Wreck of USS YMS-30

Italy / Lazio / Nettuno /
 military, shipwreck, United States Navy, minehunter / minesweeper (ship)
Laid down in 1941 and commissioned into US Navy service in April 1942, USS YMS-30 likely spent the first few months of her service engaged in type training before joining an Allied Convoy from New York bound for the Mediterranean.

Lending her capabilities as both a minesweeper and convoy escort to the Allied war effort across North Africa, YMS-30 received orders along with most available minesweepers to report to Naples in late December 1943 to prepare for the Allied Invasion of Anzio, codenamed Operation Shingle. Arriving off the landing beaches on January 22nd, the YMS-30 and her crew were kept quite busy by the heavily mined waters and the arrival of regular air attacks by the Luftwaffe on the assembled ships.

After two harrowing days clearing the minefields off the beachheads, the YMS-30 returned to a previously swept area to stage provide air cover for fellow minesweepers as they pushed closer to shore. While maintaining her station, the YMS-30 was rocked in her forward bow by a tremendous explosion, likely from a drifting mine cut loose from its anchor. The force of the explosion blasted a massive hole into the wooden hull of the ship, and within seconds the ship was going down by the bow. Her crew, though shell-shocked and dazed from the blast, were quickly able to abandon the ship before she sank bow first at this location on January 25th, 1944.

For her actions in the Invasion of Anzio, YMS-30 received her first and only Battle Star for World War Two service.


www.navsource.org/archives/11/19030.htm
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   41°23'0"N   12°44'59"E

Comments

  • My namesake/uncle was KIA on the USS YMS30. Signalman 1st/C George E. Corwin.
  • My great Uncle, Paul Minogue, Pharmacy Mate was also killed,MIA. I'm sorry for your loss.
  • Hi Timothy, Sorry to hear of the loss of your great uncle on the USS YMS30. No doubt, our two uncles knew each other and hopefully were friends.
This article was last modified 13 years ago