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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

HM BYMS-2189
ex-HM J-989
ex-YMS-189


YMS-189 served the Royal Navy and Polish Navy
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 25 August 1942 as YMS-189 by the Greenport Basin and Construction Co., Greenport, Long Island, NY
  • Launched, 14 October 1942
  • Completed 1 May 1943 and transferred to the Royal Navy as HM J-989
  • Reclassified HM BYMS-2189
  • Sold to Poland in 1946, named ORP Zodiak and served as a Survey Vessel
  • Struck from the Navy Register 28 August 1947
  • Returned to U.S. custody 29 August 1947 and transferred to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission
  • Fate unknown.

    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 800bhp 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
    HM BYMS-2189
    YMS-189 79k . .
    YMS-189 61k c. November 1944
    HM BYMS-2189 (alongside dock) with the motor minesweeper HM MMS-216 alongside her at Terneuzen Harbour, Holland. Other ships shown are MMSs-11, 28 and 146, and in the foreground is LCPCL-278.    		 Robert Hurst
    YMS-189 61k c. November 1944
    Recovering a paravane float after a sweep had parted on an under-water obstruction, during operations to clear the river Scheldt and allow access between Terneuzen and Antwerp, Belgium
    Photo A 26612 by Lt. J. A. Hampton, Royal Navy official photographer from the collections of the Imperial War Museums
    YMS-189 98k c. November 1944
    Crew members firing at a floating mine during the Royal Navy's clearing of the Scheldt to Antwerp, Belgium
    Imperial War Museum Admiralty Official Collection, by Hampton, J.A. (Lt), Photo No. © IWM (A 26549)    		 Mike Green
    ORP Zodiak
    YMS-189 55k Photos from Facta Nautica Robert Hurst
    YMS-189 183k Photo courtesy of M. J. Meister from the 1953/1954 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships
    There is no DANFS history available for YMS-189
    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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