Dutch Submarines at the start of the Pacific Campaign - 'Ship a day' Helfrich leads the charge!
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- Опубликовано: 15 авг 2023
- Today we look at the opening months of the submarine campaign in the Pacific to see what the Dutch were getting up to whilst everyone else was absent or wishing for working torpedoes...
Sources:
www.history.navy.mil/research...
www.dutchsubmarines.com/start....
The Great Circle - Vol. 43, No. 2, Special Issue: Submarines (2021), pp. 62-74
ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/DutchSu...
www.amazon.co.uk/Submarines-I...
www.amazon.co.uk/Conways-Worl...
archive.navalsubleague.org/19...
www.rnsubmusfriends.org.uk/he...
warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/
Naval History books, use code 'DRACH' for 25% off - www.usni.org/press/books?f%5B...
Free naval photos and channel posters - www.drachinifel.co.uk
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Pinned post for Q&A :)
I was surprised to learn today that the IJN Ibuki class carrier-conversions were a thing, with the design having originated as a heavy cruiser followup to the Mogami class. I'm curious as to your opinion on these conversions. How would the Ibukis compare to foreign conversions? Do you think the conversion was worth pursuing? How well do you think the Ibukis could have faired in operations (assuming of course that the Ibukis could actually find aircraft and trained aircrews?)
The new Music works!! Like it!! 😀
Question: How many ships with the same name were lost during WW1 or WW2?
I know of one example...There were two Destroyers named U.S.S. Meredith lost during World War 2. D.D. 434, and D.D. 726.
How about a special about Greek subs during WWII?
Which ships would you give the Elbonian navy?
Drach is making an understatement when he reports that the bosun of the O16 "swam to a nearby island". In fact, there were were six survivors of the sinking, who had all been on the bridge at the moment the sub hit the mine. None had a lifesaver. Over the next day, all drowned one by one until only quartermaster Cor de Wolf remained. After swimming for 34 hours he reached an island 80 kilometres from the spot where the sub sank. He was rescued by locals and delivered after a trip by sailing boat and through the jungle to Australian troops on Malaya and from there to Singapore. Amazingly, within days of his return to Java he was back in the submarine service, survived the war and retired in 1962 as a skipper.
I read Cor de Wolf's story in one of K. Norel books in Dutch highschool.
The other initial survivors in his group drowned because they became exhausted while De Wolf kept swimming for such an incredible long time.
@@AudieHollandI would like to read more about this
@@karuskaltugov1992you can buy the book secondhand
@@karuskaltugov1992 The book is called "Varen en Vechten" , a trilogy about the Dutch merchant fleet and Naval forces during World War II. Clearly the audience was teenager boys but the historical accuracy will be appreciated by adults. Norel was a journalist who researched his topics well. I read some of his books and to date I wonder why they were never made into film.
@@prjw73 much appreciated
Nice to have a story about Dutch WW2 vessels that doesn't conclude with "and then the whole class was sunk".
@@WiegrafFollesOn what?
@@MelrieoiBased as in agreeing.
Gen Z slang. Move along
Helfrich predicted the Japanese would start the war by attacking Pearl Harbor. He probably deduced it from the the fact that the Japanese began the Russo-Japanese War with a surprise attack on Port Arthur.
IIRC they started their involvement in WW1 with a surprise air attack on Tsingtau as well.
That and the U.S. Pacific Fleet was the biggest danger to the Japanese Navy.
So did the Americans with the greatest irony being that they simulated an attack on pearl using their own aircraft carriers years before it happened
@@gotanon9659
And then the judges disallowed it because they separated the aircraft carriers from the rest of the battle fleet.
And not to mention, they did it on a Sunday and disallowed it because "Who would attack on a Sunday?"
