The Western Australian Museum has identified the wreck of a skuttled Dutch submarine in Rottnest Ships’ Graveyard to be that of HMLNS K XI, a World War II Royal Netherlands Navy class patrol submarine.
Head of Maritime Heritage at the WA Museum, Corioli Souter, said the Museum has been investigating the Rottnest Ships’ Graveyard since the 1990s, and said the K XI is one of the most significant watercrafts to have been discarded in the Graveyard, but the vessel's significance is important to mutual Dutch-Australian heritage values and to the State’s underwater cultural heritage.
“For more than three decades, the Museum has been fortunate to collaborate with a diverse range of organisations and people to investigate the Graveyard.
“We knew the wreck was there, and we are delighted to have collaborated with technical divers from Wrecksploration, along with their partners, who found the wreck,” Corioli said.
The Museum has a long-standing relationship with the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) who, through their International Programme for Maritime Heritage, financed the photogrammetry work conducted by Wrecksploration. The photogrammetry work was developed into a 3D model of the wreck and submitted to the WA Museum for identification.
“Over the decades, the use of archival sources, local knowledge, and remote sensing surveys has allowed the Museum to identify a number of significant sites in the Graveyard. In this project, we compared archival records with the 3D model created by Wrecksploration to confirm that the wreck was the K XI,” Corioli said.
The K XI was used to patrol waters in the colonial Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) between 1925-1942, following the Japanese invasion it was sent to India and Pakistan. On 9 March 1942 it rescued 13 survivors in life-rafts from the Royal Australian Navy sloop HMAS Yarra, after it had been sunk by Japanese warships.
During World War II, Fremantle Harbour was the largest submarine base in the Southern Hemisphere and was the second-most important Allied submarine base in the Pacific Theatre after Pearl Harbour, with US, British and Dutch submarines operating from Fremantle. Eleven Dutch submarines operated out of Fremantle during this time,” Corioli said.
Because the wreck of K XI is more than 75 years old and in Australian waters, it is automatically protected by the Commonwealth’s Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018 which is supported by the Commonwealth Underwater Cultural Heritage Program delivered by Department of Climate Change Energy Environment and Water (DCCEEW).
Corioli said divers with appropriate certification can visit the site, but to remember it is a protected site and is an offence to damage, disturb, or remove any part of the wreck.
The WA Museum has prepared a full report of the wreck, including archival material and details of its discovery, which can be viewed at https://museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/maritime-reports/dutch-k-xi-submarine-1925-1946-discovered-wadjemup-rottnest-island-perth
