The US airships were overly susceptible to bad weather because they were based on a wartime German design in which airworthiness had been sacrificed for altitud

The US airships were overly susceptible to bad weather because they were based on a wartime German design in which airworthiness had been sacrificed for altitude. From here: http://sped2work.tripod.com/zeppelins.html http://sped2work.tripod.com/zeppelins.html "Unknown to the French and American engineers at the time the height climbers were made from thinner gauge material and, except for the machine guns, stripped of armaments and even one engine. They did not realize they were being specially built in response to mounting losses and were super risky to fly, being very much on the edge of sound structural rigidity. The Americans copied the L-49 almost exactly not knowing how close the Germans had pushed the boundaries of minimal structures and a major reason she, the Shenandoah, broke up in bad weather."