YMS-1-class minesweeper
 USS YMS-324 in San Francisco Bay, c. 1945–46 |
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | YMS-1 |
| Builders: | 35 yacht builders[1] |
| Operators: |  United States Navy Royal Navy Royal Canadian Navy |
| Subclasses: | YMS-136, YMS-446 |
| In commission: | about March 1942[1] - 13 December 1957[2] |
| Completed: | 481[1] |
| Cancelled: | YMS-482 – YMS-500 |
| Active: | 0 |
| Lost: | 32[3] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | minesweeper |
| Displacement: | 270 tons |
| Length: | 136 ft (41 m) |
| Beam: | 24 ft 6 in (7.47 m) |
| Draft: | 8 ft (2.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × 880 bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 32 |
| Armament: | 1 × 3"/50 caliber gun mount 2 × 20 mm guns 2 × depth charge projectors |
The YMS-1 class of auxiliary motor minesweepers was established with the laying down of YMS-1 on 4 March 1941.
Characteristics of the class: Displacement 270 t.; Length 136'; Beam 24' 6"; Draft 8'; Speed 15 kts; Complement 32; Armament one single 3"/50 gun mount, two 20mm, two dcp; Propulsion two 1,000shp General Motors diesel engines, two shafts.
Subclasses
There were two mostly cosmetic sub-types of the class, sometimes referred to as classes themselves
YMS-135 subclass
This subclass was identical but had only one stack rather than two, and consisted of YMSs 135–445, 480, and 481.
YMS-446 subclass
This subclass was also identical but had no stacks, and consisted of YMSs 446–479
BYMS
Eighty YMS minesweepers were ordered from US yards for transfer under Leand-Lease to the UK as the BYMS-class minesweeper. Another 53 built for the US Navy (hull numbers 137 to 284) were transferred as further BYMS and another 17 were delivered later.
References
- ^ For both YMS-1 and BYMS classes a total 40 were lost. Of those 40, 32 were YMS-1 class. (See: "YMS class Minesweepers". Uboat.net. Retrieved 2007-12-20.)
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
- Priolo, Gary P. (2006). "Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper (YMS), British Motor Minesweeper (BYMS) Index". NavSource Online. NavSource Naval History. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