At the end of the Pacific war my father was interned in a camp close to harbor (he was 10). In that harbor a few K boats were in dock to recover and get repairs. One day the Red Cross took the kids from the camp to those subs, my father was welcomed by the K XIV. He was a very skinny small kid and “adopted” by the crew, at the end of the day they went back to the camp. My father who wanted to see more escaped (the camp was still guarded by Japanese, now for protection against the Indonesians) the camp and hitched quit a few times to the K XIV, he was regarded as one of the crew, and was spoiled by them, he took a lot of food back to the camp which he gave to the other people. He even was taken on a small test ride.
Till this day he remembers the kindness of the crew, perhaps they saw in him the son they had at home, we never know.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that a boat named HMS Truant wasn't present for the first days of the Pacific campaign?
So you're saying it was tardy to the party.
And the officers onboard were called....Truant Officers?
@@paullough4946 by ancient Royal Navy tradition the crew would be called Truants.
Imagine you're assigned to HMS Truant and you report for duty late
an overdose of Irony?
@@nmccw3245 That joke must have been made numerous times aboard that ship XD
@@myopiniongoodyouropinionbad - indubitably
You get reassigned to HMS Spanker.
@@TomFynn😂
Sorry to hear you lost the rights to your old intro music. Great video - as always. I especially like your description of the correct procedures to get the Mk XIV torpedo to properly engage the enemy.
I haven't touched trademarks and copyrights since law school. But there are days that I feel tempted to get back into it, doing defense work, just to give a bloody nose to these drm companies that love to violate fair use.
@@prussianhill
They're all located in lawless shitholes. India, Philipines, Russia, etc. RUclips has to use 'guilty until proven innocent' to avoid being taken down by the US copyright mafia, and those companies not having assets in any place where you could take them to court over fraudulent copyright claims does the rest.
A fine sentiment. These drm hunters are scum who contribute nothing to the betterment of society.@@prussianhill
😧😲
Seriously his intro music is an institution! It's how I know if drac comes on in my autoplay and it always makes me happy. .. you mean to tell me some greedy goon claimed it after all these years?!
The Australian submarine fleet of WWII was almost entirely Dutch, with a few British and American subs thrown in for good measure. After the loss of the Dutch East Indies, along with many coastal warships, aircraft and soldiers, many Dutch submarines made it to Australia to continue the war. Fremantle, WA, was host to a large flotilla of submarines, but none were actually Australian (the last Australian submarines had been decommissioned in the 1930s due to the Depression, and the next round of Australian subs were nearly 20 years away). Like so many forces in the South Pacific and Eastern Indian Ocean, it was truly a united Allied force, not just forces from one nation or another. And the Dutch were a massive part of that alliance.
The US provided more than a 'few' subs during the war. Freemantle (and Exmouth for a while) was the largest combined ABD base in 42 and was highly successful in attacking the Japanese because of their unique location close to the Java oil fields. However, from 43 onwards the largest and most active US base (some RN subs as well) was In Brisbane on the east coast. Supporting the Guadalcanal campaign initially, many famous boats including USS Sturgeon, Seawolf, Gato, Nautilus, Albacore, Wahoo, Stingray (as well as many others) were based there.
@@juliandean5525 in submarine terms, the Dutch was almost the largest single presence in Australia. Not just on Royal Dutch Navy subs, but also RN Walman subs, Walfreighter subs, X and XE Craft, and in the special forces operating out of Australia (such as the famous Z and M Forces and the Coastwatchers, all of which used various submarines and submersibles). Yes, the USA provided an invaluable defence to the Realm, but it was hardly alone in that, and unlike the Yanks, the Dutch contribution is almost completely overlooked, sadly.
Ummmm...at one point there were nearly 100 US submarines based out of AU. More than anyone else. Added for good measure? Pfftt...by the time the Brits came back to the theater there wasn't anything left for them to sink over 500 tons. The Ameircan subs did the heavy lifting, followed second by the Dutch. The British boats didn't start to sortie to SW Pacific waters until April 1944. I fail to see where the American subs were "good measure." They were the entire backbone of Allied subs in the Pacific. Start to finish.
