100 Years Ago Today

[Sailor Steve]

December 26, 1915:

Celtic Sea:
Rudolf Schneider, commanding U-24, captures and sinks British freighter SS Cottingham, 513 tons, travelling in ballast from Rouen to Swansea. He then sinks Belgian freighter SS Ministre Beernaert, 4,215 tons, bound from Newport, Wales to Buenos Aires with a load of coal. Both attacks take place near Lundy Island at the mouth of the Bristol Channel. Schneider's score is now 25 ships and 83,158 tons.



North Sea:
British submarine E-6, 725 tons, and navy trawler Resono, 230 tons, both run into mines laid by Herbert Pustkuchen in UC-5 near the Sunk light vessel off Harwich. This brings Pustkuchen's score to 19 ships and 22,764 tons.



Bremen, Germany:
Converted merchant ship SMS Möwe sets out on her first voyage as a commerce raider.



Canada:
Norwegian freighter SS Kronprins Olav, 3,923 tons, leaves Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia for Montreal, Quebec with a load of coal. The ship and her crew of 30 are never heard from again.



United States:
American schooner SV Luther T. Garretson, 491 tons, carrying a load of lunber from Jacksonville, Florida to Bridgeport, Connecticut, founders 75 miles off Charleston, South Carolina.

American schooner-rigged barge Mary B. Mitchell, under tow from Newport News, Virginia to Providence, Rhode Island with a load of coal, founders off Lookout Point, Long Island, New York.

[Jimbuna]

27th December 1915

Eastern Front

Attack by the Russians on the Austrians in northern Bukovina, ranging from the Pruth river to north of the Dniester river.

Southern Front

French occupy Castellorizzo, near Rhodes. Greek protest.

French General de Castelnau declares that Allied defenses at Thessalonica, Greece is now impregnable.

Political etc.

Sir George Foster, Canadian Minister of Finance, states that Canadians must be willing to taken on a greater financial burden in the war.

King Peter of Serbia is evacuated out of Albania by an Italian Cruiser despite stating he would not abandon his troops.

Britain announces that it is transferring the Indian Army from France to Egypt.

King Constantine of Greece telegraphs Kaiser Wilhelm that he would not allow Central Power troops to cross the border.

Ship Losses:

Clan Davidson ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was driven ashore at Ballyquinton, County Down. She was refloated and beached in Belfast Lough.
Elizabeth Jane ( United Kingdom): The schooner foundered in the Bristol Channel off The Mumbles, Glamorgan with the loss of all hands.
Export ( Sweden): The cargo ship sprang a leak in the North Sea of the coast of the Netherlands and was abandoned. Her crew were rescued.
HMT Ferndale ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler foundered in the Irish Sea off St. Ann's Head, Pembrokeshire with the loss of all hands.
Hadley ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) south east of the Shipwash Lightship ( United Kingdom). Her crew survived.
HMT Ladysmith ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler foundered in the Irish Sea off the coast of Wales.
Lyra ( Denmark): The schooner was driven ashore at Lyngør, Aust-Agder, Norway and was wrecked. Her crew were rescued.
Mary Jane ( United Kingdom): The schooner foundered in Swansea Bay with the loss of all hands.
Thor ( Denmark): The galeass capsized in the Baltic Sea off Oxö, Sweden.
HM Torpedo Boat 46 ( Royal Navy): The torpedo boat was wrecked in the Aegean Sea off Lemnos, Greece.

[Sailor Steve]

December 27, 1915:

Celtic Sea:
British trawler FV Ladysmith, 89 tons, disappears in a gale off Milford Haven, Wales, and is not heard from again.



Spanish freighter SS Benlliure, 2,528 tons, carrying a load of coal from Glasgow to Genoa, sends a distress call stating her position as 40 miles northwest of the Scilly Isles. This is the last that is known of her.



North Sea:
British freighter SS Hadley, 1,777 tons, bound from Newcastle to London with a load of coal, hits a mine laid by Erwin Waßner in UC-3. This brings his score to 12 ships and 15,282 tons.

Dutch trawler Erin, 164 tons, is sunk by a mine.



Canada:
American schooner Georgiana, 87 tons, runs aground at Country Harbour Ledges, Halifax, Nova Scotia, while on a fishing trip.

[Jimbuna]

28th December 1915

Western Front

French carry trenches in the Vosges.

Artillery activity on whole front.

Departure of Indian Corps for another front.

Eastern Front

Germans routed by Lettish detachments on Aa river (Courland).

