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Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
- Eighty years ago, the U.S. Navy's last great airship crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared. The USS Macon 's location was lost until researchers discovered its remains 1,500 feet below the surface of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 1990.
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The archeological remains of the USS Macon lie off California's Big Sur coast in NOAA's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The site also contains the remains of four of the airship's squadron of small Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk scout aircraft which the Macon carried in an internal hangar bay.
- 21 April 1933
- 31 October 1929 (Commenced), 8 August 1931 (Launched)
- 23 June 1933 (Commissioned)
Eighty years ago, the U.S. Navy's last great airship crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared. The USS Macon 's location was lost until researchers discovered its remains 1,500 feet below the surface of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 1990.
Aug 19, 2015 · The sinking of USS Macon (ZRS-5), a lighter-than-air rigid airship, resulted in few deaths but its loss ended the Navy’s quest to use airships as long-range scouts for the fleet.
- 6 min
She was kept aloft by 6.5 million cubic feet of helium. Her eight Maybach engines, which drove three-bladed metal propellers, gave her a cruising speed of 55 knots and a range of about 6,000 miles. Her maximum speed was 75. An airship, she was the USS Macon (ZRS-5).
The final resting place of the Macon stayed hidden for more than 55 years, until researchers discovered its remains nearly 1,500 feet below the surface of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 1990.
The exact location of the submerged remains of the USS Macon remained a mystery for nearly fifty years until a commercial fisherman snagged a piece of girder from the Macon in his net.
A sudden wind shear hit the USS Macon. The rigid airship was returning from an exercise off the coast of California, carrying a fleet of F9C-2 Sparrowhawk fighters on trapezes inside its...
