YMS-299

in the Battle of Okinawa

Archive for category Ships

Our Muster Roll and More!

Jan 23

Posted by Anthony D Paul in During Battle, Project Updates, Ships, Soldiers | No Comments

In other news, I was also contacted by Jim Harlan, son of John Harlan, who served alongside my grandfather on the ship. He happened upon the YMS-299 muster roll I’d been searching for. I got my hands on dozens of pages from several roll calls. I am in the middle of transcribing them all and will begin posting pieces of them very soon so people may Google their family members’ names and find this site.

I am holding out a glimmer of hope that one or more of the soldiers on my ship are living. I know it isn’t very likely, but I have found another YMS sibling’s crew member who is living. It isn’t my ship, but I’d like to visit soon to ask questions about the ship that I was never able to ask my grandfather.

USS Rhea Wheel & Helm For Sale

Jan 23

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Ships, Trinkets | No Comments

I was recently contacted by Jim Howlett, another cadet out of Port Stanley. He informed me he ran across Rhea’s wheel for sale on a nautical antiques site:

Scruton Marine Services

Cool stuff! Of course, it is well overpriced, and I wouldn’t know what to do with such a large thing in my house, but it is a very neat find, nonetheless. I am curious how they validated the authenticity of it—and if it is truly WWII-era, or if it would have been replaced post-war. They have the YMS number wrong in their listing, which makes me wonder.

MV Rhea Almost Sinks In Harbour, 1972

May 4

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Seacadets, Ships, Stories | No Comments

This story was submitted by Vernon A.C. Mills, a cadet in post-war service aboard the ship. Thanks Vern!

Being the following incident has happened many years ago, I will try to be as accurate as possible. It would be best to keep in mind that at the time, I was only 15 years old, therefore everything seemed so critical and disastrous. In all honesty, I can’t remember if the winter of 1971–1972 was particularly bad or not, after that amount of time the best I can say is, “I’ve had a sleep since then” and winter is winter.

It was during the very early spring thaw that a fairly large log had floated downstream on the Talbot River through Port Stanley, Ontario and somehow managed to get jammed between the pier and port side of the ship. Due to the strong current of the river and high winds, the constant rocking and sway of the ship, a fairly large hole had been punched into the hull right at the water line on the port side slightly forward of amidships. I believe it was Lieutenant Harrington, who at the time was at his place of employment, had been notified that the Rhea was sitting low in the water and had a noticeable list. Read the rest of this entry »

YMS-135 Subclass Microfiche Blueprints

Apr 23

Posted by Anthony D Paul in Blueprints, Documents, Ships, YMS-135 Subclass | No Comments

I somewhat crudely pieced together the partial scans of the ship’s blueprint. Here it is in totality, though the scans given to me where warped in places, so the measurements are likely not quite perfect. These came from copies of what appear to be microfiche film.

I plan to try and get my hands on better copies of these plans from the National Archives in the near future. Click through for as high of resolution as I have thus far.

YMS-135 Subclass; Blueprint

YMS-135 Subclass; Blueprint

YMS-304 3D Rendering & Microfiche Blueprints

Mar 12

Posted by Anthony D Paul in Blueprints, Photos, Project Updates, Ships, YMS-135 Subclass, YMS-304 | No Comments

I tracked down the source of a digital 3D model of the YMS-304 this week. The artist was gracious enough to give me a copy of the file, as well as copies of some blueprints for the YMS-135 subclass that came from the Naval archives!

I’d give personal credit to the artist, but I need to clarify if he would like me to, as the model was put together for a paid project. If I end up using it for anything commercial, I’ll have to get permissions.

So, what do I plan to do with such a great find?

Well, at the moment, not too much. The 3D model lets me pan and rotate the ship so I can get more intimate with its layout, but it is only an exterior model at the moment. I’m in the process of scheduling some Naval archive visits to get more blueprints, because I’d like to add more detail to the 3D model, then build out the interior for some digital walk-throughs. I can’t imagine how amazing it would be to virtually walk around inside of the ship, eventually even adding textures and materials to make it seem life-like. Time to sharpen up those rusty CAD skills!

Here is a quick screenshot of part of the model:
YMS-304 3D Rendering

YMS-304 3D Rendering

The YMS-304 is a near sibling of the YMS-299. Of the same subclass, the same blueprints were used in their manufacturing. The only differences between them would be minor in the construction process, as only YMS-299 to YMS-302 were built by the same builder.

Here is a sample portion from one of the blueprints:
YMS-135 Subclass; blueprint sample

YMS-135 Subclass; blueprint sample

Update: I added the full, stitched-together set of blueprints to this post.

