Unterseeboot 16 (1936)

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Career (Nazi Germany)

Name:	U-16
Ordered:	February 2, 1935
Builder:	Deutsche Werke, Kiel, yard 251
Laid down:	August 5, 1935
Launched:	April 28, 1936
Commissioned:	May 16, 1936
Fate:	Sunk October 25, 1939 in the English Channel near Dover. 28 dead.
Class and type:	Type II U-boat

Service record
Part of	Kriegsmarine: 3. Unterseebootsflottille
Identification codes	M 13 014
Commanders	Heinz Beduhn Hannes Weingärtner Udo Behrens Horst Wellner
Operations	3
Victories	1 ship sunk for a total of 3.378 gross register tons (GRT) 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 57 GRT

Unterseeboot 16 or U-16 was a Nazi German U-Boat that served during World War II. It first launched on April 28, 1936, under the command of Heinz Beduhn, with a crew of 46. Its last of four commanders was Horst Wellner.

From September 2, 1939 until October 25 1939, U-16 took part in the laying of sea mines in open waters in and around the English Channel, to hamper allied shipping. On September 28 1939, U-16 sank the Swedish 3,378 ton Nyland. The 57 ton French Sainte Claire was sunk by one of the mines laid by U-16 on November 21 1939.

[edit] Fate

On October 25 1939, the HMS Puffin and the HMS Cayton Wyke attacked U-16 off the coast of Dover. The U-Boat was badly damaged, but initially escaped, radioing its headquarters that they were severely crippled. Nothing else was ever heard from U-16. The U-boat itself was later located in shallow waters. The crew were all lost, and apparently U-16 had struck a mine shortly after its last transmission.