The O 9-class submarine consisted of three submarines, built for the Royal Netherlands Navy. Used for patrols in the Dutch home waters. The class comprised O 9, O 10, and O 11. Its diving depth was 60 metres (200 ft).
 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | O 9 class |
| Builders |
|
| Operators |  Royal Netherlands Navy |
| Preceded by | HNLMS O 8 |
| Succeeded by | O 12 class |
| Built | 1923–1926 |
| In commission | 1926–1944 |
| Completed | 3 |
| Lost | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Submarine |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 54.66 m (179 ft 4 in) |
| Beam | 5.7 m (18 ft 8 in) |
| Draught | 3.53 m (11 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range | |
| Complement | 29 |
| Armament |
|
Design
The O 9-class submarines were designed by J.J. van der Struyff, at the time chief engineer of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNN).[1] Together with the submarines of the K XI class they were the first submarines designed fully in-house by the RNN, which resulted in the first indigenous Dutch submarine design.[2][3] The submarines of the O 9-class were the first Dutch submarines built with two propellers and a double hull.[4] Previous classes only had a single hull and one propeller. As a result the submarines of the O 9-class had a different external shape in comparison to previous Dutch submarine classes as they were no longer cigar shaped.[1] The submarines had a length of 54.66 meters, a beam of 5.70 meters and a draught of 3.53 meters.[5] Furthermore, each submarine had a displacement of 526 ton while surfaced and 656 ton underwater.[6] The diving depth of the O 9 class was 60 meters.[7]
The primary armament of the O 9-class submarines consisted of five torpedo tubes; two 53.3 cm torpedo tubes and three 45 cm torpedo tubes.[8][9] The 45 cm torpedo tubes were unusual since most contemporary submarines in service with foreign navies at the time did not use 45 cm torpedo tubes anymore.[10] In addition to the torpedo tubes, each submarine had a single 8.8 cm cannon and a machine gun, which could be used against planes.[6] There was also enough room in the submarine to store 10 torpedoes.[8]
The O 9-class submarines were equipped with two 6 cylinder two-stroke diesel engines made by the company Sulzer in Winterthur.[11][5] Besides the diesel engines, it also had two electric motors and 120 cells.[4] This gave a capacity of 4350 Ah and allowed the submarine to operate solely on electric power for 3 hours.[8] The engines allowed the submarines to reach 900 hp when surfaced and 500 hp underwater, which resulted in a maximum speed while surfaced of 12 kn and underwater 8 knots.[12][4]
Service history
In the morning of 6 March 1940 the submarines of the O 9-class were planning to do exercises near Texel that would be filmed for propaganda purposes.[13] However, while leaving the harbor of Den Helder the O 11 got rammed by the surveillance vessel BV 3 and as a result of severe damage sunk.[14]
At the time of the German invasion O 11 was under repair in Den Helder.[7] On 14 May 1940 she was scuttled there to prevent her being captured by German forces. However the Germans raised the ship and ordered it repaired. In September 1944 O 11 was sunk in Den Helder to block the entrance of the harbour.[15]
Ships in class
The ships were built by three different shipyards. O 9 was built by the Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde in Flushing, O 10 in Amsterdam at the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij and O 11 in Rotterdam at Fijenoord shipyard.[9][16]
| Name | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Decommissioned |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| O 9 | 23 September 1922 | 7 April 1925 | 18 January 1926 | 1 December 1944 |
| O 10 | 24 December 1923 | 30 July 1925 | 1 September 1926 | 11 October 1944 |
| O 11 | 24 December 1922 | 19 March 1925 | 18 January 1926 | Dutch Navy: 14 May 1940 (scuttled) German navy: September 1944 (sunk) |
Citations
References
- Jalhay, P.C. (1982). Nederlandse Onderzeedienst 75 jaar (in Dutch). Bussum: De Boer Maritiem. ISBN 90-228-1864-0.
- Bosscher, Ph.M.; Bussemaker, H.O. (2007). Gelouterd door strijd: De Nederlandse Onderzeedienst tot de val van Java, 1942 (in Dutch). Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw. ISBN 978-90-6707-614-2.
- Mark, Chris (1997). Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in W.O. II (in Dutch). Alkmaar: De Alk. ISBN 90-6013-522-9.
- Bosscher, Ph.M. (1984). De Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (in Dutch). Vol. 1: Voorgeschiedenis en de verrichtingen in Nederland, de Europese wateren en het noordelijke deel van de Atlantische Oceaan tot het uitbreken van de oorlog in Azië (December 1941). Franeker: Wever. ISBN 90-6135-371-8.
- von Münching, L.L. (1978). Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (in Dutch). Alkmaar: Alk. ISBN 90-6013-903-8.
- Raven, G.J.A., ed. (1988). De kroon op het anker: 175 jaar Koninklijke Marine (in Dutch). Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw. ISBN 90-6707-200-1.
Further reading
- Jalhay, P.C.; Wijn, J.J.A. (1997). Ik nader ongezien! De onderzeeboten van de Koninklijke Marine. Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw. ISBN 9067074624.