@@juliandean5525Our beloved Cod was in Fremantle 😊
@@Subpac_ww2 not from the start due to the abysmal performance of their torpedo's
My Dutch grandad fought in ww2 in the exiled Royal Dutch Navy in England and after problems over a girl with an officer he went to the Royal Navy. Because of his knowledge of german He manned the anti submarine sensors on destroyers HMS Eskimo, HMS Whitshed and others. He saw Murmansk, d-day, the bombing of Pantellaria and many other places. Channel dash on the Whitshed. He was always a great example of service to me.
Three cheers for the Royal Dutch Submarines! All these efforts from a fleet whose home nation was, at the time. under German occupation. One can only imagine how that fact would weigh in the minds of their crews. It is difficult enough to fight in a war when one's family is home safe, but how much more difficult when ones family is not safe.
As an American, I'm grateful for the Dutch efforts. Naturally I never learned about this effort before today.
This also makes me feel even more satisfied to know that the British and Americans did try to liberate the Netherlands in the autumn of 1944, at the earliest opportunity. Though Market Garden failed it did cement long term feelings of friendship between all three nations that will, God willing, persist as long as our nations last, a very long time indeed.
If I'm not mistaken, most of the sailors on the Dutch boats in the pacific were colonists who lived in the East Indies
@@jackwalters5506 Yes, but only there direct families (wife, children) would be in Indonesia. Their extended families (fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, etc) would be in the Netherlands. Also, by mid-march the Dutch East-indies were occupied so these sailors heard nothing from their interned families anymore.
@@jackwalters5506 They O boats of the o16, O19 , O21 classes and several newer K klasses all had dutch crews from the netherlands .
Imagine beeing on the O19 where the crew left in 1939 to the far east and had to abandoned and scutled their submarine after striking a reef in juli 1945 . most not even beeing home for over 5 years . Beeing rescued by USS Cod. where the crew said it was the most miserable thing you ever saw , a crew that havent been home in 5 years living on this submarine for almost 6 years and having to leave the submarine they called home .
I'd like to buy you a beer!
Since that's impossible, look up this video: *USS COD gato class destroys dutch submarine*
Don't worry, the Dutch O-19 had run aground on a reef and the USS Cod was dispatched to assist.
When they couldn't dislodge the Dutch sub after several attempts, the Dutch crew was taken onboard and their stranded boat was scuttled by the American mariners.
Shows what US subs could have done early in the war if they had working torpedoes.
My great grandfather is the Sergeant Telegrafist of the K XVI (K-16), he died with others defending his homeland, still under the sea. This has been one of the more detailed K-16 story I've had. Thank you for making this video, it's detailed and gave me more understanding of the overall situation at the time and the timeline of all the submarines, which is something I've always wanted.
Abdul Madjid R.?
There are a few books you might want to look at . Ik nader ongezien ( crew and battle records history of the submarines in question ) 40 jaar nederlandse onderzee dienst . ( a complete background on all submarines between 1906 and 1946 . )
Great topic to cover. The level of knowledge about the contributions of everyone outside of the Americans in the Pacific is alarmingly low from my experience. These videos at least do something to spread the information around
Absolutely. While the US was certainly the largest actor during most of the classic War in the Pacific, other countries made very important contributions and played significant roles. Not only the Dutch, but also the British, the Australians, the Philippines, and a wide variety of peoples in the territories occupied by Japan all played important and often underreported roles, and it’s nice to see some of those starting to get talked about more.
Didn’t you know that the Americans won the war all by themselves?
@@michaelimbesi2314 Soviets destroying the Japanese Kwantung Army. Operation August Storm.
@@oscarsusan3834What a cruelly heavy burden they were made to carry.
Seriously, I think they felt it.
@@Leon-bc8hmthe largest defeat inflicted upon the Japanese Imperial Army was inflicted by the Indian and British forces.
The only submarine to submarine rescue operation in history involved an aground Dutch submarine O-19 where here crews were rescued by US Submarine USS Cod, USS Cod marked this event with a Martini marking/decal on the sub to commemorate the night after the rescue where both crews of each submarines partied and a special thanks to the Americans for saving the Dutch crews.
