Fire Nation airship

The Fire Nation Airship is a massive aerial warship designed and manufactured by the Fire Nation.

History
Until the summer of ASC 100, the Fire Nation did not have an air force, but it had blackmailed the Mechanist, an Earth Kingdom inventor, to manufacture weapons for its military. Among these weapons was the War Balloon. When the Fire Nation attempted to attack the Northern Air Temple, Aang and his friends were able to drive them off, though the war balloon was lost in the process. Unfortunately, War Minister Qin, the overseer of the Fire Nation's weapons development, captured it and proclaimed, "This defeat is the gateway to many victories." He adapted the technology to produce both more war balloons, as well as seventeen massive airships.

On the Day of Black Sun, after the Invasion failed, the Fire Nation released five of these zeppelin-like aircrafts, alongside several war balloons, to bomb the invaders. Fortunately, the entire force survived thanks to the use of their native elements, but they were trapped when the airships destroyed the submaries the ragtag army had used to infiltrate the Fire Nation Capital. Aang and the other youngsters of the group fled on Appa and were forced to leave the adults behind. The small group escaped just as Princess Azula's airship tailed them. She chose not to follow them since Appa was too fast, but she was certain that they would be back.

After learning of Zuko's imprisonment in the Boiling Rock, Azula, Ty Lee and Mai went to the prison in one of these airships. After Sokka and Zuko managed to escape with Suki, Hakoda and Chit Sang, they took control over the airship and used it to return to the Western Air Temple.

These airships appeared again when Azula led a fleet of them to attack the Western Air Temple. The airships now featured a cannon able to shoot bombs, and a command tower. Despite the ferocious attack, the Avatar's entire group managed to escape on Appa while their allies fled on the airship they stole at the Boiling Rock.



It was revealed prior to the Battle at Wulong Forest that Ozai commissioned his entire armada to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground prior to the Day of Black Sun, determined to snuff out all surviving rebel forces across the continent. Using over a dozen warships and the enhanced powers granted to the Firebenders by Sozin's Comet, these airships commenced to burn down the Earth Kingdom. However, in a genius attack conducted by Toph, Sokka, and Suki, one of these airships was hijacked, and used to ram into the rest of the fleet. Aang used his enhanced powers to destroy Phoenix King Ozai's Personal Airship, which was three times the size of a conventional airship and adorned in a more ceremonious manner. The kids continued their progress by forcing the remaining airships to crash into each other, effectively saving the Earth Kingdom.

Only one airship survived the battle in working condition, namely the one that Suki hijacked to save Sokka and Toph.

With the end of the War, it is highly likely that Fire Lord Zuko ceased further production of these airships. It is possible that the technology was adapted for the purpose of civilian air travel. It is unlikely that the Fire Nation had any other airships in their arsenal besides those that were assigned to attack the Earth Kingdom.

Design


In contrast to the small, two-man crew War Balloons, the Fire Nation Airships are enormous vessels, comparable to Fire Nation Cruisers in size, composition, and crew complement. The structure is made entirely of metal and can carry at least fifty crew members. These hulking war machines are air-powered and employ multiple propeller sets on the sides of their hulls for propulsion. They are extremely long and have an ornamental dragon's head to instill fear into enemy forces. They can carry dozens of bombs that they drop from the hatches on their underbellies in order to destroy ground targets. Airships can also be armed with rudimentary cannons that launch these bombs. Airships had some sort of communication system, since it was mentioned in an episode by a soldier that he worked up in communications. Catwalks hang from the ship's underside so that Firebenders can fire projectiles at oncoming enemy air forces. These troops are secured with harnesses.

Ozai had his own personal airship, which was noticeably larger than the others and featured a golden phoenix head on the front instead of a bronze dragon's head.

Crew
Airships are crewed by Firebenders for defense, engineers for operation, and an airship captain. Normally the crew is composed of regular Firebenders, but during the Battle at Wulong Forest the airships were manned by Imperial Firebenders. A standard crew also has a commanding officer. Airships can carry at least fifty crew members. Apparently the engineers fulfill only a supporting role in the fueling of the airships and are not necessary for its running, as the one hijacked by Sokka's group was able to work long after its engineers were dumped with the rest of its crew.

Weaknesses
The airships can be crippled by breaking the rotors that propel it; as well, they are unable to keep up with other transportations, such as a sky bison.

Trivia

 * The large airships are most likely based on the Zeppelins of Germany used from the late 1800's to the 1940's, such as the Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg.
 * Strictly speaking, the Fire Nation should not have been capable of producing airships. They only had balloon technology, which is based on heated air. Airships, on the other hand, require the use of light gases, such as helium or hydrogen, to achieve sufficient lift, as they carry much heavier gondolas than balloons. The main structure of the warships are also far more ornate and, presumably, heavier than traditional Airships, making it highly unlikely that these ships are flying on heated air. It is possible, considering the high level of their other technologies, that the Fire Nation already had mastery over the science of these gasses but had not thought to use them in air travel until the creation of the balloon technology at the hands of the Mechanist, which inspired these larger airships.
 * It is unlikely for Zuko to have gained control of the airship fleet, because most or all of the airships were destroyed in the Battle at Wulong Forest, but as Fire Lord he could have commissioned more airships built for the Fire Nation Military.
 * In the official trailer for The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra, vehicles similar to airships were seen flying around the Republic City.