Skip to main content
Events

11 January 1917

By January 11, 2017No Comments
  • British troops on the Western Front launch an attack on the Ancre, capturing Munich Trench near Beaumont Hamel. The British raid continues for two months, until 13 March. Operations on the Ancre January–March 1917
  • British troops occupy Hai in Mesopotamia
  • Shore-based Turkish artillery bombards the Royal Navy seaplane-carrier Ben-my-Chree, at anchor in the Greek island of Kastelorizo. The crew is ordered to abandon ship forty minutes into the attack, with five men sustaining injuries. The bombardment continues for five hours, until the vessel lists and sinks in shallow water. Later in the day, the captain and the chief engineer return to the ship to rescue the ship’s mascots, a cat and dog which had survived the attack. On 12 August 1915 Ben-my-Chree became part of aviation history, being the platform for the first ship-launched airborne torpedo attack on a ship.

Stern view of HMS Ben-my-Chree, showing aircraft hangars. Image courtesy Imperial War Museum.