HNLMS O 19

O 19
Career (Netherlands)
Name: O 19
Builder: Fijenoord, Rotterdam
Laid down: 15 June 1936
Launched: 22 September 1938
Commissioned: 3 July 1939
Fate: Scuttled on 10 July 1945
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:O 19-class submarine
Displacement:1109 tons surfaced
1491 tons submerged
Length:80.7 m (264 ft 9 in)
Beam:7.41 m (24 ft 4 in)
Draught:3.87 m (12 ft 8 in)
Propulsion:2 × 2,650 bhp (1,976 kW) diesel engines
2 × 500 bhp (373 kW) electric motors
Speed:19.5 kn (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph) surfaced
9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) submerged
Range:10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) on the surface
27 nmi (50 km; 31 mi) at 8.5 kn (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) submerged
Complement:40
Armament:4 × 21 inch bow torpedo tubes
4 × 21 inch stern torpedo tubes
Mine tubes: 2 x 10 external shafts amidships each side.

O 19, laid down as K XIX, was an O 19-class submarine of the Royal Netherlands Navy that saw service during World War II. O 19, along with her sister ship O 20 were the first submarines in the world to be equipped with a submarine snorkel that allowed the submarine to run its diesel engines while submerged.[1][2]

Ship history

O 19 aground on Ladd Reef

The submarine's keel was laid at the Wilton-Fijenoord shipyard in Rotterdam on 15 June 1936 as K XIX but was renamed O 19 at some point. The submarine was launched on 22 September 1938 and commissioned in the Dutch navy on 3 July 1939. From 25 July until 13 September 1939, O 19 sailed to the Dutch East Indies via the Suez Canal.[3]

The submarine performed multiple patrols and missions in the Pacific theater of World War II, sinking multiple Japanese vessels, attacking shipping convoys and laying mines.[3]

On 8 July 1945, O 19 was en route to Subic Bay in the Philippines at a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) when it struck Ladd Reef in the South China Sea. Unable to pull free of the reef, the crew of O 19 were rescued by USS Cod. To prevent enemy capture, O 19 was scuttled by her crew using explosives, torpedoes and gunfire.[3]

Summary of raiding history

Ships sunk by O 19.[2]

Date Ship name Nationality/Type Tonnage (GRT) Fate
10 January 1942 Akita Maru Japanese freighter 3817 Sunk[3]
15 January 1942 Tairu/Taieryu Maru Japanese ? 4944 Sunk[3]
10 September 1944 Korei Maru Japanese merchant 599 Sunk
16 November 1944 Kaishin Maru No.2 Japanese coaster 150 Sunk[3]
9 January 1945 Shinko Maru No.1 Japanese auxiliary gunboat 935 Sunk
10 April 1945 Hosei Maru Japanese merchant tanker 676 Sunk

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Dutch Submarines: The O 19 submarine class". dutchsubmarines.com. 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Helgason, Guðmundur (2013). "HNMS O 19". uboat.net. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Dutch Submarines: The submarine O 19". dutchsubmarines.com. 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2013.

External links

Coordinates: 8°40′N 111°40′E / 8.667°N 111.667°E