Don't forget Darter and Dace at Leyte Gulf!
Cod's rescue of the crew of O19 was the only international submarine to submarine rescue in history.
New intro music? Noice!
This new music is great. So is the old music.
The Dutch O-Boats be righteously kicking some Japanese backside.
In the early-war context of almost uniform naval disaster for the Allied side it is strange that the Dutch submarine successes are rarely mentioned. Well done!
Maybe becuase the dutch admiralty treated the surfece fleet like they were canon fodder and denied them of supplies that and a lot of people thought japanese were racialy inferior so attacking them with just light cruisers sounded like a good idea
@@sarpyasar5893The Dutch didn’t have anything heavier than cruisers.
@@grahamstrouse1165 problem was japanese had and dutch still thought attacking them was a good plan
@@sarpyasar5893 The Dutch surface ships did the best they could against more modern Japanese surface ships who outranged them so they would have to get in close but those Japanese ships were also faster so by the point the Dutch surface ships could engage there was also no running away anymore.
@@sarpyasar5893The Dutch navy had the mission to defend the Dutch East Indies. And so they tried. And they didn't have heavier ships than light cruisers. That's why they relied more on the submarines. With effect, as Drach shows.
O24 was commanded by Piet de jong from from 25.10.1944 to 08.04.1946. He later became minister of defence (27 june 1959 - 24 july 1963) and even prime minister of the Netherlands (5 april 1967 until 6 juli 1971) After O21 (ten kills) the O24 (7 kills one of them being the Chosa Maru) ,was the most succesfull Dutch submarine in WWII
Mijn opa Jan Johannes Thomas (Luitenant ter zee der 1e klasse KMR) zat op de O24. Een wonder dat hij & de O24 de oorlog overleeft heeft. Hij is 92 geworden.
I wonder how much shipping got away because of us torpedo problems....Dutch punching well above their weight 👏👏👏
Dutch submarine doctrine was well thought out , with wolfpack systems beeing developed in the early 30s demanding purpose build submarines , Including snorkels advanced hydraulics and other advanced equipment . One document even speaking of having a 74 large subamarine fleet in the far east .
As a Clevelander whose hometown museum ship is the USS Cod, the Dutch sub O-19 has a special place in my heart.
We love the O-19 at the boat.
Some additional info for those who don't know the story.
The Dutch O-19 had run aground on a reef north of Borneo (corrected).
The USS Cod assisted but despite several attempts, they couldn't dislodge the Dutch submarine.
So the only thing left was to take the Dutch crew onboard and scuttle the O-19.
On the USS Cod's conning tower, next to rows of sunk Japanese ships, a cocktail glass was painted marked 'O-19'
to symbolize both the fortunes of war and the brotherhood between the Dutch and American sailors.
You will find the video by searching for:
*USS COD gato class destroys dutch submarine*
@@AudieHolland👍
For a naval force far from home, adjusting to the fact said home had been conquered and were now fighting a totally different enemy, the Dutch subs put in a heroic shift. And given how Japan was always struggling for enough transports, a force that they likely considered (not entirely unreasonably I think) defeated taking a not insignificant toll is damn impressive. I know Dutch sub technology was world-leading but still, any force that can recover from that kind of shock and still perform is to be celebrated (And the free-French and Polish forces often do get a lot of deserved praise for that reason)
Its called spite. If all is damned to hell, all you have left is spite for those that represent it.
Thankfully the Australian's were capable of refuling that spite throughout the war as its a poor fuel that burns quite quickly ;)
The Dutch submarine industry is featured in the 1943 British film The Silver Fleet starring Sir Ralph Richardson.
I'll look for it. Thx.
@@murrayscott9546 It should be on youtube . : Silver Fleet - 1943 - Ralph Richardson - The Archers
Thanks for the info
A solitaire board game on the USN Pacific submarine campaign I've played called "Silent War" includes an option to include the Dutch submarines. For their limited numbers and capabilities they do their part. And it's also nice in the early campaign to have some submarines that are not stuck with the effects of the Mark 14 torpedo.
