Naval Airships.--The Rigids Rigid Airship No. 1
The responsibility for the development the Rigid airship having been allotted to the Navy, with this object in view, in the years 1908 and 1909 a design was prepared by Messrs. Vickers Ltd., in conjunction with certain naval officers, for a purely experimental airship which should be as cheap as possible. The ship was to be known as Naval Airship No. 1, and though popularly called the Mayfly, this title was in no way official. In design the following main objects were aimed at:

1. The airship was to be capable of carrying out the duties of an aerial scout.

2. She was to be able to maintain a speed of 40 knots for twenty-four hours, if possible.

3. She was to be so designed that mooring to a mast on the water was to be feasible, to enable her to be independent of her shed except for docking purposes, as in the case with surface vessels.

4. She was to be fitted with wireless telegraphy.

5. Arrangements were to be made for the accommodation of the crew in reasonable comfort.

6. She was to be capable of ascending to a height of not less than 1,500 feet.