| Navy | The Royal Dutch Navy |
| Type | Submarine |
| Class | K VIII |
| Pennant | |
| Built by | Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde (Vlissingen (Flushing), The Netherlands) |
| Ordered | 27 Jun 1917 |
| Laid down | 1 Nov 1919 |
| Launched | 2 May 1923 |
| Commissioned | 24 Sep 1923 |
| Lost | 2 Mar 1942 |
| History | HrMs K X (Lt 1Klasse Paulus Gijsbertus de Back) is scuttled by her own crew at Soerabaya on 2 March 1942 to prevent her capture by the Japanese. |
Commands listed for HNMS K X
Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.
| Commander | From | To | ||
| 1 | luitenant ter zee 2e klasse (Lt.) Baron Carel Wessel Theodorus van Boetzelaer, RNN | 9 Dec 1939 | 13 Apr 1940 | |
| 2 | luitenant ter zee 2e klasse (Lt.) Baron Carel Wessel Theodorus van Boetzelaer, RNN | 14 Oct 1940 | 4 Nov 1940 | |
| 3 | luitenant ter zee 1e klasse (Lt.Cdr.) Adolf Hendrik Deketh, RNN | 14 Feb 1941 | 29 Mar 1941 | |
| 4 | luitenant ter zee 1e klasse (Lt.Cdr.) Paulus Gijsbertus de Back, RNN | 8 Dec 1941 | 2 Mar 1942 | |
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Notable events involving K X include:
8 Dec 1941
HrMs K X is put into commission from reserve with the crew of HrMs K IX that returned to Surabaya for repairs. Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN is in command. As K X was not in a good state she was initially assigned for the local defence of Surabaya.
18 Dec 1941
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) departed Surabaya for a short patrol in the Eastern entrance to Strait Madura.
25 Dec 1941
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) departed Surabaya to attack Japanese warships in Davao Gulf, Philippines.
30 Dec 1941
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) is ordered to proceed to Tarakan, Borneo, Netherlands East Indies instead of Davao Gulf. She had to proceed to Ambon first for fuel and distilled water.
31 Dec 1941
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) arrived at Ambon, Netherlands East Indies.
1 Jan 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) departed Ambon for Tarakan.
8 Jan 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) arrived at Tarakan for distilled water for the battery and fresh supplies. Also small repairs were carried out.
9 Jan 1942
When leaving Tarakan to take up a patrol position off that place HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) is forced to return with a defective compressor of her port diesel engine. The compressor had to be landed as it could not be repaired on board.
10 Jan 1942
Due to Japanese air attacks HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) retired about a mile up the Kali river and places herself on the bottom of the river.
In the afternoon the engineer officer was sighted in a small rowing boat. K X surfaced and took him on board. The compressor was still not repaired but he informed Lt.Cdr. de Back that a Japanese landing force had arrived and that the had to try to escape to Surabaya on one engine.
In the late afternoon K X therefore set course to escape through a gap in the minefield. This had to be done in daylight as the gap was small and accurate navigation therefore was essential. While doing so K X was attacked by a Japanese aircraft. A bomb was dropped and K X was strafed by machine gun fire causing minor damage to the ships hull. As soon as clear of the minefield and in deep enough water K X submerged. During the night K X slipped past the Japanese force. Meanwhile several serious defects had occured.
19 Jan 1942
After a very difficult passage on her only 'serviceable' diesel engine HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) arrived at Surabaya. During daylight hours K X submerged to allow the engine room staff to conduct repairs to this engine to keep it going.
24 Feb 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) departed Surabaya to patrol to the North of Madura. However she returned later the same day with, yet again, a defective compressor.
28 Feb 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) departed Surabaya to patrol off the North Coast of Java near Lasem.
During the late afternoon and evening K X is twice detected by Japanese destroyers and depth charged and shelled. Some damage was inflicted on the submarine but the material state of K X was very bad and several leaks occured making depth control very difficult.
1 Mar 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) returned to Surabaya for repairs.
2 Mar 1942
HrMs K X (Lt.Cdr. P.G. de Back, RNN) is scuttled at Surabaya. She was in her current state not able to evacuate to Australia.