Name O 22 Commissioned 10 May 1940 Class and type O 21-class submarine Launched 20 January 1940 Draft 3.95 m | Laid down 20 November 1937 Fate Lost in 1940 Construction started 20 November 1937 Length 78 m | |
Displacement 990 tons surfaced
1205 tons submerged Builders Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding, Flushing | ||
O 22, laid down K XXII was an O 21-class submarine of the Royal Netherlands Navy that saw service during World War II.
Ship history
The submarine was ordered on 12 April 1937 and laid down on 20 November 1937 as K XXII at the Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde, Vlissingen. During construction she was renamed O 22, and was finally launched on 20 January 1940. Following the German invasion of 10 May 1940, O 22 was hastily commissioned, still incomplete, and sailed for England on 12 May together with her sister O 21 and the tugboat B.V. 37, to be finally completed at the Navy yard in Rosyth.
During the war she operated in the North Sea and made five patrols. During her last patrol O 22 was lost with her entire crew, 42 Dutch and 3 British sailors. Her wreck was discovered in 1993 by a ship of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. On 2 November 1996 a ceremony at the wreck site was held to commemorate the loss.