This is very interesting, Dutch Submarines finally having their Recognition, Hoping British Royal Navy Submarines of WW2 will get uncovered as well...
There are literally dozens of books covering these subjects.
Sofar i know the Royal Navy scored the first submarine to submarine (both submerged) kill in history
@@obelic71yes, forgot the boats but they did
@@obelic71 you are probably reffering HMS Venturer commanded by Lt. Jimmy Launders that sunk U-864 at the Norwegian Coast
@@admiralrover74Small boat, even smaller target, and that al in the Atlantic Ocean. what an achievement!
It’s not that I thought the Netherlands never had subs but this is the first time I’ve ever seen the word ‘Dutch’ and ‘submarines’ in the same sentence. Thanks, Drach.
Wargaming is licking their chops planning the like of subs for WOWS lol
First ever working submarine built and demonstrated by Dutch inventor Cornelis Drebbel in the 1620s.
As ususal, Drach, you come up with something new. I'd never heard of Dutch submarines in all my reading about the Dutch East Indies or home waters in WWII.
Same despite a few pounds of documents of the period read... 🤔
@@khaelamensha3624: Even with the abundance of documents as you say, the Pacific war is largely remembered by people as a conflict between the US and Japan, overshadowing the contributions of other allied nations. So it's really not unusual for such historical references to be discussed less often as the more popular ones.
@@hawkeye5955 There were some shenanigans played.
Even before the war ended, the Dutch were.... 'discouraged' from returning to their former colonial territories.
I can’t help hearing how the Dutch apparently uses oboes as warships
Onderzeeboot (under-sea-boat) was the name given to the first subs...
O-boat was an easy abbreviation I guess 😅
The Dutch Navy really made an effective effort with their submarine fleet ✨👍✨
Poor K X, cursed with engines built by Murphy Corporation.
"... the O boats using English numerals, whilst the K boats used Roman numerals." (01:16) - it's not "English numerals", but "Arabic numerals" in fact. Anyway: very interesting video. Thanks Drach!
"English numerals" hurts the ear, really.
I appreciate the topic and how well and condice you addressed it. However, your description of the Mark 14 torpedo at 7:25 made smile uncontrollably.
lol - Drach taking it easy on the Mk14 torpedo this time 😂🤣😅🇬🇧👍🏻
Yep quite illogical as the next full moon is August 31st and I heard the machine spirit is in fool mood these days... 😇
New music really shocked me. The sky turned purple today.
Same. Groggy me thought I at first had accidentally clicked on some random video that wasn't Drach.
Cool subject. Most people interested in WWII don't think about the Dutch Submarine fleet during the war. Thanks, Drach.
I'll never tire of hearing Drach attempt Dutch :).
You give it a bloody good effort, you're still sounding more German than Dutch, but it's entertaining all the same
To be fair, while very similar to English and German, Dutch is full of weird inconsistencies and from my learned opinion as a dutch person has large parts which are sort of anecdotal and incomprehensible unless you sort of have field experience with it.
@@theothertonydutch Dutch is a bit inconsistent where it concerns pronunciation, but nowhere near as horrendous as English :p
It seems to me if the allied sub attacks were more coordinated the may have done more damage than the surface fleet. The Dutch sub fleet were very effective to their size.
I’m so happy you decided to cover this topic!
Thank you Drach 🙏🏻
This is the first time I have heard anything about Dutch submarines in the Pacific. I knew they had ships and that things had not gone very well for their surface ships although this may be a mistaken impression on my part.
The Dutch surface ships did about as well as the allies at the start of the pacific war ....... terrible, mostly due to the deployment of bombers and torpedo planes by the Japanese against which little defense was to be had as such was not fully incorporated in the Dutch Royal Navy. The ships themselves had been largely configurated for colonial patrol and policing duties, not all out naval engagements.
A very right impression I am afraid...
