Wreck of USS YMS-409

USA / North Carolina / Ocracoke /
 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, United States Navy, minehunter / minesweeper (ship)

Laid down at the Henry C. Grebe shipyard of Chicago in May 1943 as the 409th member of the YMS-401 Class of Minesweepers, USS YMS-409 commissioned into US Navy service as a member of the US Atlantic Fleet in late February 1944 following her delivery voyage through the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans.

Destined for duty in the European Theatre following the completion of stateside training, the YMS-409 and her crew set about familiarization exercises with their ship and its assigned mission in between convoy escort missions along the US East Coast into the late Summer of 1944. Calling at Norfolk in early September after escorting a Northbound convoy, YMS-409 was ordered to South to patrol the waters off Cape Hatteras and the North Carolina coast for German U-Boats and put to sea alone after completing voyage repairs.

Dawn on September 14th found YMS-409 operating off Hatteras alone conducting her patrols and possibly closing in to assist with the torpedoed American Liberty Ship SS George Ade which was adrift and under threat of further Submarine attack. As she moved Southward towards Diamond Shoals, weather conditions began to rapidly worsen as what is known today as the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 began to sweep across the Outer Banks. Probably receiving coded transmissions stating that the distressed vessel was under tow by the Rescue Tug USS Escape (ATR-6) and under escort by a pair of US Coast Guard Cutters as the morning gave way to afternoon, YMS-409's Commanding Officer would have likely brought his vessel around and made for sheltered waters to escape the strengthening winds and growing seas that were pounding his wooden-hulled vessel.

Possibly shaping a course for Hatteras Inlet, YMS-409 was caught in nearly the center of the 600-mile swath of Hurricane force winds and may have been in the unfortunate position of having to move Westward across the faces of waves which were confirmed by other vessels to regularly reach 70ft high. The already-hazardous shallows of Diamond Shoals more than likely exaggerated the high seas pounding YMS-409 as she and her crew sought shelter, and at some point during the night of September 14-15 the Minesweeper and her crew of 33 were lost to the storm. Four days of exhaustive search efforts brought up no evidence of either the ship or crew, and on the 20th of September the ship was declared lost. Based on her final course and heading, YMS-409 and her 33 men are believed to have gone down in this general area, roughly 3 miles East of Cape Hatteras.

www.navsource.org/archives/11/19409.htm
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   35°11'59"N   75°30'0"W

Comments

  • In memory of YMS-409 crew member James Elliot Gaston, 1925-1944
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