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N7KTP > NAVNET 07.08.04 07:11l 254 Lines 15251 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 39_N7WE
Read: GUEST
Subj: USS YMS-74 (Part 2/5)
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<DB0AAB<DB0FSG<I4UKI<IK5CKL<IZ0AWG<HB9OK<IK1ZNW<N7WE
Sent: 040804/0047Z @:N7WE.#WWA.WA.USA.NA #:39 [Bremerton] $:39_N7WE
From: N7KTP@N7WE.#WWA.WA.USA.NA
To : NAVNET@USA
The following article is the second of 5 parts depicting life aboard a
minesweeper during WW II. Written by Shippen Willing, a descendant of
the first XO of the YMS 74, they were published in the Naval Undersea
Museum newsletter "Undersea Quarterly".
Ooops. In my last post, I stated the story was in 4 parts. Checked my
file list and found it is in 5 parts.
Bob, N7KTP
________________________________________________________________________
New Year's. A lot had happened aboard the 74 during the fall. It
had been an interesting experience for me to watch a wooden ship corne
together from the keel up, literally, because we not only could watch
our own ship grow, but we also had access to the others in the yard as
they developed.
Our Engineering Officer reported for duty. He was a Finn, born in
America, with a very Finnish name. It wasn't hard to pronounce, but the
spelling was a little strange, so we quickly distilled it into "Tommy"
for convenience and simplicity. He had come to us with a strong
background in Diesel Engineering, some as a civilian, but mostly as a
naval officer, Lt jg. He loved his engines. He was an excellent officer
and a top level shipmate. YMS's were allowed three officers. We were
all "on board" so to speak, to begin organizing our respective
departments.
Weaver Brothers' Yard had been a family business since before the
Civil War, building canal boats, fishing vessels, tugs, and gun boats
ever since. Similar yards had grown up all along the Gulf Coast in
those days, along with many sawmills attracted by unbelievable forests
of long leaf yellow pine and cypress. This was the kind of scene to
interest the Navy's BuShips, currently in serious need of good wooden
ships and the Master shipwrights who understood how to build them.
YMS's were turned out in many an old, well-established yard from Maine
to Florida, the Gulf Coast, the entire West Coast, and even the Great
Lakes.
The tempo on the 74 picked up. Finish work began to take
precedence. There was talk about builder's trials, and this meant
Commissioning soon. The Skipper, Tommy, and I had lots to do now to
organize our respective departments. The first of the crew began to
appear from 8th Naval District NOLa, (New Orleans, Louisiana) via the
receiving ship, Orange, where the men would be housed, fed and paid
while working on board until commissioning. The ratings were mainly
Second and Third class with enough time in to be very useful, each in
his own specialty, and of course some Seamen First and Second Class.
The full complement would keep coming as needed until the Trial Board
had finished after fitting out in New Orleans.
Just before builder's trials my wife and I had a call from a long-
time friend. He was attached to a destroyer, in nearby Port Arthur, on
escort duty with a tanker taking on oil. He had the duty, but would we
come down for dinner on board? Fred had been commissioned long since
via NROTC (Naval Reserve Officers' Training). He had been on this ship
for some time, on escort duty with convoys in the Atlantic. This was a
very tough assignment. He gave us a clear picture of what it was like
out there.
The winter of 1942-3 had been a bad one so far. Wind, cold, snow
and ice. Very bad weather and plenty of really taxing duty underway
were beginning to tell on men and ships. The V-Boats had been putting
on the pressure-hard. In fact, there was a feeling of general concern
on the part of the Allies. As usual in wartime, this was all too clear
to civilian and service personnel, but we certainly did not know much
about what was happening politically until the histories began to
appear years later. Fortunately, very strong Allied leadership was at
work within. The Axis powers were all out to destroy the Allies' supply
lines, and the Allies were not going to let it happen. They planned
their defense wisely and effectively. This culminated in the
establishment of the Tenth Fleet in May 1943. Such was the state of
affairs as the 74 grew to take her part in it.
Builder's trials were scheduled for the first week in February;
commissioning would be on 08 February 1943. There was adequate space
and water between the yard and Sabine Pass for builder's trials. This
was a combined effort for people representing the builders,
manufacturers representatives, and the Navy (officers and men). It was
a long day, but it went well, with fewer items for adjustment than
expected. With commissioning only a few days ahead on the 8th of
February, we turned to to have everything shipshape and Bristol
fashion, which we did. The ceremony was carried out by the 8th Naval
District. There were a few wives and friends in attendance. We set the
watch bade the visitors good bye, checked the lines and secured
everything for the night.