@@roykliffen9674 Yes indeed, most of our ships were designed for naval patrol duty in our colonies. Besides that the ships we actually did produce to try fight of the Japanese were stripped to their bare minimum due to our Government Cutting the budget over and over and over again. It left our navy in a sorry state wich is a shame cause if this hadn't happend the Netherlands could have Owned one of the strongest colonial navies at the start of the war with Japan.
RIP to Hr. Ms. Celebes and all other good designs that were scrapped/ left uncompleted in the Netherlands after Germany overran us
Well the Dutch submarines were mostly in the Indian Ocean based out of Ceylon and Western Australia and very few American boats or ships went into the Indian Ocean, it was mainly a British (and allies) naval theater.
00:45 The designation O stands for Onderzeeboot. Unterseeboot is German, although very similar. As you mentioned, both literally translate to Underseaboat (Germanic languages use compound words a lot).
The spelling of the Dutch version of Colonial is Koloniaal, in case anyone wants to read up on it.
And here we are now in 2023. The Dutch submarine industry destroyed by politicians, and the submarine service soon to be as well, with the few boats left in need of replacement but without a decision having been made yet, and the oldest said to be retired before a replacement is in service.
Thanks for the vid. I think most Dutch people not that much into history don't know about the Dutch in the Pacific war, even less so the submarine service.
Naval, Saab-Damen and ThyssenKrupp submitted their designs a bit over 2 weeks ago. So, fingers crossed, a decision is made and sealed somewhere in the middle of next year, albeit still way later than ideal.
you realise that Rutte has to donate more things to Zelinski than just 'our' tanks (rebought again) and expensive F16s ...we STILL have some subs to GIVE AWAY FOR FREEEEE to goddamn Zelinski to attack russians ANYWHERE in the world... @@zephyros256
Shout out to the USS Grampus, Captained by my mother's cousin, the rockstar of her family in the 1930s, Robert Pollock Guiler. I heard a lot of cool stories about him. The sub was lost during the war and not yet discovered- on Eternal Patrol.
Got to say that is a very impressive score all things considered. These subs did their navy proud for sure.
I've heard the new intro song from the game World Warship Combat when I was a kid. It still slaps.
Good catch! 👍🏻
Arguably one of the best naval commanders of the war, sadly considered to wise and above all to aggressive.
*too
Why are people barely literate these days?
@@johncitizen306Why are people so quick to judge these days?
@@cameronnewton7053 they aren't, that's the biggest problem at the moment. The pursuit of tolerance has emboldened sloth, degeneracy, and various other vices that are detrimental to both individuals and society as a whole!
@@johncitizen306 Or English isn't their first language. Either way, good luck on your voyage of changing the world! The youtube comment section is surely the best place to start such an endeavour. Really very productive of you, great to see you leading by example!
@@johncitizen306and you're spending your free time bitching about grammar on the internet instead of I don't fucking know, any thing else productive
The old intro was iconic, but this new one is kind of a banger.
I’m going to miss the bum bum bum of the old intro :(
When I was a kid in then late ‘70s, early 80’s I read a series of Young Adult books from the library about the Dutch armed forces in WWII. More novels than factual descriptions, they did combine many true events into the lives of a small number of fictional characters. One book focused on the Dutch navy in the east, with a large part dedicated to the submarine fleet. It even included the story of the sole survivor of the mined and broken in two submarine swimming to shore. I can’t remember the name of the series, and doubt such old books would still be available, but I thoroughly enjoyed them at the time. But if this rings any bell to any Dutch, I’d love to hear more
"Varen en Vechten" by K. Norel? I read that book probably 5 times.
@@martijnb5887 For our English-speaking friends, the title translates to "To Sail and Fight".
@@martijnb5887 He, dank! De titel kan ik me niet herinneren maar K Norel does ring a bell!
@@photovincentavailable as e book , search "varen en vechten mobi ".. also vliegers in het vuur . Ik weet de naam van het boek over de landmacht niet meer..
Proud of you. Because we Dutch are told very little about this part of our history at school.
I hope that you will make a sequel to the war actions of the Dutch navy in the Pacific war theater.
RIP old intro sound track /sniffle.