Southern Front

Allied commanders agree to evacuate Cape Helles on Gallipoli, which would end the battle.

Naval and Overseas Operations

4,000 lbs rubber seized on the "Oscar II" (Swedish); was consigned to enemy agents.

Huronian (United Kingdom): The steamer was damaged after being torpedoed 8 miles SxE of Fastnet in position 51° 14'N, 9° 26'W by (Rudolf Schneider) whilst enroute from Galveston - Liverpool carrying a general cargo.


Political etc.

UK Cabinet decides for Compulsion - single men before married ones.

French General Gallieni: “Today, she [France] wants war most energetically, and to that end will use all her resources.”

France announces that it has raised 14.5 billion francs ($2.9 billion) in loans to pay for the war.

French Chamber of Deputies votes to apply the income tax in 1916 in order to raise funds.

Japanese passenger lines abandon the Suez Canal-Mediterranean route due to the danger of submarines.

New York City passes London to be the largest city in the world with 7,383,871 people.

Mary Campbell, social economist, states Chicago is ruled by “morons” and that Mayor Thompson could not pass a test for 10 year-olds.

Ship Losses:

El Zorro ( United Kingdom): The tanker was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 10 nautical miles (19 km) south of the Old Head of Kinsale, County Cork by SM U-24 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of two of her crew.
Monge ( French Navy): Battle of Durazzo: The submarine was sunk in the Adriatic Sea off Kotor, Austria-Hungary by an Austro-Hungarian Navy cruiser.

[Sailor Steve]

December 28, 1915:

Celtic Sea:
Rudolf Schneider, commanding U-24, damages British freighter SS Huronian, 8,755 tons, bound from Galveston to Liverpool with a general cargo; and sinks tanker El Zorro, 5,989 tons, carrying oil from Port Arthur to Dartsmouth. At the end of his sixth war patrol his score is 26 ships and 89,147 tons.

Portugal:
Portuguese schooner SV Seixas, 1,118 tons, travelling from New Orleans to Lisbon, is wrecked off Peniche, Portugal.

[Jimbuna]

29th December 1915

Western Front

German post destroyed (north of La Fille Morte (Argonne).

Naval and Overseas Operations

Sea fight off Cattaro; Austrian scout and five destroyers driven off by Allied ships.

Ship Losses:

Erin ( Netherlands): The trawler caught a mine in her nets and sank in the North Sea off IJmuiden, North Holland when it exploded. Three of her eleven crew were killed.
Kenkoku Maru ( Japan): The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 75 nautical miles (139 km) south west of Glados, Greece (34°07′N 22°12′E) by SM U-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
SMS Lika ( Austro-Hungarian Navy): The Tatra-class destroyer struck a mine and sank in the Adriatic Sea off Durazzo, Albania.
Morning ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was sunk on this date with the loss of all but two of her crew.
SMS Trigalv ( Austro-Hungarian Navy): The Tatra-class destroyer struck a mine and was damaged in the Adriatic Sea off Durazzo. SMS Czepel and SMS Tatra (both Austro-Hungarian Navy) attempted to take her in tow but were unsuccessful. She was shelled and sunk by Casque ( French Navy) and five other French Navy ships.

[Sailor Steve]

December 29, 1915:

Air War:
1200 German pilot Gustav Leffers, flying Fokker E.III 84.15, shoots down BE.2c 2039 for victory number 2. Pilot 2nd Lt. D. Alec Glen is killed in tha attack, observer Sgt. E. Jones taken POW.

1310 English pilot Jack Cunningham, now flying single-seat Bristol Scout 1606, Shoots down an Aviatik two-seater, also his second kill.



Mediterranean Sea:
Claus Rücker, commanding U-34, sinks Japanese freighter Kenkoku Maru, 3,217 tons, bound from Cebu to Savona with an unspecified cargo. His score is now 17 ships and 52,648 tons.



Adriatic Sea:
Italian freighter SS Anthipi, 1,182 tons, carrying a load of stores from Italy to Albania, is sunk by a mine. Sources say the mine was laid by a submarine but don't say which one.

Austro-Hungarian destroyer Lika, 1,050 tons, is also sunk by a mine.

Austro-Hungarian destroyer Triglav, 1,050 tons, is damaged by a mine off Durres, Albania, and scuttled.



Australia:
Australian dredger SS Willunga, 787 tons, travelling from Cairns to Sydney, is lost off Middle Percy Island.

United States:
American schooner SV Sausalito, 326 tons, travelling from San Francisco, California to Portland, Oregon, is wrecked on Cape Flattery.