There were a few things to finish up next day, but we soon got
underway down river
for the Sabine Pass Section Base where we tied up. We lay there for
several days, which gave us time to calibrate the magnetic compass, for
instance, and to make sure the Sperry
Gyro was functioning properly. A lot of standard chores were completed
for getting underway and for sea.
Tommy and his mates had everything under control in the engine
room and they felt good about it. They had two brand new main engines
down there-GM/Cleveland 8-2-64's. These were side by each in the main
engine room. There was a third Cleveland back aft below the magnetic
reel. It was integral with its own 540 KW generator used solely for
sweeping magnetic mines. The control panel for this generator was in
the pilothouse. These three functionally identical power units used the
same spare parts, which were all stored in the aft engine room. In the
main engine room were also two identical ship's service generators,
control panels, pumps, ventilation, steering, heavy-duty winches and
all the rest.
Tommy presided over all of this with a good sense of humor and
efficiency, and he had a great bunch of men to help him.
Navigation, communications, commissary, medical department took
shape under their respective officers and petty officers. We began to
feel like a ship's company, on our own. The commanding officer of the
Section Base felt we were well enough equipped to proceed to Naval
Shipyard, New Orleans, for fitting out. We cleared Sabine Pass and set
a course for the S. W. entrance to the Mississippi River. It was a
short run. Everything went well. When we had run down our time during
the midwatch, it was pretty foggy. The depth sounder showed 2 1/2
fathoms of water. We anchored to wait for daylight. As daylight came
and the fog began to burn off, a fishing vessel came alongside,
verified our position and gave us some very helpful local knowledge to
proceed, which we did as soon as things cleared up a bit. We stopped
briefly at the Section Base, Burwood before proceeding up river to the
Naval Shipyard in Algiers, just across the river from downtown New
Orleans. Actually, we tied up right next to YMS 73, which was then in
the midst of fitting out.
At the same time as we got underway in Orange, the skipper's wife
and my wife took off in our old automobile for the trip overland with
what belongings they had to meet us in New Orleans. In the style of
true Navy wives, they had preceded us. They had called at the United
Service Organization (USO) and had secured temporary lodging for each
couple. The town had pretty much recovered from
Mardi Gras. Things didn't look too bad for housing.
The USO was a wartime phenomenon dedicated to military personnel
and their families away from home and on the move. They were in need of
a kind word, a cup of coffee, lodging--. The heart of the organization
was the great big heart of the nation's women separated from their men-
fathers, husbands, brothers, sons. In characteristic female style, they
did a great job of it.
My wife and I were welcomed by an attractive middle-aged woman,
whose men were elsewhere. We stayed with her a few days. She made us
feel right at home. It wasn't long before the USO came up with a lovely
small apartment for sub-lease for about the time we calculated for the
completion of fitting out. The time worked out beautifully. We
were both very happy there and we didn't need to worry about a place to
live. Fitting out is not exciting, but it is interesting; there is a
lot to do.
Essentially, we would be either tied up to the repair barge, or
handy to it. It was a big, on-the-job, machine shop with everything
necessary for fitting out. YMS 73 shared a berth there with us. She was
a month or so ahead of us in progress. We both moved around quite a bit
as our needs varied. Often we went on our own power to more specialized
departments within the yard. Often a resident yard tug would take us on
the hip if we were not able to get underway. Sometimes specialized
ships or barges came to us to work alongside. Of course our watch list
had been functioning, with adjustments as they developed. The three
officers took Officer of the Day on a three-day rotation. All were on
duty during working hours. Senior petty officers covered the
quarterdeck with the aid of one messenger. They stood regular watches
and handled itinerant visitors who were boarding and disembarking. They
were pretty busy sometimes. There was plenty for every man to do at his
own level. All hands put in a full working day-cleaning, painting,
maintenance. The ship was on call from the yard to furnish hands for
work parties, or any needed services. And of course there were always
departmental chores.
