[Sailor Steve]

January 2, 1917

Air War:
1130 Russian pilot Ivan Vasilievich Smirnov, in Nieuport 10 N722 with a Captain Pentko as observer, shoots down Aviatik C.I 2775/16 for victory number 1. The crew are both killed.

Galicia-born Austro-Hungarian pilot Godwin Brumowski, flying Hansa-Brandenburg C.I 68.24 with Julius Györffy as observer, shoots down a Farman two-seater for victory number 5.



Ireland:
British tanker SS El Toro, 5,958 tons, bound from Sabine, Texas for an unnamed destination, is wriecked near Clogher Head.

British freighter SS Nestorian, 6,395 tons, carrying a load of cotton and steel ingots from Galveston, Texas to Liverpool, is wrecked off Cape Clear, County Cork.



Irish Sea:
British schooner Duke of York, 50 tons, sinks following a collision with freighter SS Dublin.



Bristol Channel:
British schooner Edward Arthur, 130 tons, travelling from Waterford to Cardiff with a load of oats, is wrecked at Lundy Island.



Celtic Sea:
Claus Lafrenz, commanding UB-18, sinks two Norwegian freighters off Bishop Rock:
SS Bestik, 2,185 tons, bound from Cardiff for Philippeville with a load of coal.
SS Ellik, 603 tons, carrying a load of pit props from Villagarcia to Swansea.
Lafrenz's score is now 26 ships and 25,172 tons.



English Channel:
Heinrich Küstner, in UB-39, sinks British coaster SS Carlyle, 466 tons, carrying a general cargo from Manchester to La Pallice. His score is now 21 ships and 33,514 tons.



Bay of Biscay:
Otto Wünsche, in U-70, sinks three Allied ships:
French freighter SS Aconcagua, 1,313 tons, en route from Antofagasta, Chile to La Pallice with a load of nitrate; sunk with the deck gun.
Norwegian freighter SS Odda, 1,101 tons, carrying a load of pyrites from Huelva to Rouen.
Spanish freighter SS San Leandro, 1,616 tons, travelling from Malaga to London with a load of fruit.
Wünsche's score is now 40 ships and 51,376 tons.

Hans Adam, in U-82, sinks French freighter SS Omnium, 8,719 tons, en route from New Orleans to Saint Nazaire with an unspecified cargo. His score is now 6 ships and 10,681 tons.



Portugal:
Heinrich Jeß, in U-79, sinks Norwegian freighter SS Older, 2,256 tons, Bound from Newport for Gibraltar with a load of coal, just west of Oporto. His score is now 7 ships and 13.323 tons.

Otto Launburg, in UC-32, sinks three ships off Cape Roca:
Greek freighter SS Aristotelis C. Ioannou, 2,868 tons, cravelling from Bouenos Aires to Belfast with a load of maize.
Greek freighter SS Dimitrios Goulandris, 3,744 tons, carrying a load of wheat from Buenos Aires to Avonmouth; sunk by deck gun.
French schooner Notre Dame du Verger, 227 tons, en route from Swansea to Lisbon; scuttled.
Launburg's score is now 4 ships and 9,128 tons.



Egypt:
Russian battleship Peresvyet, 13,500 tons, is sunk by a mine laid by Gustav Seiß in U-73 off Port Said. His score is now 14 ships and 108,041 tons.



Chile:
Chilean troop transport Casma, 2,627 tons, hits a rock off Navarion Island.



Atlantic Ocean:
German surface raider SMS Möwe stops and scuttles French barque Asnières, 3,103 tons, carrying 3,000 tons of wheat from Bahia Blanca, Argentina to Pauillac, France.