Search for the submarine Hr.Ms. O13: (NewsBlog up to 2012)

The Dutch navy lost a total of seven Dutch submarines during World War II. Since then six of these submarines are traced and identified. The last found sub K16, wrecked by a Japanese submarine, was found near Borneo end 2011. Only the submarine Hr. Ms. O13 isn´t located up till now. The O13 sunk somewhere on the Northsea. The Royal Dutch Navy finally plans for a search of the last submarine O13, starting this year 2012. Even today it is still not clear how Hr.Ms. O-13 was lost. The ship, under the command of Lieutenant Commander E.H Vorser, was reported missing after 21 June 1940. It was claimed that the Polish submarine Wilk had rammed the Dutch ship on 20 June because the Polish commander believed that he was engaging a German U-boat. The Polish commander reported that this submarine was hit near to its cannon, but Hr.Ms O-13 had no such armament. More likely, the Dutch ship has been sunk 13 June 1940 in a new unknown German minefield positioned at 56'55N 03E Besides the O13 more submarines have been sunk in that area, read here .... For the last letter send from Dundee by the Sea Commander 1st Class Edward Herbert Vorster, click here.

31-08-2012. Dutch Navy to search for Dundee-based submarine lost in WWII. BBC NEWS Tayside and Central Scotland A Dutch naval expedition is hoping to locate the wreck of a Dundee-based World War Two submarine more than 70 years after it disappeared. O-13, or Onderzeeboot 13, escaped from Holland during the German invasion in May 1940 to join the Royal Navy. The boat failed to return from a mission in the North Sea in June that year. O-13 is the only Dutch submarine lost during the war which has not been located and given war grave status. Read further here .... or in Spanish here .... Other news articles on the subject of the memorial services of 2012 in Dundee: -Dundee harbour to be scene of commemoration of tragic wartime mystery, read here ... -Dundee service to remember Second World War maritime tragedy, read here ...

July 2012. Movie about search and identification of submarine wrecks. The film "Deep Wreck Mysteries" in episode 1 gives a good picture of how experts work in search for submarine wrecks. It tells in these series how they track down, investigate, and identify a submarine wreck. However, the movie unfolds to a tragic end in which the demise of three submarines slowly reveals to the viewer. It shows how and where deep mines were laid, what they looked like and what the devastating impact of hitting a mine exactly meant. How within a few seconds a giant hole is beaten somewhere in the steel hull of the boat where the sea fills the new open space almost immediately. And then one involuntarily thinks of the O13 which probably also hitted a mine and where within a few minutes only silence reigned. Relatives of the crew of the three U-boats heard for the first time what really happened to their beloved ones and were finally able to show their last respects. Relatives of the O13 crew are still hoping .... This film is produced for BBC Canada by a.o. Innes McCartney. He is a deep-wreck diver, a historical consultant specializing in submarines, and a naval history and diving publisher. He has discovered many historic shipwrecks, including the M1 and HK Komet, and HMS Indefatigable and HMS Defence at Jutland; organized the Operation Deadlight expeditions; identified 44 mystery submarine wrecks; and been a key figure in the making of TV documentaries such as Deep Wreck Detectives and Clash of the Dreadnoughts. Innes was also the first diver to visit all three of the greatest diveable liner wrecks: Britannic, Lusitania and Andrea Doria The playlist of the film can be found here.

International Request for wreck information, July 2012. The Committee Relatives of Lost Submarine Crews 1940-1945, the Royal Netherlands Navy and ChartworX have joined together in there search for the dutch submarine O13. They have the folowing request: " .... In order to bring our search to a successful conclusion, we need help from you, the North Sea being your working area, in some cases for many years already. You may have useful information about wrecks and other obstacles and it is even possible that parts of the O-13 or other submarines have been brought to the surface by you and are now stored in an unknown – at least to the Submarines Working Group – location. We would therefore be most grateful if you would be willing to share with us any information you have about shipwrecks that resemble submarines in this area, about parts of submarines that have been brought to the surface, or any other information that might be useful to our research. Any information you provide will be treated with strict confidentiality .......... " read the complete story including a search map and all relevant request information at The search for HNLMS O-13

