Auxiliary motor minesweepers

Last updated March 04, 2021

Auxiliary motor minesweepers were small wood-hulled minesweepers commissioned by the United States Navy for service during World War II. The vessels were numbered, but unnamed. The auxiliary motor minesweepers were originally designated yard minesweepers (YMS) and kept the abbreviation YMS after being re-designated. The type proved successful and eventually became the basis for the AMS type of United States Navy minesweeper.

Origin of the YMS

The Henry B. Nevins Shipyard, Inc., at City Island, Bronx, designed the YMS and laid the keel of the first one, USS YMS-1, on 4 March 1941. Launched on 10 January 1942, YMS-1 was completed two months later on 25 March 1942. From keel-laying to completion, the yard built YMS-1 in one year and three weeks.

The “Y” designation

The first wooden minesweeper of this class was to gain prominence in all theaters during World War II. A total of 561 were built at various U.S. yards. Originally a class of "motor minesweepers" (MS), "Y" was added to distinguish them from other minesweeper types; sources disagree on whether "Y" stood for "yardcraft" – indicating a type of craft assigned for duty within a navy shipyard or naval base and not expected to go beyond waters adjacent to the base – or to indicate they were built by yacht-builders; YMSs were built at 35 yacht yards, rather than at larger shipyards, 12 on the United States East Coast, 19 on the United States West Coast, and four in yards on the Great Lakes.

Use as minesweepers

Records show that YMSs were used in the United States Navy to sweep mines laid by enemy submarines as early as 1942 off the ports of Jacksonville, Florida, and Charleston, South Carolina. Many served in the Pacific.^[2] One of their greatest losses occurred on 9 October 1945, when seven U.S. Navy YMSs were sunk in a typhoon off Okinawa.

The wood-hulled YMS proved to be one of the U.S. Navy's more durable and versatile types through a quarter-century of service, filling a variety of roles for a number of navies.

Characteristics

All 481 ships of this type had the same general characteristics. The only significant variation within the type was one of appearance; YMS-1 through YMS-134 had two stacks, YMS-135 through YMS-445, YMS-480, and YMS-481 had one, while YMS-446 through YMS-479 had none.

History

Originally rated as service craft, they were used during World War II for inshore sweeping to prepare the way for amphibious assaults. Surviving YMSs were reclassified as AMS in 1947, given names, and re-rated as mine warfare ships; in 1955 they received the new type symbol MSC(O), changed to MSCO in 1967. These ships bore much of the mine warfare burden in Korea, formed a major portion of U.S. Navy minecraft strength through the 1950s, and provided underway training for Naval Reservists in the 1960s.

A number of YMSs were transferred to other navies during or after the war. During Project Hula, the United States secretly transferred 31 of them to the Soviet Union between 17 May and 3 September 1945, and some of these saw action in the Soviet Navy during Soviet military operations against the Japanese between 9 August and 5 September 1945. The transfer of five more was canceled when transfers halted on 5 September 1945. One, T-610 (ex-USS YMS-285), sank in 1945 while in Soviet service, and the Soviet Union transferred two, T-605 (ex-USS YMS-301) and T-611 (ex-USS YMS-287), to the People's Republic of China after striking them from the Soviet Navy list in 1955; during 1955 and 1956 the other 28 were scrapped by the Soviet Union or destroyed off its coast by mutual agreement between the two countries.^[3] Five YMS's served in the German Navy in different functions for tests, trials, and training; all of them had a civilian crew and were decommissioned between 1975 and 1988.^[4]

YMS-327 last YMS in service

USS Ruff (MSCO-54), originally YMS-327, the last of her kind in U.S. service, was struck from the Navy List in November 1969.

Related Research Articles

USS Admirable (AM-136) was the lead ship of her class of minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II. In commission from 1943 to 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Navy in 1945 and served as T-331 until stricken in 1958.

The YMS-1 class of auxiliary motor minesweepers was established with the laying down of YMS-1 on 4 March 1941. Some were later transferred to the United Kingdom as part of the Second World War Lend-Lease pact between the two nations. One ship eventually made its way into the Royal Canadian Navy postwar.

USS Barrier (AM-150) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union, serving in the Soviet Navy after that as T-335.

USS Bombard (AM-151) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union, serving after that in the Soviet Navy as T-336.

USS Bond (AM-152) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1943 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and served after that in the Soviet Navy as T-285 and as BRN-37.

USS Augury (AM-149) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1943 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Navy, in which she served as T-334.

USS Astute (AM-148) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Navy, in which she served as T-333.

USS Candid (AM-154) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1943 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and served after that in the Soviet Navy as T-283.

USS Capable (AM-155) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and then served in the Soviet Navy as T-339.

USS Captivate (AM-156) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1943 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and then served in the Soviet Navy as T-338.

USS Caravan (AM-157) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and after that served in the Soviet Navy as T-337.

USS Caution (AM-158) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and after that served in the Soviet Navy as T-284.

USS Disdain (AM-222) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. She was transferred to the Soviet Union in 1945 and after that served in the Soviet Navy as T-271.

USS Fancy (AM-234) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and served in the Soviet Navy after that as T-272 and Vyuga.

USS Marvel (AM-262) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and then served in the Soviet Navy as T-272. The Soviets converted her into a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed her Passat.

USS Method (AM-264) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and served in the Soviet Navy after that as T-276. The Soviets converted her into a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed her Purga.

USS Palisade (AM-270) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945 she was transferred to the Soviet Union and served in the Soviet Navy after that as T-279.

USS Rampart (AM-282) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1944 to 1945. In 1945, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and after that served in the Soviet Navy as T-282. She was converted to a naval trawler in 1948 and renamed Shkval.

USS Brambling (AMS-42/YMS-109) was a YMS-1-class auxiliary motor minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of removing mines from water that had been placed there to prevent ships from passing.

Project Hula was a program during World War II in which the United States transferred naval vessels to the Soviet Union in anticipation of the Soviets eventually joining the war against Japan, specifically in preparation for planned Soviet invasions of southern Sakhalin and the Kuril islands. Based at Cold Bay in the Territory of Alaska, the project was active during the spring and summer of 1945. It was the largest and most ambitious transfer program of World War II.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .

↑ Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 29.
↑ Fitzgerald, Edward J. "Maurice E. Fitzgerald in the Pacific War: the story of a WWII wooden minesweeper, USS YMS 339, and her skipper and crew in the Pacific". Navy League of the United States. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
↑ Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, pp. 29, 35, 37-38, 40.
↑ Siegfried Breyer, Gerhard Koop; Die Schiffe und Fahrzeuge der deutschen Bundesmarine 1956 - 1976; München 1978; ISBN 3-7637-5155-6 (German)

External links

Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper (YMS)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 29.

[Fitzgerald-2] Fitzgerald, Edward J. "Maurice E. Fitzgerald in the Pacific War: the story of a WWII wooden minesweeper, USS YMS 339, and her skipper and crew in the Pacific". Navy League of the United States. Retrieved 3 August 2017.

[3] Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, pp. 29, 35, 37-38, 40.

[Breyer-4] Siegfried Breyer, Gerhard Koop; Die Schiffe und Fahrzeuge der deutschen Bundesmarine 1956 - 1976; München 1978; ISBN 3-7637-5155-6 (German)

[2]

[3]

[4]