Name K XVII Laid down 1 June 1931 Class and type K XIV class submarine Launched 26 July 1932 Draft 3.93 m | Builder Fijenoord, Rotterdam Commissioned 19 December 1933 Construction started 1 June 1931 Length 74 m | |
Fate Struck by a mine on 21 December 1941 | ||
K XVII was one of five K XIV class submarines built for the Royal Netherlands Navy. She served during World War II.
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Service history
The submarine was laid down in Rotterdam at the shipyard of Fijenoord on 1 June 1931. The launch took place on 26 July 1932. On 19 December 1933 the boat was commissioned in the Dutch navy. From 20 June to 1 August 1934 K XVII, K XVIII, Hertog Hendrik, Evertsen and Z 5 made a trip to the Baltic Sea, visiting the ports of Gdynia, Königsberg, Riga and Copenhagen.
In early January 1935 K XVII and her sister K XVI, were sent to the Dutch East Indies where they arrived on 26 March 1935 in Padang. On 6 September 1938 she participated in a fleet show at Surabaya. The show was held in honor of the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands who was than 40 years the head of state. More than twenty navy ships participated in the show.
World War II
During the war K XVII patrolled in the South China Sea, off Malaya and in the Gulf of Siam. While exiting the Gulf of Siam in December 1941 she hit a Japanese mine and sunk. The entire crew of thirty-six men perished. Her wreck was located in 1978.
There are several conspiracy theories involving K XVII and how it allegedly sighted the Japanese fleet prior to attacking Pearl Harbor.