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O24 (Dutch)

Build Group: O21
Fate: Decommissioned in June 1955.
Sold to be broken up for scrap in June or September 1963.
O24 in 1948
O24 in 1948

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The submarine was laid down as K XXIV at the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij shipyard in Rotterdam. During construction she was renamed O24. Following the German invasion she was hastily commissioned, still incomplete, and sailed for England to be finally completed at the Thornycroft shipyard at Southampton.

From September 1940 she was attached to the 9th Submarine Flotilla at Dundee for patrols in the North Sea and off the Norwegian coast. In March 1941 she joined the 8th Submarine Flotilla at Gibraltar for operations in the Bay of Biscay and Atlantic Ocean, and convoy patrol duties. She also operated off the east coast of Italy, sinking several ships.

In July 1942she was transferred to the British Eastern Fleet based at Colombo in Ceylon for operations in the Indian Ocean. Her patrols took her into the Strait of Malacca, off Sumatra, and around the Andaman Islands, attacking Japanese shipping and also landing small groups of British special forces on various islands. In mid-1944 she was refitted at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, then sailed for Fremantle, Australia, for further operations in the East Indies. After the Japanese surrender she was based at Batavia, before finally returning to the Netherlands in April 1946.

O24 was reduced to the status of training ship in 1947, and was decommissioned in June 1955 to serve as a floating battery until 1958, then as an instruction vessel until 1962 and sold for scrapping the following year

The most famous occupant of O24 was Piet de Jong, who was the commanding officer from 1944 until 1946 and who later became Minister of Defence in 1963 and served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1967 until 1971.

Events

12-11-1937 : Laid down
18-03-1940 : Launched
13-05-1940 : Commissioned and departed the Lekhaven in Rotterdam bound for the U.K
16-05-1940 : Arrived at Portsmouth along with HrMs O9, HrMs O10 and HrMs O23
29-10-1940 : Fired two torpedoes against a German merchant vessel, most likely the Alsterufer, off Bergen, Norway. No hits were obtained.
12-06-1941 : Sank the Italian tanker Fianona off Vada, Toscana, Italy with torpedoes and gunfire.

Also sank the Italian auxiliary patrol vessel V 121 / Carloforte with gunfire and ramming 36 nautical miles northwest of Gorgona.
17-06-1941 : About 5 nautical miles southwest of Livorno O24 fired three torpedoes at the Italian tanker Caucaso, the torpedoes however missed the target.
06-08-1941 : Torpedoed and sank the Italian merchant Bombardiere off Cape di Fregene, Italy.
07-08-1941 : O24 missed an Italian sailing vessel with a torpedo but later on this day sank the Italian sailing vessel Margherita Madre with gunfire about 8 nautical miles southwest of Anzio, Italy.
12-08-1941 : Attacked the Italian auxiliary patrol vessel V 111 / Eraldo with gunfire about 20 nautical miles south-southwest of Cagliary Bay, Sardinia, Italy. The action had to be broken off when 24 ran out of ammunition for the deck gun.
06-09-1941 : Sank the Italian auxiliary patrol vessel V 63 / Carla with gunfire in the Gulf of Genoa about 30 nautical miles from Gorgona Island, Italy. O24 had first fired two torpedoes that both missed.
09-09-1941 : Torpedoed and sank the Italian merchant Italo Balbo about 10 nautical miles west of Elba Island, Italy.
11-09-1941 : Encountered a Motor-Torpedo Boat. Five minutes later two torpedo tracks were seen coming from starboard which were evaded. O24 cleared the area at speed.
13-10-1941 : Attacked the Italian tanker Saturno about 5 nautical miles West of Fiumicino, Italy. No hits were obtained and O24 was briefly depth charged following the attack.
17-10-1941 : Landed a party of two to sabotage a railway near Framura, Italy. The party was to return after a few hours but they were captured by the Italians.
11-12-1941 : Attacked the German submarine U-652 with three torpedoes about 15 nautical miles west of Ustica Island. No hits were obtained.
17-06-1942 : Runs aground sustaining minor damage to her keel during torpedo firing trials off Dundee.
01-11-1942 : Attacked a Japanese merchant vessel with two torpedoes about 60 nautical miles west-northwest of Langkawi. Two torpedoes were fired but no hits were obtained.
06-11-1942 : Attacked a Japanese merchant vessel with two torpedoes about 45 nautical miles west-northwest of Penang. No hits were obtained.
21-02-1943 : Sank the Japanese coaster Bandai Maru with gunfire west of Phuket Island.
19-05-1943 : Attacked a Japanese merchant vessel with four torpedoes off the north coast of Sumatra. All torpedoes fired missed the target.
31-07-1943 : Shelled in error by the American merchant Point Clear South of Ceylon. No damage was sustained.
19-08-1943 : Attacked the German supply ship Quito with four torpedoes west of the Sembilan Islands. No hits were obtained as Quito was able to evade the torpedoes.
20-08-1943 : Torpedoed and sank the Japanese auxiliary gunboat Chosa Maru 8 nautical miles southwest of Penang, Malaya. The Chosa Maru had left Penang a few hours before when the Japanese heard of the attack on the German Quito the day before.
25-09-1943 : O24 encountered a Japanese submarine about 20 nautical miles southwest of Penang. Due to the bad visibility, the submarine was sighted at very close range. An attack with torpedoes was not possible. O24 could not be brought in position to fire torpedoes before contact was lost in the bad visibility.
31-10-1943 : Attacked a Japanese merchant vessel of 4000-5000 tons off the northeast coast of Sumatra. Four torpedoes were fired but the target was able to evade the torpedoes.
03-11-1943 : Attacked a Japanese light cruiser of the Kuma-class with four torpedoes in the Malacca Straits. No hits were obtained. The cruiser is thought to be either Kitakami or Oi
13-06-1945 : Attacked the Japanese torpedo boat Kiji about 70 nautical miles west-southwest of Makassar. Four torpedoes were fired but all missed. O24 was depth charged following this failed attack.
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