June 1917 Goodyear moved its activities there. Organization for Operations An entire organization had to be created to operate the B-Class airships. In 1917 There were few Naval Aviators qualified to pilot airships and few facilities for operations. There was no organization for operating the airships. Pilots had to be trained, so the Navy contracted with Goodyear to train Naval Aviators as airship pilots at Wingfootlake, Ohio. The Navy set up airship stations along the East Coast, at Chatham, Massachusetts, Montauk, Long Island, Rockaway Beach in NY City, Cape May, New Jersey, Norfolk, Virginia, and Key West and Pensacola, Florida. Bases were also established at San Diego, California, and Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone. Operational history The 16 original B-types operated extensively from the East coast bases starting in October 1917, mostly on training missions, but also patrol operations. Several B-Class airships were lost. At least one was involved in a search and rescue operation for a downed Navy float plane. B-types also operated from San Diego and Coco Solo. One Chatham-based B-type was involved in spotting a U-boat and called in seaplanes to attempt an attack. The B-type airships operated some 13,500 hours covering some 300,000 square miles and trained over 160 Naval Aviators in airship operations. In mid-1918 or early-1919 three gondolas were rebuilt by Goodyear as B-17, -18, and -19 They were given new Bureau Numbers (A-5464, A-5465 and A-5467) The new airships had pusher engines ( B-1 through B16 had tractor engines). Goodyear also built one new car which appears to have been the B-20 (BuNo A-5257). It is believed that the B-type airships were painted olive drab. Other sources have them being painted with aluminum powdered dope. One suffered a chemical reaction in the rubber coating and turned pink, it was nicknamed "The Pink Lady." Many of the "B"s were stricken soon after the Armistice. The Navy Table (there are two dates, May and September 1919, lists the B-Class airships to remain in service. They were B-1, B-3, B-8, B-17, B-18 and B-19). Two, B-3 and B-15, survived until 1924. Though the B-Class airships were deployed late in the war their operations influenced Lighter-than-Air policy in the period between the wars. "the airship's greatest value to the allies during the past war was in convoy work. Indeed, it was common knowledge that a submarine would not attack a convoy escorted by airships. The