The next DELAG ship to be built was LZ 8. It had its maiden voyage on March 30, 1911.

For Alfred Colsman, LZ 8 was the second DELAG ship; he only mentioned LZ 6 later and reversed the order. Colsman wrote in his book "Luftschiff voraus!": "When I informed the Count that the second Delag ship was to be placed under Eckener's command, he did not object, but did not agree either. This second ship, an exact copy of the previous one, was unfortunately also named 'Deutschland'. There is a superstition in the navy that a second ship bearing the name of a lost ship is unlucky. This 'Deutschland' was indeed not a lucky ship."

But first the "Deutschland II" was to complete 24 voyages, carrying a total of almost 460 passengers.

Alfred Colsman continues: "The hangar, or rather the place in Düsseldorf where the wind bounced back and forth, was the ship's undoing. After a rudder was injured for the first time when the second 'Deutschland' was brought out of the hangar in Düsseldorf, the ship broke apart soon afterwards on May 16, 1911 on the protective wall erected against crosswinds near the hangar. - The loss of these two ships and that of the military airship Z II near Weilburg had dealt a severe blow to the reputation of airship travel; faith in the future of Zeppelin airships was fading.

In the accident report of May 16, 1911, Eckener wrote of the first strong gust of wind that suddenly arose when the ship was already three-quarters full. At this point, there were around 95 people in the holding crew.

Technical data

The first DELAG airships

Deutschland II

Response to the disaster

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