[Jimbuna]

30th December 1915

Western Front

Five German mines explode north of Loos, causing some British casualties.

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting in Bukovina continues.

Southern Front

Enemy airships drop bombs on Salonika, so Allies arrest the four enemy Consuls and send them to Toulon.

Naval and Overseas Operations

The SS Persia is torpedoed by the German submarine SM U-38 off Crete, resulting in the deaths of 343 people, including U.S.A. Consul at Aden.


H.M. cruiser "Natal" blown up in harbour (Cromarty Firth), at least 390 lost.


Political etc.

Austria-Hungary promises not to target civilian liners and offers to pay an indemnity to the U.S. for the SS Ancona sinking.

French Socialists agree to continue supporting the war until Alsace-Lorraine is returned and Belgium is freed.

Munich reverses its decision that would have allowed breweries and beer halls to raise their prices on beer.

Ship Losses:

Abelia ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 152 nautical miles (282 km) west of Gavdos, Greece (34°24′N 20°51′E by SM U-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Clan Macfarlane ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 66 nautical miles (122 km) south east of Cape Martello, Crete, Greece by SM U-38 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 52 crew.
Ellewoutsdijk ( Netherlands): The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) of the Galloper Lightship ( United Kingdom) (51°42′N 1°57′E).
Glenariff ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship departed Newport, Monmouthshire for Belfast, County Antrim. No further trace, presumed foundered in the Irish Sea with the loss of all ten crew.
HMS Natal ( Royal Navy): The Duke of Edinburgh-class cruiser was sunk in the Cromarty Firth by an internal explosion with the loss of at least 390 lives.
Persia ( United Kingdom): The passenger ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Crete (34°08′N 26°19′E) by SM U-38 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 343 of the 519 people on board.

Miss Eleanor Velasco Thornton, believed to have been Charles Skyes’ model for his Rolls Royce ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’, drowned after the SS Persia was torpedoed by the German submarine U-38 off the coast of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea.

[Sailor Steve]

December 30, 1915:

North Sea:
Dutch freighter SS Ellewoutsdijk, 2,229 tons, travelling in ballast from Rotterdam to Portland, Maine, hits a mine laid by Alfred Nitsche in UC-10.

British coastal freighter SS Hummersea, 539 tons, sets out from Middlesbrough for Caen with a load of pig iron, and is not heard from again.

Armoured cruiser HMS Natal, 10,850 tons, suffers an internal explosion while moored at Cromarty Firth. Original estimates place the losses at 390, but a later revision makes it 421, including women and children visiting that day. Rumors run wild, with people suggesting sabotage and u-boats. The official inquiry states the most likely explanation as bad cordite spontaneously igniting.




Mediterranean Sea:
Claus Rücker, commanding U-34, sinks British freighter MV Abelia, 3,650 tons, bound from Bombay to Hull with a load of manganese ore and cottonseed. He now has 18 ships and 56,298 tons to his credit.

Max Valentiner, in U-38, British freighter SS Clan Macfarlane, 4,823 tons, carrying a general cargo from Liverpool to Bombay; and passenger ship SS Persia, 7,951 tons, travelling from Marseille to Bombay with passengers and a general cargo. His score is now 70 ships and 149,496 tons.

Among those killed are Robert N. McNeely, American Consul to Aden. Mharaja Jagatjit Singh, ruler of the state of Kapurthala in British India, had departed the ship in Marseille, but a large part of his personal treasure was still aboard and went down with the ship.

Because Valentiner topedoed the ship without warning, breaking both the Rules of Prize Warfare and The Arabic Pledge, Germany's own restriction on attacking passenger ships, the Allies will declare him a war criminal.



Adriatic Sea:
French Submarine Monge is rammed by Austro-Hungarian destroyer Helgoland, and then shelled by cruiser Balaton off Durrës (Durazzo to the Italians). The submarine is then scuttled by her captain.



German East Africa:
Monitor HMS Severn is patrolling the mouth of the Rufiji River when the lookouts spot a dugout canoe. The native occupant tells Severn's officers of his escape from his German captors with another native. They managed to break their chains and run, but the other man was killed. He took the canoe and was trying to reach Mafia Island, and that he has information vital to the British. His information turns out to be worthless.

[Jimbuna]

31st December 1915

Western Front

German attack on the Hirzstein (Vosges) repulsed.

Small German success north-west of Hulluch.

Eastern Front

Strong Russian offensive across River Styr (Galicia) at Chartorysk.

