Wreck of YMS-19

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, United States Navy

YMS-19 was a YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper in service with the US Navy during the Second World War and following her June 1942 commissioning she was assigned to the US Atlantic Fleet.

Operating out of Southeastern US ports and sweeping the sea lanes and harbors from Charleston to Puerto Rico, YMS-19 did her part to stay the U-Boat assault taking place along the US Eastern & Caribbean seaboard throughout 1942 & 1943. By late 1943 however, advancements in Allied anti-submarine warfare kept the U-Boats further and further away from US shores, and YMS-19 was re-assigned to serve in the Pacific Theatre, where her capabilities were in desperate need in the US Island-hopping campaigns towards mainland Japan.

Arriving in theatre in early 1944, YMS-19 swept harbors and surrounding waters from newly acquired US territory in support of both shore and naval forces trough the year before she participated in the Invasion of the Palau Islands in September 1944. Tasked with clearing the mine-infested waters in and around the Islands, YMS-19 was East of Anguar on September 24th, 1944 when a massive explosion shook the ship, the result of a Japanese mine.

The wooden hull of YMS-19 was severely damaged by the concussive force of the mine blast, and the water entering her hull quickly overwhelmed her pumps and forced her crew to abandon the quickly sinking ship onto a PT Boat which had come alongside to render assistance. Shortly after her last crewmember left the ship, YMS-19 rolled over and sank at this location.

YMS-19 earned her first and only Battle Star for her actions on September 24th, 1944.

www.navsource.org/archives/11/19019.htm