The LZ 59 (L 20) was a World War I German Navy Airship and was the first Q-Class zeppelin[4] with a then record length of 178.5 metres (585 ft 8 in).

LZ 59 dropped 7 high explosive bombs on the railway junction at the Bennerley Viaduct and steelworks near Awsworth 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northwest of Nottingham.

The following explosion injured 72 and killed 6 people, including guest missionary Mary Rose Morris from Brighton, who died while hugging her Bible.

In the end, none of the nine airships reached Liverpool, however a great deal of damage was done to the English midlands and many British citizens died in the attacks.

The German army ended up losing one airship, the L 19, which was forced to crash land in the North Sea leading to the death of everyone on board.

[citation needed] After the air raid LZ 59 was given the nickname Raider of Loughborough due to the city's damage and the high death toll.

The ship left its base in Tønder and joined 6 other airships to conduct another bombing raid against a number of factories, smelters and railways in Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees and Hartlepool in northeast England.

[16] After the air raid the airships returned safely to their bases except LZ 59, which was having problems with one of its four engines and also encountered strong winds from the southeast, which increased to a moderate gale.

Commander Stabbert decided to attempt an emergency landing at Gandsfjorden near Sandnes due to the low amount of gasoline left in the airship's fuel tanks.

In order to prevent the ship from doing any damage to the nearby towns, Norwegian Colonel Johannesen summoned 12 soldiers who, at 3:00 pm, fired at the wreckage from a distance of 120 metres (393 ft 8 in), igniting the remaining hydrogen in a massive explosion.

[citation needed] The airship dropped a total of 2,864 kg (6,314 lb) of bombs during its two raids and killed an estimated 17 people, as well as damaging many buildings.