Hr. Ms. O 19 by Piet - 1939 - 1945, scale 1:50, submarine Royal Navy Netherlands - Finished

[Kevin]

in this shot she looks far wider at the stern (the area across the ballast tanks), might be an optical illision

 

Edited July 15, 2013 by Kevin

[FreekS]

On the deck torpedo tubes, strange is that www.dutchsubmarines.com mentioned 4 bow and 4 rear tubes, but not decktubes. Ive seen many foto's of the open dektorpedobuizen doors, and also of O20 having deck tubes, but I wonder if O19 had them during her career.

 

It is known that two of the K-XIV class were refitted in US and THE decktubes were removed then. dont think O19 had such à refit in US.

 

i enjoy following the build, and ive just managed to make THE decktubes of my KXVIII model functional!

 

Freek

[Piet]

Thank you all for the likes fellows, appreciate it very much.

 

@ Gino: Thanks for jumping in Gino, yes, I remember now that you mentioned that about the deck tubes possibly being deactivated but they may have left the doors off.  Also, now that you mentioned it about the crew Christmas pic and the table.  Need to dig that pic up and look at it again.

 

@ Kevin: Most likely an optical illusion.  From this angle and distance the stern part is foreshortened and that tends to make that area "fat" looking.  My model's hull is made from the official drawings out of the Navy Archive in Den Haag, so I assume it is correct.  Another reason may be that the boat in the picture is shown in the water, hiding a lot of hull.

 

@ Freek: Yes, I have also noticed the same thing.  Could have been someone who didn't know.   Well, the O 19 and O 20 have only two rear tubes.  Yes, the O 19 and O 20 were designed with the deck tubes.  The interior picture of 1939 in my previous post shows the rotating and aiming mechanism.  Also the drawings show these tubes as part of the original design.  I have seen photos of earlier Dutch subs with deck tubes, thus it was something typical for the KM to outfit their subs with the so called deck tubes and dates back to the early 1930's.

Congratulations on getting your tubes to fire   

What did you use for power?  Compressed air?  Springs?  Rubber bands? 

 

Cheers 

Edited February 23, 2015 by Piet

[Gino den Ridder]

@Freek,

 

Dutchsubmarines is wrong on that. The O19's tubes were 4 bow tubes, two tubes aft and 2 deck tubes. The decktubes could be swiveled out, thus giving the advantage that, although the tracks (bubbles) of the torpedoes could be traced back to their origin (i.e. the boat) the course of the boat would be already 90 degrees from the torpedo course. This French invention was successfully used in the early war years in the Pacific.

O19 was refitted in the UK (Dundee, Scotland). She never was in the US. Photos taken on Ladd reef show the deck tubes swiveled out to 90 degrees, with two crew members on top. See attached.

 

This was done to empty them, and thus make the boat lighter.

 

About how they worked, check this: 

 

You'll need to be able to read Dutch for this. It's a drawing from an 'Oh Ja' booklet made by a crew member of the O19. This booklet is in the archives of the Dutch Navy Museum in den Helder.

 

Groetjes,

 

Gino

 

 

[texxn5]

Hi, I find your interest in submarines very interesting.  I have a financial interest in a Japanese sub I-52 sunk in 1943.  I hope to build a model of it some day.  It was featured in National Geographic in 1995 documentary.  Interesting story and also has 2 metric tons of gold on board, but she's in 17,000' of water.  Deep recovery hopefully someday soon.  Good luck on your build.

[Sjors]

That's nice…..I can read the Dutch part               

It's nice to get history lessons !

Thanks for that !

 

[Piet]

Thanks Gino for adding your clarification.  Not much is known about these old boats anymore or so it seems, including the crews.  I'm counting on you my friend to add your knowledge about this particular sub.

 

I understand you know about the K XVIII that visited the USA when it traveled West to NOI (Dutch East Indies) before WW II.  But for general info I like to add this for the benefit of the members.  I also want to add that my father served on that boat as well for a short time when it was in Indonesia till 1938, when his tour of tropical duty was up in 1938.  He and his family had to return to the Netherlands and It was then that he was placed on the O 19 and sailed with her back to NOI in 1939 with his family following.

