SM UB-16 - Grand Fleet Ambush Attempts

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 18 nautical miles (33 km) 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.