SM UB - 16 SM " UB - 16 " was a German Type UB I submarine or U - boat in the German Imperial Navy ( ) during World War I . The submarine was sunk by a British submarine in May 1918 . " UB - 16 " was ordered in November 1914 and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in February 1915 . " UB - 16 " was a little under in length and displaced between , depending on whether surfaced or submerged . She carried two torpedo es for her two bow torpedo tube s and was also armed with a deck - mounted machine gun . " UB - 16 " was broken into sections and shipped by rail to Antwerp for reassembly . She was launched in April 1915 and commissioned as SM " UB - 16 " in May . " UB - 16 " spent her entire career in the Flanders Flotilla and sank 23 merchant ships , about half of them British fishing vessels . The U - boat was also responsible for sinking the new British destroyer in 1917 . In 1918 , " UB - 16 " was converted into a minelayer with the replacement of her torpedo tubes with four mine chutes . On 10 May 1918 , " UB - 16 " was torpedoed by the British submarine off the British east coast . Of the 16 men on board , only " UB - 16 " s commander survived the attack . Design and construction . After the German Army ' s rapid advance along the North Sea coast in the earliest stages of World War I , the German Imperial Navy found itself without suitable submarines that could be operated in the narrow and shallow seas off Flanders . Project 34 , a design effort begun in mid - August 1914 , produced the Type UB I design : a small submarine that could be shipped by rail to a port of operations and quickly assembled . Constrained by railroad size limitations , the UB I design called for a boat about long and displacing about with two torpedo tube s . " UB - 16 " and sister boat comprised an order of two submarines placed on 25 November from AG Weser of Bremen , a little more than three months after planning for the class began . " UB - 16 " was laid down by Weser in Bremen on 21 February 1915 . As built , " UB - 16 " was long , abeam , and had a draft of . She had a single Körting 4 - cylinder diesel engine for surface travel , and a single Siemens - Schuckert electric motor for underwater travel , both attached to a single propeller shaft . Her top speeds were , surfaced , and , submerged . At more moderate speeds , she could sail up to on the surface before refueling , and up to submerged before recharging her batteries . Like all boats of the class , " UB - 16 " was rated to a diving depth of , and could completely submerge in 33 seconds . " UB - 16 " was armed with two torpedo es in two bow torpedo tube s . She was also outfitted for a single machine gun on deck . " UB - 16 " s standard complement consisted of one officer and thirteen enlisted men . After work on " UB - 16 " was complete at the Weser yard , she was readied for rail shipment . The process of shipping a UB I boat involved breaking the submarine down into what was essentially a knock down kit . Each boat was broken into approximately fifteen pieces and loaded on to eight railway flatcar s . In early 1915 , the sections of " UB - 16 " were shipped to Antwerp for assembly in what was typically a two - to three - week process . After " UB - 16 " was assembled and launched on 26 April , she was loaded on a barge and taken through canals to Bruges where she underwent trials . Early career . The submarine was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy as SM " UB - 16 " on 12 May 1915 under the command of " Oberleutnant zur See " ( " Oblt . " ) Hans Valentiner , a 26 - year - old first - time U - boat commander . On 1 June , " UB - 16 " joined the Flanders Flotilla ( ) , which had been organized on 29 March . When " UB - 16 " joined the flotilla , Germany was in the midst of its first submarine offensive , begun in February . During this campaign , enemy vessels in the German - defined war zone ( ) , which encompassed all waters around the United Kingdom , were to be sunk . Vessels of neutral countries were not to be attacked unless they definitively could be identified as enemy vessels operating under a false flag . On 3 June , two days after joining the flotilla , Valentiner and " UB - 16 " sank three British fishing vessels while patrolling between off Lowestoft . All three of the sunken ships were smack s — sailing vessels traditionally rigged with red ochre sails — which were stopped , boarded by crewmen from " UB - 16 " , and sunk with explosives . On 12 June , " UB - 16 " torpedoed and sank the 3 , 027 - ton British cargo ship " Leuctra " from the Shipwash Lightship . Nine days later , the U - boat torpedoed the British steamer " Tunisiana " off Lowestoft . After being hit , the 4 , 220 - ton ship ' s master beached her on Barnard Sands to save the cargo of wheat shipped from Montreal , but the ship was a complete loss . " Tunisiana " was the largest ship sunk by " UB - 16 " . In her first month of action , " UB - 16 " s totals were five ships sunk of 7 , 432 tons , more than half of the flotilla ' s June total of 14 , 080 tons . No lives were lost on any of " UB - 16 " s June victims . " UB - 16 " s next two successes came on consecutive days in late July . On the 27th , " Westward Ho ! " , a 57 - ton smack was boarded and sunk by " UB - 16 " s crew southeast of Lowestoft . The following day , the 1 , 821 - ton " Mangara " was torpedoed without warning one - quarter nautical mile ( 500 m ) from the Sizewell Buoy at Aldeburgh . Eleven men died when