 

@ John Texxn5:  Yes, very much so, even though that I have spend my entire life in aviation.  As my introduction to this log shows, its all because of my father.  

Interesting bit of info about that Jap sub with 2 metric tons of gold.  Good luck with the salvage operation!  

I and thousands of others would like to get some of it as restitution of everything we lost during the Japanese (and I'm being politically correct here) occupation of the Dutch East Indies.  I, my mother and sister were interned by them for the duration of the war.  In 1943 the Japanese classified us all as combatants and became POWs.  The Japanese have given us half the peace sign to our claims for restitution, primarily thanks to Douglas McArthur.  Well, it's a long story and maybe someday I can write about it and publish my story.

 

@ Sjors:  You can actually read that Dutch language stuff?  You must be a Dutchman then    

I can actually read it too and I'm an American, brahaaaahaaa       - - - 

and I have forgotten most of my German, French and Indonesian languages. 

 

Cheers all y'all  

 

 

[Kevin]

i bet the system leaked like a sieve, HP air and HP hydraulics on a fixed platform used to - never mind on a system that could be swiveled 

[Piet]

Hello Kevin,

 

According to what Gino den Ridder told me these deck torpedo launchers did leak a little.  I wouldn't call it leaking like sieve but I guess they needed to have bucket hanging under it 

But they only leaked when submerged 

 

You know, I never heard my father complaining about it though, so it must not have been too bad or else they just lived with it.

 

Cheers,

[Piet]

Hello all,

 

Today was rainy with T storms and had to postpone some needed yard work and could spend some valuable time in the garage / shipyard.

 

I had to do some surgery to one of the deck frames to make some more room for the dingy.  I thought I had it figured correctly but according to the photos of the disaster on Ladd Reef and the drawings Gino den Ridder supplied the dingy sits at an angle under the deck plates behind the con.  It just so happened that I forgot to allow the space for the bow of the dingy that comes to port side of the con.  No problem,  I just cut the port side half the frame away and made a new frame just ahead of it. I had that done last Sunday afternoon.

 

I also made and installed the longitudinal deck support beams that will also function for fastening the hinges for the dingy "hangar" doors.  Gino and I are still talking about the door configuration whether they are also hinged in the center like a by-fold door or a one piece affair.  For now I'm not too concerned about it, that'll come later when it's time to put the dingy inside on it's cradle.  From a strictly engineering point of view a by-fold would not be rigid enough and the photo doesn't show it clearly enough.  

 

I made a round flat piece for the deck torpedo assembly to swivel on and put a brass tube in the center to act as the pivot point.  I also cut some heavy drawing paper to fit on the pressure hull in the deck torpedo "house" and the dingy "hangar" to act as the steel plates. They will be painted gray later before I put the deck plates on.  Oh dear, that can be tomorrow already

More pics!

 

I also pre-cut the deck structure side plates and deck plates, done last Friday afternoon.  Sunday morning was lawn mowing time before the T storms would hit again.

Today I managed to glue the port side plates on and part of the starboard side plates.  From the dingy location to the stern I used CA gel because there was no way to clamp it there, the slope of the sides are too steep.  I had to glue it in stages so I could press it against the frame by hand and hold for 60 seconds.  Worked like a charm 

 

Okay, below are a few pics for clarification on the progress.

 

With the O 19 on Ladd Reef and the dingy compartment doors open.

 

Gino's redraw of the deck drawing.  It shows the location and configuration of the dingy compartment doors.

 

Top view of the deck torpedo housing with the pivot plate and pivot tube.  The paper steel deck plate glued on and ready to be painted gray.

 

Port side view of the deck torpedo housing.

 

This shows the forward deck side plate glued on, looking aft.

 

Looking forward to the bow with the forward side plate glued on.  To the right is a clamp for the aft side plate being glued.

