http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/16.htm
November 16th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: Coventry: The Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison, escorts King George VI through the ruins of the city. The Mayor remarks: “We’ve always wanted a site for a new civic centre, and now we have it.”
RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group. Five crews of 105 Squadron ( Blenheim) hit the airfields at Hingene, Evere, Duerne and Vucht. One aircraft is lost to ground fire.
ASW trawler HMS Arsenal sunk on the Clyde after colliding with destroyer ORP Burza.
Corvette HMS Pimpernel launched.
Light cruiser HMS Jamaica launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Arran launched.
Corvette HMS Bryony laid down.
Corvette KNS Montbretia (ex-HMS Montbretia) laid down.
Destroyer HMS Cotswold commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
The Canada Steamships merchantman Sherbrooke (2,052 GRT) was damaged when she was attacked by Luftwaffe bombers in the North Sea, off Orfordness. There is no record of casualties in this incident. (Dave Shirlaw)
ENGLISH CHANNEL: Submarine HMS Swordfish, setting out on bay of Biscay patrol, strikes an enemy mine off the Isle of Wight and sinks.
GERMANY: U-147, U-148, U-751 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
GREECE: 3,500 British military personnel have been ferried from Alexandria to Piraeus.
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Gouldburn launched.
Minesweeper HMAS Townsville laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
CANADA: Corvettes HMCS Camrose and Sorel launched Sorel, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Osprey commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-137 sank SS Planter.
U-65 sank SS Fabian in Convoy OB-234. U-65 provided two shipwrecked survivors of sunken Fabian with medical aid, food and water. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 443 November 16, 1940
In Albania, Greek 3rd Army Corps breaks through the defenses of Italian 9th Army near Korçë in the Morava Mountains. 500 miles away, residents of the town of Menton on the French Riviera 1 mile from the Italian border mock their Italian neighbors with a sign “This is French territory. Greeks, do not advance any further”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes%27_Cemetery
250 miles Southwest of Sierra Leone, U-65 sinks British SS Fabian with a torpedo and the deckgun (6 crew lost). 33 survivors are questioned then given food and water by the Germans, who also treat 2 wounded men, and then picked up by British tanker British Statesman and landed at Freetown.
30 miles North of Ireland at 8.15 PM, U-137 sinks British SS Planter (killing 12 crew and 1 passenger, a displaced seaman hitching a ride home to Britain). 59 crew and 1 gunner are picked up by destroyer HMS Clare and landed at Liverpool. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/656.html
British anti-submarine trawler HMT Arsenal sinks after colliding with Polish destroyer Burza 4 miles south of the village of Toward in the Clyde River estuary, Scotland. Arsenal’s crew is rescued by destroyer HMS Arrow and tug Superman. Arsenal’s depth charges explode, damaging HMS Arrow (under repair in the Clyde until January 14 1941). Burza is also repaired in the Clyde, completed January 27 1941.