HNLMS K XII

K XII was a patrol submarines of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The ship was built by Fijenoord shipyard in Rotterdam.

Service history
The submarine was ordered on 3 September 1921 and laid down in Rotterdam at the shipyard of Fijenoord on 9 January 1923. The launch took place on 15 July 1924. On 19 May 1925 the boat was commissioned in the Dutch navy.

In September 1926 K XII  left Den Helder for the Dutch East Indies. The route she took led through the Suez Canal. On 6 September 1938 she participates in a fleet show at Surabaya. The show was held in honor of the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands who was than 40 years the head of state. More than twenty navy ships participate in the show.

World War II
During the war she made several patrols in the South China Sea and waters around the Dutch East Indies and Australia. Only the patrol K XII made from 7 to 16 December 1941 in the South China Sea was successful. According to American sources K XII sank or damaged the Japanese freighter Toro Maru (1939t) on 12 December. Japanese sources name the troopship Awajisan Maru (9794t) as the target. Dutch sources report an approximately 8000t ship as the target but give no name. A day later on 13 December she sinks the Japanese tanker Taizan Maru (3525t).

6 March 1942 K XII fled Surabaya ahead of the invading Japanese forces taking with them the Naval Commander of Surabaya and his staff. The ship arrived there on 20 March. On 5 May 1944 the boat was paid off and sold in 1946 and finally scrapped in 1951.