... or else the more modern subs who're using the soon to be infamous Mark 14 torpedo which had a long list of issues, as I've tabulated elsewhere. But which essentially could be described as: capable of hitting its target and exploding at the right moment, during the opening months of the war. Only if the correct rituals had appeased the Machine Spirit, the moon was in the right phase, the planets were in the right alignment and the Japanese captain who was in charge of the target vessel had significantly angered merciful Poseidon recently.😆😆😆
But exactly which items in the checklist had been missed when a sub had fired all but one of its complement and failed to get any detonations are the first one crippled the target?
Good thing Odysseus did not have have mark 14s. Posiedon was quite cross with him.
Thank you for covering this! I’ve heard the Dutch submarines were critical early in the war but never heard their exploits.
I had no idea that the Dutch fought in the Pacific War at all? and this is why I watch your channel (and tell my friends) so I can expand my knowledge base!
Small but fierce, that's the best way we can describe the dutch submarine fleet.
Oh dude the music for the intro was heavenly with the guns
Never knew of this Dutch submarine warfare. Great video. Thanks!
I hope you do more videos on the Java Sea campaign and the Dutch East Indies. I think it's a really interesting topic that isn't talked about very much.
A fascinating look at a little recorded campaign by Dutch forces.
Ta much.
Just gotta say how much I love that new intro music.
It's excellent.
Thank you for chroniclng these little known heroes.
I have only found your channel about 2 month ago, and have been going through your immense collection of video’s since then. I really like your style, and mostly your, sometimes, sarcasm about something being detrimental to the crews heals (or similar). Though I do fully understand that it is human lives we are talking about. But sometimes humor is all that allows us to remain sane.
As for this particular post, being Dutch, I truly appreciated it. Biased as it maybe. A lot of people tend to focus on how fast the Dutch capitulated in the second WW, but few realize that Germany had counted on just going through them, only to find fierce resistance. As a result, they bombed Rotterdam. One of our major cities, and threatened to bomb more if we did not capitulate. Seeing we had no real bomb shelters, and the shear number of people killed already, we did. There is, as is so clear in your video’s, always more to a story than seems to get remembered. So if only for that, I want to thank you.
Given the challenges of the homeland overrun and the sudden onslaught of the Japanese Navy against the Dutch East Indies and the Dutch submarine force acquitted itself quite well.
Thanks for touching on one of my favourites topics of the early war in the Pacific, Drach. Much appreciated.
I ❤ O-19
Great video. Greetings from Cod.
i love how the new music makes the video sound more dramatic
"March of The Terminators";)
Loved the video. I always like the minor allied navies being covered. They have some great stories.
Huzah, I remember asking about this a while back, I'm glad to see it covered!
*Dutch Submarines facts:*
- first working submarine was demonstrated by Dutch inventor Cornelis Drebbel circa 1620-1624 to King James I;
- the O-19 and O-20 were the first ever submarines using practicable snorkels;
- unfortunately the later built O-25 and O-26, equipped with snorkels, both fell into German hands after the invasion of The Netherlands in 1940;
- Dutch submarine HNLMS Walrus, in a joint training exercise in 1999, 'sank' the USS Theodore Roosevelt plus several other ships escorting the carrier.
the dutch where years ahead in submarine design even the after the 021 class was layed down they had Submarine design 1939 97% complete before the invasion . and in 1942 a design of a 3 cilinder submarine for the british to relief malta . this turned in to the Dolfijn class. after the war and money was available.
New Rum Ration music very nice. Very nice episode on the submarines too.
Hi I didn't realise the Dutch were so active in the Pacific with submarines and made a good account of themselves.
The Dutch were very active do not forget all the mechanische ships, UK, Moermansk, a huge contribution especially for a small country.
that was informative.
Sorry you lost the main title music.
Great video! Thanks. As a side note the Dutch had benefitted after WW1 receiving German U boat technology prohibeted by the Versailles treaty.
Also planes via Fokker. Guns technology the Germans sent to Switserland and Sweden.
