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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

YP-73

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Uniform - November - Mike
NUNM
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Defense Service Medal
Bottom Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

District Patrol Craft
  • Built by Bellingham Marine Ways (George Wrang), Bellingham, WA
  • Launched, late April 1937
  • Completed for Pacific American Fisheries, Bellingham, WA, as cannery tender Corsair (ON 236328), 1937
  • Purchased by US Navy for $47,500, November 1940
  • Placed in service as YP-73, December 1940
  • Assigned to Aleutian Patrol, 1940-45
  • Struck reef and grounded 1000 yards east of Spruce Cape signal station, Kodiak Island, 15 January 1945
  • Six crew (three officers and three enlisted men) rescued by USCGC Bittersweet, but ten men (one officer and nine enlisted men) died of exposure after abandoning ship 1
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 23 February 1945
    1. Lost were the following:
    one unidentifed officer
    William Frank Bennett, Jr. (876 01 69) S2c, V-6 USNR
    Harry John Holland (870 90 68) S1c USN
    Merlin Joseph La Mere (871 57 94) S1c (GM) USN
    James Bernard Loerzel (870 90 74) MoMM3c(T) USNR
    William Mckensie McGuire (347 08 70) Cox USN
    Edward Milton Nemeth (321 88 36) MoMM3c USN
    LeRoy Garret Olson (329 41 21) QM2c(T) USN
    Robert Elton Phillips (643 35 34) GM3c(T) V-6 USNR
    Richard Edwin Van Doozer (386 64 31) SC2c USN

    Specifications:
    Displacement 115 gross tons
    Length 84' 6"
    Beam 22' 0"
    Draft 9' 1"
    Speed unknown
    Complement unknown
    Armament one 3"/23
    Propulsion diesel, 300hp

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Source
    YP-73
    143107302
    22k YP-73 underway, date and location unknown (probably in Puget Sound in late 1940). Note the 3"/23 gun forward.
    Cropped from U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships Photograph, Bureau of Ships General Correspondence, YP-72 file, Box 472, National Archives and Records Administration, Textual Records Branch, College Park, Md
    Dave Wright
    YP-73
    143107301
    54k YP-73 hauled out on a seaplane ramp at Women's Bay, AK, 10 April 1941.
    US Navy photo from NAS Kodiak (VFW collection)
    Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    YP-73
    143107303
    54k YP-73 off Little Port Walter, Alaska, circa 1942. Note her armament at this time consists of a 3"/23 mount forward, a short depth charge rack, and a .30 caliber machine gun on the stern. Thomas L. Deits,
    for his father,
    Gordon R. Deits, USNR (Ret.)
    YP-73
    143107304
    54k YP-73 underway in Alaskan waters, circa 1943. Her armament now consists of two 20mm AA guns fore and aft (replacing the 3"/23), as well as two .50 caliber machine guns aft. Thomas L. Deits,
    for his father,
    Gordon R. Deits, USNR (Ret.)


    Commanding Officers
    01LT William B. Dell, D-M USNR(March 1941 - June 1942)
    02LT Gordon Robert Deits, D-V(G) USNR(September 1942 - ???)

    There is no DANFS history record available for YP-73 at NavSource
    Back to the Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Yard and District Craft Photo Index Back To The Patrol Craft (YP) Photo Index
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    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo and is maintained by David L. Wright
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 27 October 2021