Dolfijn class
 Submarine Tonijn of the Dolfin / Potvis class |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Submarine |
| units | 4 built, 0 active |
| Namesake | Dolphin |
| period of service |
1961-1992 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
1826 tons submerged |
| length |
80.0 m |
| width |
7.8 m |
| Draft |
4.9 m |
| crew |
67 (max. 71) |
| drive |
Diesel-electric, 2 shafts |
| speed |
17 knots |
| Armament |
8 × 533 mm torpedo tubes (4 in the bow and 4 in the stern) |
The Dolfijn class was a two-unit submarine class of the Royal Navy of the Netherlands . It was followed by two boats of the almost identical Potvis class . Due to the small differences, it is legitimate to assign the four boats to a common class. A special feature of the construction is the three-cylinder design consisting of three pressure hulls arranged next to and above one another and connected to one another in a common streamlined outer skin.
history
In the early post-war years, the Netherlands had, in addition to a few older own designs, mainly British submarine types, which were supplemented or replaced by two American GUPPY-IB boats in 1953 . The boats of the Dolfin class were the first own new submarines of the Koninklijken Navy after the Second World War . Due to its streamlined shape, the class had a certain resemblance to the last German war designs such as the Type XXI . Internally, however, the class represents a remarkable Dutch special approach. In order to be able to increase the immersion depth with the given steel quality, the Dutch engineer Max F. Gunning (1895–1972) devised the three-cylinder design. Instead of one large pressure hull, three pressure hulls with a smaller diameter and connected to one another were used (triangular shape). This increased the stability of the submarines and the maximum permissible diving depth was increased to 350 meters. In the lower part of the boat, there are two shorter pressure hull tubes next to each other, each containing exactly half of the battery and machinery that drives one of the two waves of the boat. Because of this construction, boats of this class have an exceptionally wide, flat keel in the middle of the boat. In the middle above these two tubes there is a third, longer pressure hull cylinder in which the crew, the electronics and the armament of the boat are housed. There was enough space to provide each crew member with their own bunk.
The first two boats of the class ( Dolfijn and Zeehond ) were built between 1954 and 1961 at the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM) shipyard in Rotterdam . The Wilton-Fijenoord shipyard, also located in Rotterdam, was responsible for completing the two subsequent units ( Potvis and Tonijn ) between 1962 and 1966.
The boats were armed with four bow and four stern torpedo tubes. In each of the two torpedo rooms, which also served as accommodation for a large part of the crew, two reserve torpedoes could be stored. The torpedo armament consisted of British Mark 8 torpedoes against surface ships and later also American wire-guided Mark 37 U-hunting torpedoes. The latter were fired from the stern torpedo tubes. In the course of their service life, the boats were modified several times, especially with regard to their sonar devices.
The four units of the Dolfin / Potvis class were supplemented from the mid-1970s by two units of the more modern teardrop-shaped design, Zwaardvis class , and then replaced with these by four units of the Walrus class in the 1990s . Of the four boats, only Tonijn remained as a museum sub-boat in the Den Helder naval museum , while the other boats were scrapped.
Units & whereabouts
- Royal Navy
The only user of the Dolfijn-class submarine was the Dutch Navy, whose first post-war construction these boats were. The construction was carried out in two lots at two shipyards, with the second lot also being referred to as the Potvis class.
| Identifier | Surname | shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | unit | Decommissioning | Whereabouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S808 | Mr.Ms. Dolfijn | RDM | December 30, 1954 | May 20, 1959 | December 16, 1960 | Onderzee service in Den Helder | 1982 | scrapped in February 1985 |
| S809 | Mr.Ms. Zeehond | RDM | December 30, 1954 | February 20, 1960 | March 13, 1961 | Onderzee service in Den Helder | 1990? | scrapped |
| S804 | Mr.Ms. Potvis | WF | 17th September 1962 | January 12, 1965 | November 2, 1965 | Onderzee service in Den Helder | June 18, 1992 | scrapped |
| S805 | Mr.Ms. Tonijn | WF | October 26, 1962 | June 19, 1965 | February 24, 1966 | Onderzee service in Den Helder | January 10, 1991 | Museum submarine in Den Helder |
photos
Bow view of the Tonijn in the Den Helder Marine Museum
Side view of the Tonijn , recognizable is the wide flat keel as well as the extension devices and the sonar systems.
Rear view with rudder and torpedo tubes
Detail of the tower
Mark 8 torpedo in the bow torpedo room.
Bow torpedo tubes
Listening room
Radio room
Depth steering position in the headquarters
Machine control center behind the headquarters
Berths and pressure-resistant bulkhead
Stern torpedo room
Mark 37 anti-submarine torpedo in the stern torpedo room
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