HNLMS O 20
O 20
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Netherlands
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| Name: | O 20 |
| Builder: | Fijenoord, Rotterdam |
| Laid down: | 15 June 1936 |
| Launched: | 31 January 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 28 August 1939 |
| Fate: | Sunk on 19 December 1941 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | O 19-class submarine |
| Displacement: |
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| 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: |
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| Speed: |
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| Range: | |
| Complement: | 40 |
| Armament: |
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O 20, laid down as K XX, was a O 19-class submarine of the Royal Netherlands Navy that saw service during World War II. O 20 along with her sister ship O 19 were the first boats in the world to be equipped with a submarine snorkel that allowed the submarine to run its diesel engines while submerged.
O 20 was laid down 15 June 1936 as K XX. After which at some point she was renamed O 20. She was launched on 31 January 1939, and on 28 August of the same year she was commissioned in the Dutch navy.
She was put into a squadron that consisted of two submarines: O 20 and O 15, and the sloop Van Kinsbergen. This squadron departed the Netherlands for the Netherlands West Indies on either 2 or 3 October 1939.
By December 1939 O 20 reached the Dutch East Indies via the Panama Canal.
On 10 May 1940 Germany attacked the Netherlands. On 7 December 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the US into the war. The Netherlands followed suit hours later. By early December 1941, O 20 had been stationed at Singapore Submarine Base and was under the command of the British Eastern Fleet.
On 14 December 1941 O 20 was under orders to patrol the South China Sea. When two battleships and six cruisers were sighted, O 20 and O 19 were given orders to gain position on the enemy ships. The two subs would split paths en route to the target when 13 transports were spotted off Patani, Thailand and another 20 off Kota Bharu, Malaysia.
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Wikipedia