M.V. Rhea Tally Cap, Shoulder Flash and Stories

Mar 5

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Seacadets, Ships, Stories, Trinkets | No Comments

In correspondence with Vernon “Vern” A.C. Mills, he’s been giving me some more bits of information about the post-war doings of the ship as a cadet training facility. Among his saved trinkets are a cap tally (a band that would have been worn around a sailor’s hat) and a shoulder flash (patch). Thank you to Vern for sharing these!

M.V. Rhea cap tally (band) and shoulder flash (patch); 1970s

M.V. Rhea cap tally (band) and shoulder flash (patch); 1970s

Vern served on the ship in the 1970s, alongside Charles Donaldson, the other former cadet whom has sent me a great number of photos of the ship.

Vern also pitched in this humorous bit of information:

I just remembered something that will give you one hell of a good laugh. During my time on the Rhea, I always worked in the galley with another guy named Brian Shuart. It was Brian who got the rest of the crew and even the officers to call me, “Captain Heartburn”.  Oh yeah, my culinary skills have improved since then. (I think)

 

M.V. Rhea Cadet, Vern Mills

Mar 4

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Project Updates, Seacadets, Ships | 3 Comments

I’m here! I apologize for the delay in posts. The holidays were a whirlwind and I’m just getting back to going through the documents again.

I’ve been contacted by another post-war cadet from the 70s. I’ll see if he has anything great he’s willing to share with us. I’m particularly interested in the interior of the ship lately, only because I have no photos of it.

I recently found a blueprint for the ship, as well as a model-maker who does custom WWII ships. The model-maker has made sibling boats of the YMS-299, so I’d like to get my hands on a fairly accurate model of the ship with gun turret placement and all. That would help me paint a more clear picture of battle, when my grandfather talks about what gun he was using and where chaos was happening around him.

To Vern, I have a number of other documents/stories from Charles regarding the cadet service. I’ll work on getting them posted quickly for you.

Another Photo and a Painting

Sep 28

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Photos, Seacadets, Ships | No Comments

These came from Chuck Donaldson as well.

Rhea 52 in Welland Canal, 1959

Rhea 52 in Welland Canal, 1959

More information on Welland Canal in Ontario: on Wikipedia

Rhea 52 painted by Chuck Donaldson's brother by memory in 1992. The dock was owned by the government of Canada and rent was per year.

Rhea 52 painted by Chuck Donaldson’s brother Bob by memory in 1992. The dock was owned by the government of Canada and rent was $1 per year.

A Brief History of the USS Rhea (MSC(0)-52)

Sep 27

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, During Battle, Prior to Battle, Ships, Stories | 1 Comment

NOTE: This history was included in the packet of photos and stories from Chuck Donaldson. It is actually labeled as an appendix, but I’m not sure what it was an appendix to.

The U.S.S. RHEA was built by William F. Stone and Sons Company of Oakland, California. She was launched on 14 November 1942 with Mrs. Lester F. Stone of Almeda, California serving as sponsor.

The U.S.S. RHEA (AMS 52) was originally commissioned as the YMS 299 on 7 April 1942 with Lieutenant F.H. GENTRY USNR as the first Commanding Officer. This ship is a Wooden-hulled minesweeper with an overall length of 136 feet and a beam of 25 feet. Her displacement is about 300 tons, her draft nine feet. Two 500-Horsepower General Motors diesel engines turn her twin propellers for a maximum speed of about 15 knots. She is fully equipped with modern electronic devices including Radar, Sonar and Loran. One 40 millimeter and two 20 millimeter rapid fire anti-aircraft guns comprise the armament of this vessel. While this type of ship is very seaworthy, it is not unusual to experience rolls of from 45 to 50 degrees. The complement of the ship is four officers and 30 enlisted men. Read the rest of this entry »

YMS-299 Additional Photos

Jun 25

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Photos, Seacadets, Ships | 1 Comment

As a follow-up to the previous post (http://yms299.org/archives/35), I’ve been sent a handful of additional photos of YMS-299 in post-war service as a cadet-training ship in Canada. Photos provided by Charles “Chuck” Donaldson.

I’ll come back to this post and update with as much date/location info as I have for each.

Rhea 52

Rhea 52

Read the rest of this entry »

Cadet Charles “Chuck” Donaldson (post-war)

Mar 4

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Project Updates, Seacadets, Ships | 2 Comments

Chuck Donaldson (not Chuck Paul, my grandfather) joined a junior sea cadet group when he was 13, to learn good seamanship. He was posted on the YMS-299 (then USS-Rhea) for 14 years, until it sank in 1983. Having started in the engine room and worked his way through jobs on the boat over the years, he knows everything there is to know about the boat. Intrigued, I asked him if he had a couple more photos, particularly of any inside the boat. He didn’t have any inside, but said he’d send me a couple anyway.

