COST OF A ZFPPELIN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1629, 26 October 1916, Page 2

COST OF A ZFPPELIN.

OWING to liu> strict secrecy observed in :iII matters pertaining lo airship eonslnielion, it is difficult 10 esliiniile (lie ;ietii:il loss lo Gerniiiny involved by !he* destruction of 11 millin'*’ Zeppelin. Discussing Ibis question in nn article in I lie Edinburgh Keview, Lord Montagu, of Beaulieu, remarks Unit I lie public nre apt to overestimate tin* monetary loss sustained by Germany. “A Zeppelin of the newest type,” lie writes, “does not cost more than £.125,000, or a good deal less than the cost ol‘ a first-das* deslrover. The number id' men lost, even it' they all perish, is infinitesimal compared with the loss ot those who may perish in a cruiser, or even in a destroyer. Even it the Germans have lost since the beginning ot the war 20 such slops the total loss in money would not be more than i‘2.500,000, {hough (he trained men lost count for much more in the balancesheet ot war. Germany, moreover, is (timing' out those airships somewhere about the rale ot three a, month, and is making preparations to increase this output. Probably she has well over 1(1 now available for naval and bombing purposes,”