June 5, 1916
Air War:
German pilot Herbert Wilhelm Franz Knappe, flying an unnamed aircraft on the Russian Front, shoots down an "Enemy aircraft" for victory number 1.
The Controversy
North Sea:
British armoured cruiser HMS
Hampshire, 10,850 tons, runs on a mine laid by Curt Beitzen in
U-75, near the west coast of the Orkney Islands. Due to the strike taking place in a gale, rescue operations are limited and 737 crew members die (643 according to Wrecksite.eu). Among the dead is Lord Kitchener, on his way to a diplomatic mission in Russia. This is Beitzen's first sinking.
Ionian Sea:
French destroyer
Fantassin, 450 tons, is crippled in a collision with destroyer
Mameluk. The crew are taken off and
Fantassin is sunk by the guns of destroyer
Fauconneau, off Fano Island (modern Othonoi), Greece.