Allied Warships

HNMS K X

Submarine of the K VIII class

NavyThe Royal Dutch Navy
TypeSubmarine
ClassK VIII 
Pennant 
Built byKoninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde (Vlissingen (Flushing), The Netherlands) 
Ordered27 Jun 1917 
Laid down1 Nov 1919 
Launched2 May 1923 
Commissioned24 Sep 1923 
Lost2 Mar 1942 
History

HrMs K X (Lt 1Klasse Paulus Gijsbertus de Back) is scuttled by her own crew at Soerabaya on 2 March 1942 to prevent her capture by the Japanese. 

Commands listed for HNMS K X

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

CommanderFromTo
1luitenant ter zee 2e klasse (Lt.) Baron Carel Wessel Theodorus van Boetzelaer, RNN9 Dec 193913 Apr 1940

2luitenant ter zee 2e klasse (Lt.) Baron Carel Wessel Theodorus van Boetzelaer, RNN14 Oct 19404 Nov 1940

3luitenant ter zee 1e klasse (Lt.Cdr.) Adolf Hendrik Deketh, RNN14 Feb 194129 Mar 1941

4luitenant ter zee 1e klasse (Lt.Cdr.) Paulus Gijsbertus de Back, RNN8 Dec 19412 Mar 1942

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Notable events involving K X include:


8 Dec 1941
HrMs K X is put into commission from reserve with the crew of HrMs K IX that returned to Surabaya for repairs. Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN is in command. As K X was not in a good state she was initially assigned for the local defence of Surabaya.

18 Dec 1941
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) departed Surabaya for a short patrol in the Eastern entrance to Strait Madura.

25 Dec 1941
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) departed Surabaya to attack Japanese warships in Davao Gulf, Philippines.

30 Dec 1941
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) is ordered to proceed to Tarakan, Borneo, Netherlands East Indies instead of Davao Gulf. She had to proceed to Ambon first for fuel and distilled water.

31 Dec 1941
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) arrived at Ambon, Netherlands East Indies.

1 Jan 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) departed Ambon for Tarakan.

8 Jan 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) arrived at Tarakan for distilled water for the battery and fresh supplies. Also small repairs were carried out.

9 Jan 1942
When leaving Tarakan to take up a patrol position off that place HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) is forced to return with a defective compressor of her port diesel engine. The compressor had to be landed as it could not be repaired on board.

10 Jan 1942
Due to Japanese air attacks HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) retired about a mile up the Kali river and places herself on the bottom of the river.

In the afternoon the engineer officer was sighted in a small rowing boat. K X surfaced and took him on board. The compressor was still not repaired but he informed Lt.Cdr. de Back that a Japanese landing force had arrived and that the had to try to escape to Surabaya on one engine.

In the late afternoon K X therefore set course to escape through a gap in the minefield. This had to be done in daylight as the gap was small and accurate navigation therefore was essential. While doing so K X was attacked by a Japanese aircraft. A bomb was dropped and K X was strafed by machine gun fire causing minor damage to the ships hull. As soon as clear of the minefield and in deep enough water K X submerged. During the night K X slipped past the Japanese force. Meanwhile several serious defects had occured.

19 Jan 1942
After a very difficult passage on her only 'serviceable' diesel engine HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) arrived at Surabaya. During daylight hours K X submerged to allow the engine room staff to conduct repairs to this engine to keep it going.

24 Feb 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) departed Surabaya to patrol to the North of Madura. However she returned later the same day with, yet again, a defective compressor.

28 Feb 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) departed Surabaya to patrol off the North Coast of Java near Lasem.

During the late afternoon and evening K X is twice detected by Japanese destroyers and depth charged and shelled. Some damage was inflicted on the submarine but the material state of K X was very bad and several leaks occured making depth control very difficult.

1 Mar 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) returned to Surabaya for repairs.

2 Mar 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) is scuttled at Surabaya. She was in her current state not able to evacuate to Australia.


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