Semi-rigid airship
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Semi-rigid airships are airships which have a gas bag requiring internal pressure to maintain their shape, but have extended, usually articulated keel frames running along the bottom of the envelope to distribute suspension loads into the envelope and allow lower envelope pressures.
Semi-rigid airships usually had multiple gas cells and ballonets.
The Italian engineer Umberto Nobile designed several semi-rigid airships, including the Norge, for his overflights of the North Pole, and the W6 Ossoawiachim, for the Soviet Union.
The new Zeppelin NT is a semi-rigid airship. However, its hull also serves as the gas cell, instead of having multiple gas cells.
