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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

HM BYMS-2279
ex-HM J-1079
ex-YMS-279


BYMS-2279 served the Navies of Great Britain and Germany.
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 23 January 1943 as YMS-279 by Henry C. Grebe and Co., Chicago, IL
  • Launched 29 July 1943
  • Completed 2 October 1943
  • Transferred to Great Britain 15 October 1943 and reclassified HM J-1079
  • Reclassified HM BYMS-2279
  • Rescues one of four boatloads of survivors from U.S. freighter Charles D. McIver that struck a mine as she was leaving Antwerp, Belgium on 22 March 1945
  • Struck from the Naval Register 28 August 1947
  • Returned to U.S. Navy custody in May 1948 and transferred to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission for disposal
  • Sold to Germany in 1960 and commissioned Rudolf Diesel (Y 889)
  • Decommissioned 28 November 1986
  • Sold in November 2002 to a Dutch Company in Wijk buj Duurstede, The Netherlands
  • Sold in 2003 to Briand van Balkom and Nardie Claassens and is currently being restored
  • Sailed under her own power in May 2004 to Cuijk, The Netherlands
  • Currently (December 2010) laying sunk in Rotterdam, The Netherland.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 270 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 8'
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 32
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 20mm mounts 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
    HMS BYMS-2279
    BYMS-2039 95k BYMS-2039 (ex-BYMS-39), tied-up outboard of BYMS-2044 (ex-BYMS-44), with BYMS-2279 tied-up outboard of an unidentified BYMS aft. All are awaiting disposal
    Photo from "Minesweeper: The Role of the Motor Minesweeper in World War II" by Michael J. Melvin, BEM    		 Robert Hurst
    YMS-279 29k BYMS-2279
    BYMS-2279 72k Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 9 June 2022
    Rudolf Diesel (Y 889)
    Rudolf Diesel 33k
    Rudolf Diesel 88k
    BYMS-279 186k c. 1971
    West Germany Navy photo    		 Robert Hurst
    Rudolf Diesel
    BYMS-279 109k Rotterdam, The Netherlands Peter Bethlem
    YMS-279 274k Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    Ready for scrapping after being refloated
    Photos from CORNET nautica
    YMS-279 188k
    YMS-279 178k
    There is no DANFS History currently available for YMS-279
    Commanding Officers
    01T/Skr William Stanley Dosdale, RNR16 October 1943 - 27 May 1944
    02T/Skr LT Aksel Lie Olesen, RNVR27 May 1944 - Mid May 1945
    03T/Skr E. Stanley, RNVRMid 1945 - 28 September 1945
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    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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