A German pocketbook from before the war recognized the johrney of one of the later K boats sailing nigh around the world also conducting megnetic reasearch as remarkable. Of course the operating range.
The most modern 019 and O20 where minelaying boats of a type which the Poles also bought two. Wilk and Orzel.These were all welded.
And the schorkel was a Dutch invention but not like the Germans lateron wasn't for tactical use but as a way to keep the crew cool. No airco. Hence the tents on the deck.
This was the equator.
The 40mm short Bofors gun in watertight compartments.
Another I guess novelty of the O19 and subsequent towards O27 types was the fact of having two sideways traineble deck torpedo tubes.
Catching a German U boat in the Med. The type was also put into survice. 33:51
I think the Dutch would be surprised to hear those called "English Numerals" on the O-Boats.
Thank you for posting Drach. I've wanted to hear this story for a while.
Badass new opening. I know it isn't the classic and the reason you are losing the classic is stupid, but I sure appreciate this new one!
Thank you for the great topic
Thank you Drach, great Weds video.
A great summary with wonderful pictures and images.
Excellent intel. Thank you very much!
Great video on a little remembered story!
Excellent report as always. I'm always amazed at the footage/photos your team finds! Keep up the great work. Thanks again for an informative 30+ minutes...
Excellent, another great video, carry on with your unique delivery style.
awesome vid sir, had no idea any of this happened - thank you
Good video Drach! It is important to chronicle the lesser-known aspects of both naval warfare and WWII naval events.
Just a slight correction of the K-16 attack on Sagiri - The other destroyer should be Murakumo and not Marakumo
Thank you, Drachinifel.
Very enlightening subject.
Good one Drach!
“English numerals”? Come now Drach…
You can only fully apreciate numerals in the klingon original.
Great material!
I enjoyed this tot of rum. Thank you!
Really interesting video Drach! Thank you...A bit of positivity when everything was collapsing around the Allies in 41/42!
I received geography classes from his sister in secondary education and did not know this until a class mate told me her maiden name was Helfrich and younger sister of the famous and much decorated "ship a day" admiral.
She was famous in her own right for traversing as the only white woman accompanied only by local bearers and guides through Borneo from south to north
through headhunter lands (!) while just out of university..So still in her mid twenties.
She engaged with the locals and was granted free passage and passed on to the other even hostile tribes.
She was the " Ïtchy Boots" of het time ..(see @itchy boots)
Those were the days.. Great story. Things that people of that generation did,makes me humble and sad . These days people don't even know how to use a paper map, that generation made maps!
These were some sleek looking boats. I can't recall another ww2-era sub with lines that are as sharp and fast-looking.
The arched, blade-like bow, with the angle at the very front, the dip behind the bow, and even the superstructure look fast and even threatening. (Imo, anyway!)
I listened to this exercising in a pool in Manila. I brought my Pacific theater/water game to the episode. Great content as always.
New intro theme vs original ... music has been a major part of my life for over 45 years, and my first thoughts are that the original has a solid martial feel with an overlay of gravitas, sense of majesty, relentless purpose but ultimately seems to acknowledge the loss of pre-eminence of the big gun, big ship but not without (literally) a final parting shot...more to come as I get more used to the new one as always Best wishes to you and yours.
and to imagine that, to this day, the Dutch submarines still perform at incredibly high levels, completing some of the most dangerous missions around the world since the Dutch submarines are incredibly well-suited to sneaking around in shallow waters... officially you don't know what they're doing, but occasionally some things are reported when certain feats are unclassified...
Love learning some sub-aspect of history which most people don't even care about. Especially when it's about my own country. :)
Thank you for providing this interesting information and imagery.
Very intersting stuff. Apparently I need to learn more about dutch military history
Love the music, very dramatic.
It's the Dutch(and specifically this campaign) that sold me on subs(I'm a military land-lubber; Infantry). Operationally, bang-for-buck, subs are ideal.
New opening?! Intense. I like it.
I read your post about having to change the intro music but that still threw me right off. Had to double check it was the right video