Dutch submarine after eighty years discovered for the coast of Australia

The Hr. Ms. K XI was found on January 1, after which the Western Australian Museum worked on identification by comparing archive data with a 3D model that made the divers of the wreck. The Dutch National Service for Cultural Heritage (RCE), which financed the documentation and photogrammetry of the wreck, can now confirm that it is indeed the Dutch submarine.

“This is the best result we could dream of. It not only shows us the ties between the Netherlands and Australia in the Second World War, but also how close it is when it comes to the protection and management of our underwater cultural heritage, “said Martijn Manders of the RCE in a statement .

The submarine of the Royal Netherlands Navy once patroled in the waters of Indonesia, at the time the colonial Dutch East Indies, and, according to the RCE in 1942, saved thirteen survivors from an Australian ship that was sinked by Japanese warships. The Hr. Ms. K XI was taken to the Rottnest-Scheepskhof in September 1946. It is not clear how the wreck ended up a few kilometers from that location.