HNLMS O 23

O 23, laid down as K XXIII, was an O 21-class submarine of the Royal Netherlands Navy that saw service during World War II. During the war she sank and damaged several ships.

O 23
History
Netherlands
Name: O 23
Builder: Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij, Rotterdam
Laid down: 12 October 1937
Launched: 5 December 1939
Commissioned: 13 May 1940
Decommissioned: 1 December 1948
Fate: Sold for scrapping, April 1949
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: O 21-class submarine
Displacement:
  • 990 tons surfaced
  • 1205 tons submerged
Length: 77.7 m (254 ft 11 in)
Beam: 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in)
Draught: 3.95 m (13 ft 0 in)
Propulsion:
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) surfaced
  • 28 nmi (52 km; 32 mi) at 8.5 kn (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) submerged
Complement: 39
Armament:
  • 4 × 21 in (533 mm) bow torpedo tubes
  • 2 × 21 in stern torpedo tubes
  • 2 × 21 in (1×2) external-traversing TT amidships

Ship history

The submarine was ordered on 9 June 1937 and laid down on 12 October 1937 as K XXIII at the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij, Rotterdam. During construction she was renamed O 23, and was finally launched on 5 December 1939. Following the German invasion of 10 May 1940, O 23 was hastily commissioned, still incomplete, and sailed for England on 13 May to be completed at the Thornycroft shipyard at Southampton.[2]

During the war she operated in the North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. O 23 made twenty patrols during the war in the course of which she sank or damaged five ships. She survived the war and was decommissioned on 1 December 1948, being sold for scrap in April of the following year.[2][3]

Summary of raiding history

Ships sunk and damaged by O 23.[3]

DateShip nameNationality/TypeTonnage (GRT)Fate
30 June 1941CapacitasItalian tanker5371Sunk
27 July 1942Shofuku Maru No.2Japanese merchant ship729Damaged
2 August 1942Zenyo MaruJapanese army cargo ship6440Damaged (burned out and later declared a total loss)
2 August 1942Ohio MaruJapanese transport ship5872Sunk[2]
25 October 1942Shinyu MaruJapanese merchant ship4622Damaged

References
  1. "Dutch Submarines: The O 21 submarine class". dutchsubmarines.com. 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  2. "Dutch Submarines: The submarine O 23". dutchsubmarines.com. 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  3. Helgason, Guðmundur (2013). "HNMS O 23". uboat.net. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
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