Political etc.

King George appoints Czar Nicholas II as an honorary field marshal in the British Army.

Prussian losses to date 2,536,000 of whom 600,000 killed. 356,000 missing.

Prussian Ministry of War forbids the export of any books on medical subjects.

King Albert to President Wilson: “Receive my sincere wishes for…your country, whose generosity to Belgium we shall never forget.”

Allied forces buy 400 Malamute dogs at $100 each from Alaska and Labrador.

German Citizen Groups in the U.S. send 500 pounds of milk to German and Austria-Hungary through first-class mail.

Ship Losses:

Dana ( Denmark): The three-masted schooner was driven ashore at Craster, Northumberland, United Kingdom and was wrecked.
HMT Responso ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler was lost on this date.
Satrap ( United Kingdom): The collier foundered in the Irish Sea off Manorbier, Pembrokeshire with the loss of all eleven crew.
HMT Speeton ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler struck a mine laid by UC 7 (Georg Haag) and sank in the North Sea off Lowestoft, Suffolk (52°33′N 1°50′E) with the loss of eleven of her crew.
Tynemouth ( United Kingdom): The collier was lost in the Irish Sea on this date.

MERCHANT SHIPPING
British, Allied and Neutral ships lost to enemy submarines, mines and cruisers etc in the month - 47 ships of 123,000 tons gross. Total for 1915 - 772 ships of 1,323,000 tons gross (Lloyd's War Losses)

[Sailor Steve]

December 31, 1915:

Air War:
Idflieg bi-monthly report on aircraft at the front.

Fokker:
E.I - 26
E.II - 14
E.III - 40
E.IV - 6

Pfalz:
E.I - 14
E.II - 6
E.III - 1

This should help explain why, despite the "Fokker Scourge", there is so little air combat going on in 1915.

I have only reported the fighters. Unfortunately the Allies never compiled similar reports.



North Sea:
His Majesty's Trawler Speeton, 205 tons, runs on a mine laid by Georg Haag in UC-7. His score is now 4 ships and 4,668 tons.

Dutch freighter SS Ecuador, 5,688 tons, is damaged by a mine near Dover. Who placed the mine is unknown.

Danish schooner SV Dana, 333 tons, bound from Helsingborg to West Hartlepool with a load of sleepers, is abandoned off Coquet Island. The crewless ship runs aground at Craster and is wrecked.



Mediterranean Sea:
British freighter SS Saint Oswald, 3,810 tons, travelling in ballast from the Tyne to Helles, collides with French Battleship Suffren and sinks off Kephalo Point, Imbros.



Strait of Magellan:
Chilean barque SV Phoenizzia, 690 tons, sinks at Caleta Canela, Seno Ottway.



Pacific Ocean:
Phillipino freighter SS Rio Pasig, 3,384 tons, departs from Seattle for Vladivostock and is not heard from again.

[Jimbuna]

1st January 1916

Eastern Front

Russian Offensive on the Strypa and the Styr (Galicia).

Indecisive fighting in north throughout month.

Southern Front

King Peter of Serbia reaches Salonika.

Naval and Overseas Operations

British take Yaunde (Cameroons).

Political etc.

Colonel Edward M. House is dispatched by President Wilson as a special envoy to Europe.

Canada increases her overseas force to 500,000.

French President Poincare to the troops: “Nineteen hundred and sixteen will be our year of victory.”

Kaiser Wilhelm: “We enter the new year with God for the protection of the Fatherland and for Germany’s greatness.”

King Peter of Serbia reaches Salonika.

The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled.
http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-ev...on-carried-out

Ship Losses:

Glengyle ( United Kingdom): The cargo liner was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 240 nautical miles (440 km) east by south of Malta (35°19′N 19°04′E) by SM U-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of ten crew.
Janet (RNLI FLAG.png Royal National Lifeboat Institution): The lifeboat capsized in the Bristol Channel off Oxwich, Glamorgan with the loss of tow of her crew. The Port Eynon lifeboat station was subsequently closed as a result of the accident.
Sandol ( Norway): The barque was run in to by Huelva ( United Kingdom) at King's Dock, Swansea, Glamorgan, United Kingdom and sank. Her crew were rescued.



“Europe 1916” by Boardman Robinson

[Sailor Steve]

Sometime during the month of January Hellmuth von Mucke is appointed to command the Euphrates Gunboat Flotilla.

January 1, 1916:

"Had a great evening last night. A crowd of us went to dinner with G------ to see the New Year in. We did it in style. To-morrow I am lunching with the Bax-Ironsides.

