L 4

Overview

L 4 (factory number LZ 27) was an M-class Zeppelin constructed by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin in Friedrichshafen for the Imperial German Navy. It made its maiden flight on 18 August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I. Operating from its base in Fuhlsbüttel, L 4—alongside L 3 (LZ 24)—carried out the first air raid on England during the war, bombing coastal towns in Norfolk on 19 January 1915. On 17 February 1915, during a reconnaissance mission over the North Sea, L 4 encountered a snowstorm from the south and was forced to make an emergency landing in neutral Denmark. Eleven crew members escaped at Børsmose Beach, but the airship ascended again with four mechanics still aboard and subsequently vanished over the sea. All four were presumed drowned, marking the first fatalities in the Imperial German Navy's airship division.