At the beginning of the year 1914 France relied upon being
strengthened by a round dozen new dirigibles. Seven of these
were to be of 20,000 cubic metres' capacity and possessed of a
speed of 47 miles per hour. While the existing fleet was
numerically strong, this strength was more apparent than real,
for the simple reason that a large number of craft were in
dry-dock undergoing repair or overhaul while many of the units
were merely under test and could not be regarded therefore as in
the effective fleet. True, there were a certain number of
private craft which were liable to be commandeered when the
occasion arose, but they could not be considered as decided
acquisitions for the simple reason that many were purely
experimental units.
Aerial vessels, like their consorts upon the water, have been
divided into distinctive classes. Thus there are the aerial
cruisers comprising vessels exceeding 282,000 cubic feet in
capacity; scouts which include those varying between 176,600 and
282,000 cubic feet capacity; and vedettes, which take in all the
small or mosquito craft. At the end of 1913, France possessed
only four of the first-named craft in actual commission and thus
immediately available for war, these being the Adjutant Vincenot,
Adjutant Reau, Dupuy de Lome, and the Transaerien.
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