''O 21'', laid down ''K XXI'' was an of the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

that saw service during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During the war she sank several ships, among them the German submarine U-95.

Ship history

The submarine was laid down on 20 November 1937 as ''K XXI'' at the ''Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde'',

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...

During construction she was renamed ''O 21'', and was finally launched on 21 October 1939. Following the

German invasion German invasion may refer to: Pre-1900s * German invasion of Hungary (1063) World War I * German invasion of Belgium (1914) * German invasion of Luxembourg (1914) World War II * Invasion of Poland * German invasion of Belgium (1940) * G ...

of 10 May 1940, the ''O 21'' was hastily commissioned, still incomplete, and sailed for England on 12 May together with her sister and the tugboat ''B.V. 37'', to be finally completed at the ''Navy yard'' in

Rosyth Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440. The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...

. During the war she operated around England, the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

in the Indian Ocean and

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

off the west coast of Australia. She survived the war and was decommissioned on 2 November 1957 and sold for scrap the following year.

Summary of raiding history

Ships sunk and damaged by ''O 21''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:O 21 1939 ships Ships built in the Netherlands World War II submarines of the Netherlands O 21-class submarines Submarines built by Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde