K. Kriegsmarine) during World War I. U-16 was constructed in Germany and shipped by rail to Pola where she was assembled and completed in September 1915.

U-16 carried Field Marshal Svetozar Borojević of the Austro-Hungarian Army as an observer while performing diving tests after engine repairs in January 1916.

Although most members of the class were outfitted with a 37 mm/23 (1.5 in) quick-firing (QF) gun to supplement their armament in October 1916, it is not known whether this upgrade had yet taken place on U-16 by the time of her sinking during that month.

[1][3] When completed, the submarine was broken down into sections, loaded onto railcars, and shipped on 20 August to the Austro-Hungarian Navy's main base at Pola.

[4] SM U-16 was commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 6 October under the command of Linienschiffsleutnant Eugen Hornyák Edler von Horn.

Three days later, Zopa and U-16 scored their first success, when they sank the 25 GRT Italian sailing vessel Unione in the Gulf of Drin.

The first, departing Kotor on 19 December, was cut short by severe weather that forced the submarine back to port.

[4] U-16's repairs were complete by 9 January 1916 when the submarine departed Pula for diving tests with Field Marshal Svetozar Borojević of the Austro-Hungarian Army on board as an observer.

Off Durrës on 4 February, Zopa and U-16 launched a torpedo attack on the steamer Assyria being escorted by the Italian destroyers Animoso and Garibaldino.

On 11 March, a valve on U-16 leaked and water flooded into the boat, inundating the batteries, which released chlorine gas.

The submarine made a detour to Djenovic on 11 October to replace another faulty gyrocompass,[4] but quickly resumed her journey to the Vlorë area.

[6][12] Smith reports that 11 men aboard U-16, including her commanding officer Zopa, lost their lives in the sinking, and that two survivors were picked up.

[1] In 2015 the Albanian-American team comprising the RPM Nautical Foundation and The Albanian Center for Marine Research located a wreck south-west of Karaburun Peninsula in Vlorë County, Albania.