2012: Media teams set up to document a search of the O13 by the Royal Dutch Navy. The media teams are working together to produce a movie about the search for the last dutch submarine Hr. Ms. O13 and about the story of her mysterious loss. As one of the results several programs are broadcasted on the dutch television last time about the O13 and possible search plans. See my dutch Search for O13 page for a list of links to relevant "news" websites. Request: The media producer is interrested in relatives who have stories or other usefull information of the following lost dutch crew members of the O13: F.A. van den Hilst, matroos der 1e klasse/ J.A. Buijs, officier marinestoomvaartdienst der 2e klasse/ J.J.A. Cadot, korporaal torpedomaker/ Th. Dam, korporaal konstabel,J. Drijver, stoker-olieman ZM/ C.L. Gend, matroos der 1e klasse/ G.J. Heikamp, korporaal machinist/ J.A. Sillevis, luitenant ter zee der 3e klasse/ W.J. Snijder, luitenant ter zee der 2e klasse KMR OV/ J.A. Vliet, korporaal monteur/ E.H. Vorster, luitenant ter zee der 1e klasse, commandant. Also relatives from the 3 british members are asked for a reaction. See O13, Still On Patrol for actual information.

2012: Diving team ready for search O13. The last missing Dutch submarine in the North Sea is O13. A team wants to collect all data related to O13, and as they write have a team ready who wants to search the O13. We planned diving depth up to 90 meter. The team consist of a group of experienced closed circuit rebreather divers. See HERE for more information.

3 November 2011: Great News: Sunken World War Two Dutch sub discovered. The first photographs of the sunken remains of a Dutch submarine that was torpedoed off the coast of Borneo by a Japanese submarine on Christmas day in 1941. Divers brought the submarine's steering wheel to the surface to help with identification of the dutch sub the HNLMS K XVI. See HERE and / or HERE for more information.

2005: As I understood the Dutch Submarine Services will celebrate its hundredth anniversary next year (2006) and would like to find still lost subs before the celebration. The "Stichting Comité nabestaanden onderzeeboten 1940-1945" will try to setup a new search for the summer of 2006, as can be read on dutchsubmarines at year 2005.

On 14 September 2005 I received a mail from somebody stating "I heard that indeed there has been a search for the O13 a couple of weeks ago by a Polish exploration ship. The Dutch Royal Navy is involved in this search. The intention was to search for 14 days but the search was abonded because of technical problems and bad weather. The search lasted 4 full days but unfortunately nothing has been found." Apparently not the same search as stated above.

On the Dutch site 'Verenigd Marine & Koopvaardij Forum' I started a Forum 'Opsporing (Search) Hr.Ms O13' myself. Some messages are posted by a Chef of Ship´s Company Mr. M. Harskamp stating that the hydrographic vessel Hr.Ms Luymes sets out for the sunk submarine O13 on monday 12 sept 2005. And at some later date "Unfortunately we were only able to search for just one day of the available time we have got. We had to stop caused by bad local weather (too much wind 9/10), and were just lie-ing in the wind for three more days."

On a Polish Forum I found a message dated 26 July 2005 that most likely within some weeks the search for the O13 would commence. On the same site an article dated 2005 has been published whereby the Polish are pleading for the cooperation of the Dutch and Polish investigators and for a combined search for the Dutch submarine O13 and the Polish ORP Orzel, most likely sunk in the same minefield as the O13.

Since 2004 you can read on the Dutch site of the syndicate of surviving relatives the "Stichting Comité nabestaanden onderzeeboten 1940-1945" at the item expeditions that the syndicate is preparing a search for submarine Hr.Ms. O13. The target then was to organise a search still in 2004. The syndicate organises the financials as well as the searches for the lost Dutch submarines.