the ship and her cargo of iron ore were sent to the bottom . Although the Flanders Flotilla sank 31 ships in August , " UB - 16 " did not add to that total . In a four - day span in September , however , she accounted for three of the eight ships sunk by the flotilla during the month . On the 7th , she sank two more fishing smacks , " Emblem " and " Victorious " , from Lowestoft . On 10 September , " UB - 16 " sank the 51 - ton " Nimrod " in the same vicinity . Germany ' s submarine offensive was suspended on 18 September by the chief of the " Admiralstab " , Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff , in response to American demands after German submarines had sunk the Cunard Line steamer in May 1915 and other high profile sinkings in August and September . Holtzendorff ' s directive from ordered all U - boats out of the English Channel and the South - Western Approaches and required that all submarine activity in the North Sea be conducted strictly along prize regulations . " UB - 16 " did not sink any vessels over the next four months , but resumed attacks on 18 January 1916 , sinking three more smacks — " Evelyn " , " Foam Crest " , and " Sunshine " — between from Lowestoft . Second submarine offensive . By early 1916 , the British blockade of Germany was beginning to have an effect on Germany and her imports . The Royal Navy had stopped and seized more cargo destined for Germany than the quantity of cargo sunk by German U - boats in the first submarine offensive . As a result , the German Imperial Navy began a second offensive against merchant shipping on 29 February . The final ground rules agreed upon by the German " Admiralstab " were that all enemy vessels in Germany ' s self - proclaimed war zone would be destroyed without warning , that enemy vessels outside of the war zone would be destroyed only if armed , and — to avoid antagonizing the United States — that enemy passenger steamers were not to be attacked , regardless of whether in the war zone or not . " UB - 16 " s first successes in the new offensive came on 6 March when she sank the smacks " Springflower " and " Young Harry " about east of Lowestoft . Valentiner and " UB - 16 " attacked another pair of ships in early April . The 653 - ton British ship " Perth " was torpedoed and sunk near Yarmouth on the 1st , while the Dutch sailing vessel " Elziena Helena " was damaged in an attack two days later east of Southwold . On 5 April , Valentiner was succeeded by " Kapitänleutnant " Paul Hundius , a 27 - year - old , first - time U - boat skipper . In the first two weeks under Hundius ' command , " UB - 16 " sank two British steamers : the 2 , 978 - ton " Robert Adamson " on the 10th , and the 3 , 091 - ton " Tregantle " on the 22nd . " Robert Adamson " was sunk from the Shipwash Lightship while en route from Dundee to Le Havre with a cargo of props . " Tregantle " had sailed from Galveston , Texas , via Norfolk , Virginia , with a load of wheat for Hull , but was sunk off Lowestoft . Near the end of April 1916 , Admiral Reinhardt Scheer , the newest commander - in - chief of the German High Seas Fleet , called off the merchant shipping offensive and ordered all boats at sea to return , and all boats in port to remain there . " UB - 16 " did not sink any more ships for the next eight months . Grand Fleet ambush attempts . In mid - May , Scheer completed plans to draw out part of the British Grand Fleet . The German High Seas Fleet would sortie for a raid on Sunderland , luring the British fleet across nests ' of submarines and mine - fields " . In support of the operation , " UB - 16 " and five other Flanders boats set out at midnight 30 / 31 May to form a line east of Lowestoft . This group was to intercept and attack the British light forces from Harwich , should they sortie north to join the battle . Unfortunately for the Germans , the British Admiralty had intelligence reports of the departure of the submarines which , coupled with an absence of attacks on shipping , aroused British suspicions . A delayed departure of the German High Seas Fleet for its sortie ( which had been redirected to the Skagerrak ) and the failure of several of the U - boats stationed to the north to receive the coded message warning of the British advance caused Scheer ' s anticipated ambush to be a " complete and disappointing failure " . In " UB - 16 " s group , only " UB - 10 " sighted the Harwich forces , and they were too far away to mount an attack . The failure of the submarine ambush to sink any British capital ships allowed the full Grand Fleet to engage the numerically inferior High Seas Fleet in the Battle of Jutland , which took place 31 May – 1 June . " UB - 16 " s activities over the next two months are not reported , but on 2 August the submarine was patrolling off the Mass Lightship and torpedoed the Norwegian steamer " John Wilson " , sending her cargo of food destined for London to the bottom . Later in August , Scheer set up another ambush for the British fleet , when he drew up plans for another High Seas Fleet raid on Sunderland ( as had been the original intention in May ) . The German fleet planned to depart late in the day on 18 August and shell military targets the next morning . As in May , " UB - 16 " was part of a group intended to attack the Harwich forces . As one of five boats forming the second line of boats from the Flanders Flotilla , " UB - 16 " was stationed off Texel by the morning of 20 August . Once again , British intelligence had given