The submarine was laid down on 12 November 1937 as K XXIV at the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM) shipyard in Rotterdam. During construction she was renamed O 24, and was finally launched on 18 March 1940. Following the German invasion of 10 May 1940, O 24 was hastily commissioned, still incomplete, and sailed for England on 13 May, to be finally completed at the Thornycroft shipyard at Southampton.[2]
From September 1940 she was attached to the 9th Submarine Flotilla at Dundee for patrols in the North Sea and off the Norwegian coast. In March 1941 she joined the 8th Submarine Flotilla at Gibraltar for operations in the Bay of Biscay and Atlantic Ocean, and convoy patrol duties. She also operated off the east coast of Italy, sinking several ships.[2]
In July 1942 O 24 was transferred to the British Eastern Fleet based at Colombo in Ceylon for operations in the Indian Ocean. Her patrols took her into the Strait of Malacca, off Sumatra, and around the Andaman Islands, attacking Japanese shipping and also landing small groups of British special forces on various islands. In mid-1944 she was refitted at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, then sailed for Fremantle, Australia, for further operations in the East Indies. After the Japanese surrender she was based at Batavia, before finally returning to the Netherlands in April 1946.[2]
O 24 was reduced to the status of training ship in 1947, and was decommissioned in June 1955 to serve as a floating battery until 1958, then as an instruction vessel until 1962 when she was struck, and sold for scrapping the following year.[2]
Ships sunk by O 24.[3]
| Date | Ship name | Nationality/Type | Tonnage (GRT) | Coordinates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 June 1941 | Fianona | Italian tanker | 6600 | |
| 12 June 1941 | V 121 Carloforte | Italian auxiliary patrol vessel | 143 | |
| 6 August 1941 | Bombardiere | Italian freighter | 613 | |
| 7 August 1941 | Margherita Madre | Italian schooner | 296 | |
| 6 September 1941 | V 63 Carla | Italian auxiliary patrol vessel | 347 | |
| 9 September 1941 | Italo Balbo | Italian freighter | 5114 | |
| 21 February 1943 | Bandai Maru | Japanese coaster | 165 | |
| 20 August 1943 | Chosa Maru | Japanese auxiliary gunboat | 2538 | |
| 14 Apr 1945 | Goenoeng Talang II | Japanese sailing cargo vessel | 40 | |