 

The sloop compartment from above and looking forward.  The mod I had to make on the port side is clearly visible.  Also the longitudinal deck supports and door hinge attach points is seen.  Here too I glued on a piece of heavy drawing paper to simulate the pressure hull skin.  The most aft part of the con ends at the center of the modded frame where that center whitish piece of wood ends.

 

A side view of the sloop compartment.

 

A view from the stern looking forward with the deck side panels glued on.  I used the admiral's Nicon camera on macro, that made it a little out of focus for the forward part.  Better next time 

 

Cheers, 

Edited May 2, 2014 by Piet

[Kevin]

well done - coming along very nice

[Paul Salomone]

Getting better by the hour,

 

Well done Piet - she is a beauty.

[PacificCrossRoads]

Hi Piet. You're doing great! I will not start building the model until you do your model! I respect your work! And waiting for the final results! Yours! Boris.

[ianmajor]

Piet,

 

It never occurred to me that submarines had on board dingys!   

 

Nice progress.

[Piet]

Thank you all for your likes, really appreciate it.

 

Kevin, Paul, Borus and Ian, thanks for stopping by and your encouraging comments.

 

@ Borus:  Thank you for your consideration but it may take some time yet before this build is completed.  We'll see how much time I can spend on the O 19 and then also the VOC ship model.

 

@ Ian:  Well that makes two of us 

           I also had no idea till I saw the video of the crew rescue by the USS Cod in July of 1945. Fortunately I was able to   obtain the drawings of the dingy from a good hearted Dutchman 

 

I took a few more pics late yesterday that I didn't post last night.  Will do so next post.

 

Cheers,

[Piet]

I did some more work after I shot the pics I posted yesterday and here are the pics of that work.  Most was done on the port side but then I rotated the build board so I could work on the port side.

This morning I removed the clamps from the last side panel on the starboard side so I could clean up the glue mess and shape the deck planking to fit.

 

The port side side panels are now glued on and the boat is ready to be turned for work on the starboard side.

 

Bow shot port side

 

Head-on bow shot

 

Stern shot, port side

 

Here I have rotated the build board and glued the last side pane on.  This clamping arrangement worked great.

 

Cheers,

Edited February 22, 2015 by Piet

[popeye the sailor]

man.....really looking great!   you've made some really good progress.    kind of a roll-reversal with the dingys........on a ship you use them before the ship goes down.....on a sub,  you have to wait till the ship comes up.   serious stuff........but I hope you got a chuckle out of it.

[mtaylor]

That is some seriously good work going on.   The research is paying off with a wonderful build.

[Piet]

I might as well continue and post my latest work I did today.  I first removed the clamps from the last side panel on the starboard side and then cleaned up some of residue glue.  I also shaved some of the extra wood from the top of the side panels and checked the deck plates for fit.  Some minor sanding and they fit like a glove inside the side panels.

I didn't want to paint the dingy and deck torpedo compartments till all the shaving and sanding was done.

I had some dark grey enamel left over from another project and thought it would look great so I used it.

 

After lunch -  the paint was nice and dry so I could proceed with glueing the deck panels on.  After applying the glue and the deck panels I laid two strips of wood on top and then a lot of heavy weights to apply the pressure.  I used many steel bucking bars from my aircraft repair days, gallon cans with cleaning liquid and plastic bottles with water.  It worked like a charm, I'm happy 

 

In the meantime I also rotated the VOC ship "Surabaya" to work on the starboard side gunport lids and mouldings.  Well, actually I also did some work on my koi pond, had to trim a few plants that were getting overgrown.

 

Okay, tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment in the morning and the Admiral has to come along to drive me back home.  The doc is going to put me under for an internal look see.     But we'll go on to Daytona Beach and have lunch there and then on to Hobby Lobby.  I need some more 1 mm plywood and some other stuff.

 

Well, here are the today's pics.

 

Dingy compartment painted grey.

 

deck torpedo compartment painted grey.

 

the entire deck is now planked except for the small side panels over the dingy compartment.  They'll be done next, whenever I get the chance. 

