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HMS Laurentic during her war service. Image in public domain.

  • HMS Laurentic strikes two mines laid by the German submarine U-80 off Lough Swilly in Ireland. The vessel had departed Liverpool two days earlier for Halifax, with 475 passengers and a secret cargo of gold to purchase munitions from Canada and the US. Many of the passengers manage to board life boats, but given the extreme cold of -13C degrees, freeze to death. 354 people die, 121 survive, including the captain, Reginald Norton.
  • German destroyers shell Southwold and Wangford on the English coast near Suffolk
  • German troops on the Western Front launch four attacks north-west of Verdun, and seize two kilometres of French trenches at Hill 304
  • Russian counter-attacks on the Eastern Front fail; fierce fighting continues near Lake Babit
  • Allied forces capture enemy trenches on the Hai salient south-west of Kut-al-Amara; Turkish counter-attacks recover a little ground.