food supply, and bad weather continuously shook the blimp. The C-5 again became lost, this time over Newfoundland itself, when its radio navigation equipment malfunctioned. The C-5's crew used its voice radio to contact the U.S. Navy cruiser Chicago, which was in St. John's, and the radio signal was used to guide the C-5 to the tracks of the Colonial Railroad, which it followed to St. John's and a safe landing on 11 a.m. 15 May. The commander of the blimp, Lieutenant Commander Coll, said it was the roughest trip he had ever experienced.

Most of the crew was taken away to be fed, while the few remaining men began to overhaul the blimp's engines. In the meantime, a storm sprang up. Additional cables were tied over the blimp in order to secure it, and crewmen from the Chicago were brought in to help. The wind intensified from 30 mph to 40 mph, and the blimp began to break free from its additional cables. The blimp's engines couldn't be restarted because they were under maintenance, so Lieutenant Charles Little attempted to pull the emergency cord to open the blimp's airbag and deflate it. The cord broke, and the blimp began to lift off, tearing a few remaining cables that injured two people as they sprang loose. Little jumped from the rising blimp, spraining his ankle, and the C-5 drifted east, into the Atlantic Ocean.

The destroyer USS Edwards was dispatched to catch the blimp, which flew throughout the afternoon and evening until cooler temperatures caused the blimp's airbag to partially deflate. The C-5 crashed into the Atlantic and was found by a British ship.

On the same day the C-5 broke loose from its moorings, the British government announced plans to send the airship R-34 on a transatlantic flight to Cape May, the C-5's home base. That airship successfully crossed the Atlantic, becoming the first aircraft to navigate that body of water from east to west nonstop.