April 17, 1916
Air War:
German pilot Fritz Otto Bernert, flying a Fokker E.III, shoots down a Nieuport for victory number 1.
Celtic Sea:
Ernst Wilhelms, commanding U-69, comes across French sailing ship SV Ernest Reyer, 2,708 tons, bound from Cape Town for Falmouth with 3,500 tons of rice. U-69 shells Ernest Reyer to stop and gives the crew one hour to abandon ship. Wilhelms then fires one torpedo which sinks the ship in heavy seas. The 29 crew are all lost. On May 13th an empty ship's boat is sighted off Ushant. Wilhelms' score is now 6 ships and 15,208 tons.
Portugal:
Norwegian freighter SS Terje Viken, 3,579 tons, carrying a load of grain from Galveston to Lisboa, hits a mine laid by Gustav Seiß in U-73 off Cabo Guia, Portugal. Seiß's score is now 2 ships and 5,406 tons.
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“Never do anything you can't take back.”
—Rocky Russo
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