I looped on a B.E.2 C in great from the other day. If I had not been very securely strapped in, I should have fallen clean out. As it was, the cushion in the passenger's seat fell out and vanished. One seems to be upside down for a frightfully long time. I did the trick out in the country at between three and four thousand feet. The first time I had barely enough speed, so had a second shot and got up to over 100 knots. I really thought the wings would fall off. We had two topping crashes yesterday, but neither of the pilots hurt.

Tons of love and a prosperous New Year."
Harold Rosher, letter to his father, January 1, 1916



North Sea:
Norwegian freighter SS Avis, 1,074 tons, carrying a load of coal and coke from Methill to Svendborg, is wrecked off Østhassel, Lista.

Dutch trawler Neeltje Catharina, 163 tons, is missing with all hands.

British Admiralty collier SS Tynemouth, 2,222 tons, sails from Cardiff for the Shetland Islands under sealed orders and is not heard from again.



Kattegat:
German freighter SS Franz, 849 tons, travelling from Wismar to Gothenburg with a load of coal, is wrecked off the Kullen Fyr.



Mediterranean Sea:
Claus Rücker, commanding U-34, sinks British freighter SS Glengyle, 9,395 tons, bound from Vladivostok and Bombay to Genoa and London with a load of cotton. His score is now 19 ships and 65,693 tons.

Iranian freighter SS Teheran, 1,498 tons, sinks following a collision in the Strait of Gibraltar.



Australia:
Australian ketch Bamba, 20 tons, is lost. Circumstances unknown.

Australian schooner SV Myrtle, 167 tons, is lost off Townsville, Queensland.

Australian ketch Tern, 14 tons, founders off North Queensland.



Canada:
Canadian schooner Marjorie Mcglasken, 100 tons, springs a leak and sinks off the Bay of Fundy.



United States:
American vessel Louis K Cottingham runs aground on Seal Island, Maine.

[Jimbuna]

2nd January 1916

Western Front

Bombardment of Hartmannsweilerkopf (Alsace).

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting north-east of Czernowitz.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Turks shell Kut-el-Amara.

Naval and Overseas Operations

In the past 6 weeks, Austro-Hungarian and German submarines have sunk around 34 merchantmen and 33 transports in the Mediterranean.

Gallipoli: With General Monro having sailed for Egypt on New Year's Day, the British now end their submarine campaign, recalling "E-2".


Political etc.

UK War Office announces officer commissions will only be given to men who have completed their course as recruits & preference to veterans.

Muslim League of India demands the British government to give India self-rule.

Ship Losses:

HMT Mediator ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler was lost on this date.
Salaminia ( Greece): The cargo ship caught fire in the Strait of Gibraltar and was abandoned by her crew.
Scot ( United Kingdom): The Thames barge foundered in The Swale at the eastern end of the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. Her crew survived.
Spica ( Russia): The schooner was driven ashore on the Farne Islands, Northumberland, United Kingdom. Her crew were rescued.
Teheran (Flag of Persia (1910-1925).svg Persia): The cargo ship collided with Marietta Costanzo in the Strait of Gibraltar and sank. Her crew survived.
Glocliffe (United Kingdom): The steamer hit a mine 5 miles NNE of the Elbow Buoy whilst enroute from Newcastle - Havre with a cargo of coal and was beached but refloated and repaied.

[Sailor Steve]

January 2, 1916:

Air War:
English pilot Frederick Powell and Australian observer Clive Alexander Brewster-Joske, in a Vickers FB.5 'Gunbus', file a claim for an Aviatik two-seater. Listed as 'Unconfirmed'.



North Sea:
His Majesty's Trawler Mediator, 178 tons, is sunk by a mine of unknown origin.

Russian schooner SV Spica, 228 tons, en route from Christiania to West Hartlepool with a load of pit props, is wrecked on the Farne Islands, off Bamburgh.



Irish Sea:
American barque SV Poltalloch, 2,254 tons, travelling from Caleta Bay, Cuba to Leith with a load of nitrates, is wrecked at Sam Badrig, west of Barmouth.



English Channel:
French freighter SS Armor, 347 tons, bound from Le Havre to St. Brieuc with a load of petroleum, runs aground at Pointe Jardeheu on Cap La Hogue.



Mediterranean Sea:
British freighter SS Geelong, 7,954 tons, carrying a general cargo from Sydney to London, sinks after a collision with British freighter SS Bonvilston 100 miles north of Alexandria. All crew are rescued.