Zeppelin LZ 121 Nordstern

The LZ 121 was a civilian airship from the Weimar Republic, a Y-Class zeppelin with a total length of 130.8 m. It received the nickname Nordstern while in German service, before it was given to France as part of the war reparations on 13 June 1921.

Construction
The LZ 121 was built by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin in Friedrichshafen, Germany after the First World War as a sister ship of LZ 120. It was built to transport passengers on regular flights from Friedrichshafen to Berlin and Stockholm. The ship was completed as a Y-Class zeppelin in January 1920 and had a total length of 130.8 m. It had a diameter of 18.7 m and a 22,500 m³ gas volume contained in 13 gas cells. The ship could reach a top speed of 130 km/h, with four Maybach Mb IVa, 245 hp 6-cylinder inline engines driving three propellers. The ship had accommodations for 16 crew members and 20 passengers in the four gondolas.

War Reparations
The LZ 120 and LZ 121 were not allowed to enter service as the Allies had forbidden Germany to make any more zeppelins at the end of 1919. The German government had hoped that it was only a temporary measure, so a conference was held address the issue. The conference was held in July 1920 in Spa and, by order of the Commission Chairman General E. A. Masterman which was written on 9 August 1920, commanded that the two airships be given to France and Italy as war reparations. After that, the two ships were confiscated under protest by the German government. LZ 121 was awarded to France, who in May 1921 had constructed an airship hangar for the zeppelin in Saint-Cyr-l'École at Versailles.

LZ 121 set out for its maiden voyage to France on 13 June 1921 at 11:30am. About 10,000 people went to Friedrichshafen in order to get a last glimpse of the airship before it departed on German soil. It reached Saint-Cyr-l'École by the evening of the same day.

Career in France
LZ 121 was put under the command of the French airline Société anonyme de navigation aérienne (Sana), where it was renamed Méditerranée and operated as a Zeppelin air transport between southern France and Algeria.

Military career
In April 1922 the Méditerranée was handed over to the French Navy and based at Cuers-Pierrefou at Toulon. The airship was used for training and also had new gas cells installed, with the work finished in 1923.

In 1923, the Méditerranée participated in French naval maneuvers in the Mediterranean. In December 1923 the airship was be limited to short-range flights, before being decommissioned in August 1926. The ship was disassembled in August 1926. In September 1926 the skeleton of LZ 121 was tested under increasing load until destruction.