 

 

 

 

Profile starboard side

 

Cheers, 

Edited March 27, 2014 by Piet

[Piet]

Hey Popeye and Mark,  thanks for your kind words! I'm exited as well, she's beginning to take shape.  

 

Hey Popeye, I got a chuckle out of your remark about the dingy.  Only you can come up with that clever remark, love it.

 

[ianmajor]

Piet,

 

I looks more impressive as time goes on.

 

All the best at the Quack's (I mean doctor's). 

[popeye the sailor]

good luck with your doctor's visit...........and with your plans thereafter,  if I read that right.......be sure to come home with the right stuff 

[Piet]

First of all my thanks to all who send me likes.

 

Ian and Popeye thanks for dropping in and your kind and encouraging words.

 

Ian and Popeye, the doc's visit went extremely well.  After I woke up from the "sleepy juice" they shot into my vanes the doc said that everything looks very good, much better then 3 months ago.  It appears that my old bod's immune and self healing system is working in hight gear repairing the damage from my cancer radiation treatment.

 

Popeye, I indeed came home with the right stuff in more ways then one  After checking my for bod for any missing parts it checked out fine     Then after lunch at the Olive Garden, one of the admiral's favorite places next to Outback, we set course to the Hobby Lobby store just down the road from the restaurant.

I picked up a sheet of heavy brass plate a few bars of brass square and flat stock.  This will be used for the O 19's "iron works."

They didn't have 1 mm plywood so I'll have to get that from from our local craft and hobby store.  They don't have tung oil or fire brick for silver soldering and a few other items.  And they call themselves hobby stores.  Hmmm, I'll have to go to Amazon.com again.

 

Didn't do any work on both my builds under orders from the doc and the nurses and the admiral is keeping an eye on me   .  So, I spend the pm on my back patio in the screen room under my sunscreen with the fan going and a bottle of water.  Yeah, no booze, not even good Belgian beer 

I did some looking at the model drawings of the O 21 sub instead, for details of the trim planes, the dive planes, rudder, dingy storage area and propeller mountings.  I'm getting ready to tackle those items.  Not ready for the con yet.

 

Cheers 

 

[mtaylor]

Piet,

 

Excellent new from the doctor, obviously. It's great to hear that.  

 

Pity about that so-called "hobby store"...  

[ianmajor]

Piet,

 

Good to hear that you are still firing on all four cylinders.

 

I spend a lot of time looking at plans rather modelling - in my case, since I haven't been got at by doctors, I put it down to old age and a wandering mind.     

 

I am looking forward to the next phase of your build.

Edited July 26, 2013 by ianmajor

[popeye the sailor]

good to hear Piet!........good use of your time......too bad about the beverage choices though  LOL!

 

 

the nice thing about my neck of the woods,  is there are three possible place I can get what I need.....all very central to one another.  if not, then there is one more craft store and a Home Depot,  on the way home

 

very interested to see what you do with the conning tower

[Piet]

Hey Ian, looking at plans is good but your poor Unicorn is calling you, I can hear it from here, "finish me, finish me."  

 

Popeye, the con will be build separate and then attached to the hull, at least that's the plan for now, may change my mind.

I need to do the below the water line stuff first and the bow dive planes.  The con may get in the way having the boat upside down for some of the work.

 

Just for the hellibut I quickly made a facsimile of a conning tower and taped to to the hull.  It's not nearly the way the O 19 con looks like though. 

 

A full profile pic with the fake con taped to the hull.  It kinda disappears in front of all the background clutter but good enough for a joke.

 

Cheers,

Edited March 27, 2014 by Piet

[popeye the sailor]

yea......I know it's a ways off........there are other thing to do before that happens.    super job on her so far.......I think to myself what the admiral would say If I brought something that large into the house!  LOL!   

[ianmajor]

Piet,

 

It gets better and better.

 

As you say - back to the Unicorn - and stop thinking. Hum - I wonder how she would look with torpedo tubes?          

[PacificCrossRoads]

Hi Piet. How are you going to do bottom outlet pipe mines?? At the bottom hull I did not see them?? Boris.