Airship L30

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A Zeppelin was a type of rigid airship named after the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's ideas were first formulated in 1874 and developed in detail in 1893. They were patented in Germany in 1895 and in the United States in 1899. After the outstanding success of the Zeppelin design, the word zeppelin came to be commonly used to refer to all rigid airships.

R-class Zeppelins featured four gondolas in a diamond formation, with one engine each. A central compartment held its bomb payload. LZ62, the first of these, was designated L30 by the Imperial German Navy and commissioned on May 30, 1916.

Singleplayer
In Storm of Steel, a German Airship L30 arrives to attack the American 369th Infantry Regiment defending against a German advance. The airship's Becker Type M2 cannon fire knocks the player, a Maxim machine gunner, back and forces him to fight off the surrounding German forces. The airship is later seen being destroyed and crashing in the distance, burning in a spectacular fireball.

The Airship L30 plays a larger role in Friends in High Places, where two German Zeppelins arrive as part of an air raid over the skies of London, England. After Clyde Blackburn and Wilson destroy one of the Zeppelins in their Bristol F2.B, they are shot down by one of the AA guns on the other Zeppelin as Blackburn was trying to taunt the AA gunner, and crash on top of the damaged airship. Blackburn and Wilson traverse through the airship, fighting German crewman along the way. Blackburn kills the gunner that shot him down and takes the AA gun for himself, using it to fight off German aircraft. A third Airship L30 arrives, and Blackburn easily destroys it with the AA cannon. However, it begins to crash into the airship that Blackburn, Wilson and a German soldier who was fist-fighting them were on, forcing the three men to jump.

Multiplayer
The Airship L30 is a Behemoth featured in Battlefield 1, appearing on certain maps. In Conquest, it is automatically spawned for the team that is behind in tickets at a certain point in the round, foghorns sounding its approach.

A captain (seat 1) operates the Zeppelin and can move it around the map with the ability to drop up to three bombs over a target. The captain cannot change the altitude nor repair the vehicle.

Seat 2, 3, and 5 operate Becker Type M2 autocannons which can be used offensively to attack players on the ground. Seats 4 and 6 on top operate an MG 08 to defend against enemy air vehicles. The arrangement is reminiscent of the defense guns used by Titan carriers from Battlefield 2142. Players can freely switch between seats and the top of the airship due to catwalks and hatches linking the gondolas, although there is no animation for doing so.

Players who spawn on the airship have parachutes and can drop into the ground battle at any time—this will happen automatically to those who spawn on an Airship with all passenger slots occupied. Players may exit from the fourth seat to the top of the zeppelin, where they can walk freely.

The airship can absorb a lot of damage, with aircraft weapons and QF 1 AAs generally the only reliable form of attack. However, the mounted machine gun is also capable of damaging the airship although less damaging in comparison to sustained fire. The outer frame is easily targeted, being a huge target seen from across the map, but individual gondolas can also be destroyed. Marksmen can also shoot any of the gunners directly. After the ruins fall to the ground and explodes, a replacement gondola will respawn after a set period of time.

Once the vehicle loses all its health it will slowly burn and crash to the ground, destroying buildings and objects caught in the crash zone. Its skeletal wreckage will remain as an obstacle throughout the rest of the game. Players standing on the unburnt portion of the upper canopy can potentially ride the debris down or parachute to safety.