His Majesty's Airship No. 1 was designed and built by Vickers, Sons and Maxim at their works in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England, as an aerial scout airship for the Royal Navy. It was the first British rigid airship to be built, and was constructed in a direct attempt to compete with the German airship programme. Often referred to as "Mayfly", a nickname given to it by the lower deck (i.e. the non-commissioned component of a naval ship's crew), in public records it is designated ‘HMA Hermione’ because the naval contingent at Barrow were attached to HMS Hermione, a cruiser moored locally preparing to act as its tender.When it was moved from its shed in Cavendish Dock to conduct full trials on 24 September 1911 it broke in two before it could attempt its first flight as a result of being subject to strong winds . Although Mayfly never flew, its brief career provided valuable training and experimental data for British airship crews and designers.