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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

YMS-103



Call sign:
Nan - Able - How - Yoke

Abandoned 8 April 1945

YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 22 July 1941 by Astoria Marine Construction Co., Astoria, OR
  • Launched, 29 August 1942
  • Commissioned 19 September 1942
  • Damaged by mines 7 April 1945 in Nakagusuku-wan (Buckner Bay), Okinawa
  • Beached 8 April 1945, decommissioned and abandoned
  • Struck from the Navy list 19 May 1945.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 320 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 6' 1"
  • Speed 13 kts.
  • Complement 32
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 20mm mounts, two dpth charge tracks and two depth charge projectors
  • Propulsion: Two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    YMS-103 248k From the collection of SM1c Howard Rider Mike Rider
    YMS-103 248k Crew photo
    From the collection of SM1c Howard Rider
    YMS-103 248k Muster roll of the crew ending 31 March 1945 Joe Radigan
    YMS-103 248k Minesweeper Does Vital But Humdrum Job article
    From the collection of SM1c Howard Rider
    Mike Rider
    YMS-103 248k
    YMS-103 248k United Press and International News Service articles on sinking of YMS-103
    From the collection of SM1c Howard Rider
    YMS-103 248k

    YMS-103 Action Report, Okinawa Operation, 26 March to 8 April 1945
    Click on thumbnail for full size image

    1. Cover page of Action Report

    2. Introduction

    3. Part I - Brief Summary

    4. Part I (contd)

    5. Part I (contd)

    6. Part II - Preliminaries

    7. Part IV - Ordnance

    8. Part V - Damage

    9. Part VII - Personnel Performance and Casualties

    10. Part VIII - Lessons learned, conclusions and recommendations

    There is no DANFS history available for YMS-103
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Carl R. Cunningham, Jr., USNR19 September 1942
    02LTJG L. M. Thornton, USNR1945
    Courtesy Joe Radigan

    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To The Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper (YMS) Photo Index

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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright
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