The 8th Naval District had training facilities available for all
levels. All ratings on the 74 were encouraged to improve their records,
and in fact many were sent directly from training courses to permanent
duty with us. Tommy and the Skipper and I all made the best of this
opportunity, too. Two courses were particularly useful to me, since
little if anything in them had been in my background. One was an
excellent introduction to the LORAN navigation system only very
recently introduced and coming into use. The other was given by the
Communications Department on coding systems including radio. Both
immediately proved very valuable. Both, especially the communications,
were handled by WAVE officers who were excellent, knowledgeable
teachers.
There was also a good bit of time spent on the 3" loading machine,
and small arms under the direction of seasoned gunnery officers and
petty officers. This also included a course for depth charges. However,
we left the yard with no sonar, no radar, no depth charges, no
hedgehogs, all of which were in short supply. The reason soon became
clear as we learned about our first assignment: we were headed for a
major minesweeping operation where these would not be much use. In
fact, they, especially the depth charges, would be a liability on decks
cluttered with sweep gear. Consequently the 74 had been prepared for
mine sweeping. (It was not generally understood that minesweepers also
did a great deal of escort duty during this stage in the Battle of the
Atlantic.)
There was one facility, Shell Beach Firing Range, at New Orleans,
which nearly everyone on the 74 attended at one time or another. It was
deep, thorough, training in anti-aircraft gunnery. The course took
three days. It happened at the Oerlikon firing range far out in the
Bayou country south of town. For three days officers and men got equal-
and very thorough-training from veteran staff. The weapons were
minutely studied in the shop maintenance, assembly, repair, operation.
Every trainee had a chance to function at each station and to fire many
rounds during one pass of the towed target, and many rounds during
successive runs.
The Oerlikon was the only weapon used for training. It is a feisty
piece-fast, powerful, very maneuverable. It had been designed and
produced by the Swiss in 1939 and imported into the USA via the Royal
Navy where it had proved up in 1941. Our Navy was under pressure to
produce it for total replacement in older ships, and total installation
in new construction. The latest, used at Shell Beach, was the Mark 4,
with open sights. A vastly improved relative bearing system, the Mark
14 gyro sight, requiring electric power, was produced later at MIT in
1943. With it, efficiency increased vastly.
We had two MK4 Oerlikons on board. They were mounted port and
starboard at the very aft end of the first deck, just forward of the
stack. Each gun stood close inboard of the edge of the deck. There was
a half circle of deck, hinged upward at the deck, which could be folded
upward close to the gun if necessary when coming alongside. This gave a
full circle for the crew to function freely as the gun was trained.
Fitting out had gone well. We spent the first week in April
cleaning up odds and ends: taking on fuel, lots of spare parts,
ammunition, commissary items, and tons of sweep gear. Some thoughtful
supply officer ordered a Universal Drafting Machine for the chart room.
This really delighted the Skipper and me and our Quarter Master. It was
an unexpected bonus. We three used it a lot. It took a couple of days
to complete the very necessary operation of degaussing and deperming.
This was done at a facility near the Yard in the Industrial Waterway.
We went there under our own power, which gave Tommy and his mates lots
of opportunity to tinker with tachometers, governors, electrical meters
and a vast array of gear in the engine room. The main engines were high
speed, driving through reduction slant reverse gears.
On 14 April 1943 we cast off the lines, merged with "Ole Miss" and
headed for Section Base, Burwood, where we would spend some time with
the Trial Board and sea trials with ultimate acceptance of YMS 74 as a
recognized ship of the Navy. Spring is a lovely day in New Orleans,
before it gets hot. We proceeded alone to Section Base, Key West.
Although I had crossed the Gulf Stream many times on Milwaukee, I had
never seen it with the bottom so close. On a still day, it is an
impressive sight. We were at Key West long enough for our Pharmacist
Mate to transfer our ship's cook to the sick bay ashore with serious
medical problems. We proceeded without him. Nobody on board minded this
a bit. The run to Section Base, Little Creek, Virginia, at the entrance
to Chesapeake Bay, was without incident. Well, almost, anyway. Steaming
completely blacked out, one lookout and I were up on the flying bridge
for the mid-watch. The con was always there. The lookout picked up a
small fishing boat, under sail, close aboard. We managed to avoid a
collision. I have wondered ever since about the possibility that the
boat may have been on some covert mission involving Nazi U-Boats. They
were still there, although less arrogant than they had been.
We were ordered from Little Creek to NMWS at Yorktown, Virginia,
where we would make final preparations for sweeping.
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