The 1920’s saw bold innovations in aeronautics. With the Italians, Germans and British all running their own fleets, the Americans began by trying to purchase airships overseas, two examples of which proved disastrous.  Building a new industry, the US Navy built a copy of a Zeppelin and christened her USS Shenendoah, the ZR-1.  The US Army built its own semi-rigid, the RS-1 and the US Navy purchased as war reparations, the LZ-126 USS Los Angeles, and it became the most successful American airship of all.