[Sailor Steve]

December 28, 1916

In Tondem, Germany, two Zeppelins are destroyed by nature. L-24 is being walked into the shed when a gust of wind pushes the airship into the side of the shed and catches fire. The other Zeppelin in the shed, L-17, is also destroyed.



Air War:
Austrian aircrew of Adolf Heyrowski and Josef Pürer, in Hansa-Brandenburg C.I 29.63, shoot down a Voisin pusher. Victory number 7 for Heyrouski, number 2 for Pürer.



English Channel:
Heinrich Küstner, commanding UB-39, torpedoes French passenger ship SS Rouen, off the Casquets. The damaged ship is towed into Dieppe with 5 casualties.

British freighter SS Suffolk, 7,573 tons, carrying a load of government stores from London to Devonport, hits a mine laid by Egon von Werner in UC-16 off the Oeers lightship. The damaged ship makes it safely to port.

Ralph Wenninger, in UC-17, stops and scuttles two ships off Start Point:
British schooner Pitho, 150 tons, travelling from Cardiff to Cherbourg with a load of coal.
Norwegian sailing vessel Union, 563 tons, carrying a load of logwood from Aquin, Haiti to Le Havre.
Wenninger's score is now 36 ships and 15,132 tons.



Strait of Dover:
French torpedo boat Torpilleur 317 hits a mine laid off Calais by Oskar Steckelberg in UC-1. This is his first sinking.



North Sea:
Hans Howaldt, in UB-40, takes Dutch coaster SS Oldambt, 470 tons, bound from Rotterdam for London, as a prize off Hoofden. His score is now 7 ships and 4,444 tons.

British freighter SS Blonde, 613 tons, en route from North Shields to London with a load of coal, runs aground at Flamborough Head. All 17 crew are rescued.

British freighter SS Laxton, 1,017 tons, sinks following a collision off Spurn Point.



Greenland Sea:
Norwegian trawler Isrypen, 75 tons, runs aground off Svalbard.



Norwegian Sea:
Norwegian trawler Gerd, 73 tons, springs a leak and sinks off Titran, Norway.



Portugal:
Robert Sprenger, in UC-34, sinks Russian schooner Seedonis, 284 tons, en route from Garston to Seville. His score is now 2 ships and 460 tons.



Mediterranean Sea:
Heino von Heimburg, in UC-22, sinks British freighter SS Oronsay, 3,761 tons, bound from Calcutta for Dundee with a load of jute and manganese ore. His score is now 12 ships and 29,082 tons.



South Africa:
British freighter SS Obell, 1,797 tons, carrying a load of graphite, beans, and raffa from Madagascar to London, is wrecked off the mouth of the Banshee River.