warning of the impending attack and ambush , causing the Grand Fleet to sortie at 16 : 00 on 18 August , five hours before the German fleet sailed . Faulty intelligence caused Scheer initially to divert from Sunderland , and then to eventually call off the whole operation . Although U - boats to the north sank two British light cruisers , " UB - 16 " and her group played no part in the action . Later , on 24 August , " UB - 16 " was again patrolling off the Mass Lightship when Hundius stopped " Velox " , another Norwegian steamer headed for London . Crewmen from " UB - 16 " boarded the 312 - ton cargo ship , planted explosives , and sank the vessel and her general cargo . " Velox " was the last ship sunk by the " UB - 16 " for nearly eight months , and the last sunk by Hundius before he was replaced by " Oblt . " Ernst Müller - Schwarz late in the month . Neither Müller - Schwartz , nor his January 1917 replacement , " Oblt . " Hans Ewald Niemer , sank any ships while in command of " UB - 16 " . Unrestricted submarine warfare . By the time of the so - called " turnip winter " of 1916 – 17 , the Royal Navy blockade of Germany had severely limited imports of food and fuel into Germany . Among the results were an increase in infant mortality and as many as 700 , 000 deaths attributed to starvation or hypothermia during the war . With the blockade having such dire consequences , Kaiser Wilhelm II personally approved a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare to begin on 1 February 1917 to help force the British to make peace . The new rules of engagement specified that no ship was to be left afloat . With the new campaign already underway , Niemer was replaced as " UB - 16 " s commander by " Oblt . " Hugo Thielmann on 18 March . Although only in command of " UB - 16 " for little more than a month , Thielmann sank one ship on " UB - 16 " . The 107 - ton Dutch motor vessel " Arie " was sunk in the Hoofden area on 20 April ; there were no reports of casualties . " Kapitänleutnant " Wilhelm Rhein was assigned to " UB - 16 " on 23 April , and under his command , " UB - 16 " may have been responsible for damaging the Norwegian cargo ship " Kongsli " on 26 April . On 9 August , " UB - 16 " torpedoed and sank the British destroyer from the North Hinder Lightship . " Recruit " , commissioned four months earlier , sank with 54 of her complement . Rhein was succeeded by " Oblt . " Günther Bachmann on 26 August , and he , in turn , was succeeded by " Oblt . " Alfred Krameyer on 25 December . Conversion to minelayer . " UB - 16 " and three sister boats , " UB - 10 " , " UB - 12 " , and " UB - 17 " , had all been converted to minelaying submarines by 1918 . The conversion involved removing the bow section containing the pair of torpedo tubes from each U - boat and replacing it with a new bow containing four mine chutes capable of carrying two mines each . In the process , the boats were lengthened to , and the displacement increased to on the surface , and below the surface . Exactly when this conversion was performed on " UB - 16 " is not reported , but " UB - 12 " was at the dockyard from November 1916 to January 1917 . The lack of reported successes by " UB - 16 " during this same span makes it a possibility that her conversion was accomplished in a similar timeframe . On 13 March , " UB - 16 " , now under the command of " Oblt . " Rudolf Stier , was responsible for sinking the 895 - ton steamer " Lisette " near the Shipwash Lightship . One month later , on 13 April , the fishing smack " Ruth " was boarded and sunk by " UB - 16 " ; " Ruth " was the final ship sunk by " UB - 16 " . On 28 April , British forces attempted to block the canal at Zeebrugge and bottle up the vessels of the Flanders Flotilla in the Zeebrugge Raid . In the raid , the British succeeded in sinking two obsolete cruisers , and , in the narrowest part of the canal . British admiral Roger Keyes , who had planned the raid , believed that the Flanders Flotilla ships were bottled up for a long period of time . However , the following day , after the Germans had removed two piers , " UB - 16 " — under " Oblt . " Vicco von der Lühe , her newest commander — made the first sortie from Zeebrugge after the raid . Sinking . " UB - 16 " departed Zeebrugge for what would be the final time on 6 May 1918 for a patrol off Harwich . At 18 : 50 on 10 May , the British submarine spotted " UB - 16 " on the surface near Harwich . Although " E34 " s commanding officer Lieutenant Pulleyne initially believed that " UB - 16 " was a British submarine , he submerged out of caution because of " UB - 16 " s proximity to Harwich . After identifying the submarine as a German boat , Pulleyne maneuvered to attack . At 19 : 15 , " E34 " launched two torpedoes at " UB - 16 " from a distance of . The first hit " UB - 16 " s bow and failed to detonate , but the second hit below the conning tower and exploded , sinking " UB - 16 " at position in less than five minutes . After a further five minutes , " E34 " surfaced near where " UB - 16 " had gone down , and rescued von der Lühe from the oily water ; he was the only survivor . Von der Lühe was imprisoned in a British prisoner of war camp , where he died of influenza on 1 March 1919 . British divers dispatched to the site of " UB - 16 " s demise a week later could only find some plating and a few pipes and concluded that " UB - 16 " had disintegrated after the torpedo hit . Ships sunk or damaged . < nowiki > * < / nowiki > damaged but not sunk