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3rd War Patrol  of  O 19		 Jolly Roger

By Siem Spruijt, crewmember of the Dutch Submarine O 19.

We left harbour on the 18th of December 1944 for our third patrol and with an extra load of 40 mines, a fact I won't easily forget. Although I can clearly recollect the actual events, post-war manuscripts provided the exact data.

O 19 in Loch Long, Scotland 1943. Note the opened  doors of the external-traversing torpedo tubes. O 19 in Loch Long, Scotland 1943. Note the opened doors of the external-traversing torpedo tubes

We topped up the fuel tanks in Darwin on Christmas Day and headed that same day through Timor Strait for the Java sea.

A minefield was laid east of Bawean Island on the 3rd of January. With an interval of 90 seconds and a speed of 4 miles per hour, a mine was dropped in shallow water. It was the first wartime mine-laying action in history by a submerged vessel. I was quite pleased that everything went as planned. Only one uncooperative mine and this article would have never been written. It was good to be in deep open water again afterwards. An incoming "burn" told us to intercept a Japanese submarine coming out of Sunda Strait the following day. This, of course, forced us to return to that awful shallow area. If that sub appeared, we had two chances: we could either torpedo her or, with luck, she might run into our minefield. We kept on watch but the Jap sub was never sighted.

We were more successful several days later, but also ran into a lot of misery I remember as if it were yesterday.

On the 9th of January, another burn-signal notified us that a rather small convoy was sailing eastwards south of Borneo, where it was nice and deep. But because American submarines were operating here as well, the CO decided to attack by the shallow coast of Borneo. In order to arrive there in time, we sailed on the surface across the Java Sea during daylight hours. A mast appeared above the horizon somewhere near Tandjoen Poeting just before sunset. We sailed submerged far ahead of her, looking for deeper water. Surfacing at sunset, a freighter of about 900 tons came into sight, escorted by a destroyer.

The CO decided to attack right away before it got too dark, in spite of the shallow water. Three torpedoes were fired and 59 seconds later (it was customary to count) we heard an explosion, followed shortly thereafter by one hell of a bang, probably a boiler explosion. Immediately after firing, we turned around at full speed to run towards the bottom, with only 60 feet of water above us.

The freighter had disappeared forever, but the escort came straight at us, full speed ahead. The no-noise routine was put into effect. Nobody moved and orders were given silently.

Shortly afterwards, the Jap was right above us without, however, dropping any depth-charges. We heard 3 depth-charges explode in the distance some time later. This encouraged us as we lay quietly on the bottom, hoping not to be discovered.

Roughly an hour had passed, while on duty in the control room, before we again heard the escort coming straight towards and over us, dropping 5 depth-charges at a close range. The stern was lifted high up and slammed down again. Lights went out, glass flew all over the place and bodies fell on top of each other. The damage was enormous. I could hear leakage everywhere, giving off the sound of escaping air. A fire had started. Seawater ran over the main switchboard, causing a bluish glow. I remember hydraulic oil hitting my neck.

For a moment I was scared, scared to death, but returned to work seconds later.

Serious trouble began in two other compartments at the same time. Valves outside of the hull of the air conditioning system broke in the engine room, discharging poisonous gasses inboard. The watertight doors were closed in order to isolate the engine room and to prevent the gasses from getting into the boat any further. The forward battery-compartment was also in a deplorable state. Seawater was leaking into the boat everywhere and everything possible was done to prevent it from getting into the battery tank, which would have been disastrous for all of us. A tarpaulin guided the water into the bilge. We then had to work on temporarily stopping as much leakage as possible without making any noise and using tools wrapped in cloth.

Meanwhile, gasses were leaking into the control room through inadequate connections in the bulkhead, so we needed to wear gas masks. Those crewmembers not absolutely necessary were evacuated to the conning tower because the gasses, which were heavier than air, had not yet poisoned the air there.

O 19 surfacing O 19 surfacing
O 19 surfacing (Photo: © Collection F. Toon)

When the lights went on again, we could see an awful lot of glass lying around from the lights and gauges. One periscope was beyond repair and the gyrocompass was out of order. The door to the forward torpedo room could not be opened on account of over-pressure and, as the telephones weren't working, we had no idea what the situation in there was.

It was almost impossible to stay submerged for any longer. At 22.30 hour the CO decided to surface and make a run for it. The much too heavy boat broke the surface very slowly and with a considerable list. Opening the tower hatch equalized the pressure and the engine room could be opened.

Noticing the escort very close by, most likely on the lookout for survivors with her searchlights, the CO immediately gave 3 klaxons and down we went again, hitting the bottom with a thump.

It must have been due to a miracle that we were not detected, as we had made a lot of noise when surfacing. The decision was made to get both diesels ready for a final attempt to get away.

So, some of us went into the engine room after forcing the door and using breathing sets only to discover that the room was flooded as high as the floor plates. Fuel and water leaks were repaired, at times using medieval methods, and the diesels were prepared. Because some valves could not be reached while wearing breathing sets, the personnel tried working without them. Two of the men soon fell unconscious, were pulled out, brought back to "life" again and, believe it or not, went right back in there again. The engine room personnel succeeded at long last, while an electrician temporarily repaired a much-needed lubrication-oil pump.

We could surface again finally. There was only enough high-pressure air for one main ballast tank to blow; the others had to be emptied using the low-pressure blower. The general idea was to stream for deep water, stop to refresh the engine oil pumps and empty the bilges.

We felt a terrible vibration, though, as soon we started the diesels and the boat’s stern was shaking violently. Both propellers must have been seriously damaged. More technical failures made it doubtful whether we would ever be able to cover the thousands of miles to our base with an ever-watchful enemy around.

We were told that our CO had sent a message in which he explained the situation and added that the entire scenario was "worthy of a Hollywood film". The USN's response was "well done", offering at the same time to pick up the crew and sink the boat, which we courteously rejected.

As we say in Holland: "luck is for the poor", so on the15th of January, we reached Darwin at long last, where a diver reported the loss of both aft hydroplanes. He also reported that both propellers looked like a couple of heads of cabbage. A number of the upper structure plates had been torn off by those depth-charges.

Finally, two days later, we reached our Fremantle base in a state of great relief. I shall never forget the honour shown to us by all of the American ships as we slowly sailed by and I am not ashamed to admit that I felt extremely emotional at the time.

This is the story of only one of the patrols from the good Fremantle base. The O 19 sank 33,500 tons of merchant and warships in total and numerous junks and sampans by gunfire.

O 19 on the Ladd Reef
(Photo: © Collection G.D. Horneman).		 O 19 on the Ladd Reef

Unfortunately, we had to leave her on Ladd Reef for good and were rescued by the gallant crew of the USS COD. But that’s another story.

 

By Siem Spruijt, crewmember of the Dutch Submarine O 19

 

 

O 19 related pages
O 19 boat history
O 19 class specifications
3rd War Patrol  of  O 19
Fatal War Patrol  of  O 19
O 19 in WWII
Loading mines on board O 19
 
O 19 related books
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Off-site
Official USS COD website
Siem Spruijt’s Onderzeeboot perikelen
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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