Well, I was expecting an email at some point, but I was expecting incorrectly. I was surprised today when I checked the mail, to find a scrapbook of the ship with professional photos of the ship sailing, a full history of the ship issued to the cadets in 70’s, handwritten memories aboard the ship, photos of himself as a boy on different parts of the deck, a beautiful painting of the ship his brother made and the sad newspaper article of its unexpected sinking at dock in 1983.

I’ll be typing up these stories and scanning these documents for inclusion here as quickly as I can. Thank you, Chuck!

YMS-299

Nov 22

Posted by Anthony D Paul in Photos, Prior to Battle, Ships | 23 Comments

The following are a handful of the photos I have of YMS-299 (later renamed AMS-52 Rhea). The first of which came from my grandfather’s keepsakes. The rest I found online or were sent to me by former crew members (or the family of).

YMS-299

YMS-299 in front of the Eastern portion of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge. The Berkeley Hills can be seen faintly to the East (on the left side of the bridge) with the Port of Oakland and (now gone) Alameda Naval Air Station to the right of the bridge. (notes from Rich Warren)

If you look at the photo in full size, it has a couple dozen crew posing and waving.

YMS = Yard Minesweeper. Mines had magnetic force to make them attack battleships. The YMS was made of wood to skirt around the mines and destroy them. Read the rest of this entry »

October 10, 1997, YMS-299 Sinks and is Scrapped

Oct 11

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Photos, Ships, Stories | 1 Comment

On October 10th, 1997, Rhea sunk due to a rotted hull and was left sunk for a month before being raised on November 11th to be scrapped.

Below is the local newspaper article (and transcription) from the next day (October 11th), provided by post-war cadet, Charles “Chuck” Donaldson.

WWII Ship Takes Plunge; Toronto Sun, October 11, 1997

WWII Ship Takes Plunge; Toronto Sun, October 11, 1997

WWII ship takes plunge

MESSY SPILL… Oshawa marine rescue personnel work to clean up diesel oil that was leaking from the MV Rhea after the ship sank yesterday morning in Oshawa harbor.

Former U.S. navy mine sweeper sinks in Oshawa harbor

By BRAD HONYWILL
Toronto Sun

OSHAWA—A mine sweeper that led U.S. military forces into Tokyo harbor at the end of World War II sits on the bottom of Oshawa harbor today after a mysterious sinking.

The MV Rhea—a 136-foot-long mine sweeper converted into a home—sank in about seven metres of water yesterday while tied to the Oshawa dock that has been its home for the past decade.

Harbormaster Donna Taylor said the ship appeared fine during a visual inspection at 10 a.m. but, 10 minutes later, it was sinking rapidly.

Phil Murphy, a tenant on the ship, had left for work when it went down. But it’s assumed that his cat was trapped in their cabin and unable to escape, Taylor said.

Taylor said emergency personnel from COMRA (City of Oshawa Marine Rescue Association) were immediately on the scene and prevented an estimate 1,600 litres of diesel oil from escaping into the harbor. The harbormaster said the former U.S. navy ship also saw action in the Korean War after World War II.

Later it was used as a training vessel.

The Rhea is owned by Gary Zulauf of Oshawa, who was away on a camping trip and had not been reached yet by authorities.

Taylor said that, although the Rhea was being used as a home, it was in the process of being restored as an operational [boat?]

YMS-103 Action Report; April 25, 1945

Apr 25

Posted by Anthony D Paul in Documents, During Battle, Ships, Soldiers, Stories, Timeline, YMS-103 | No Comments

I got this action report from Richard Thornton, son of the captain who drafted it. It details the events leading up to the the beaching of YMS-103 in the first month of the Okinawa operations. You’ll see YMS-299 was in the same detail. My grandfather discusses these events in his journal as well.

YMS-103 Action Report; April 25, 1945; Table of Contents

YMS-103 Action Report; April 25, 1945; Table of Contents

Read the rest of this entry »

YMS-103 Muster Roll; March 21, 1945

Mar 21

Posted by Anthony D Paul in Documents, During Battle, Ships, Soldiers, YMS-103 | 1 Comment

Also via Richard Thornton, this is the first page of the YMS-103 muster roll. I don’t have the equivalent of this for YMS-299 yet, though I was curious what the document looked like.

YMS-103 Muster Roll; March 21, 1945

YMS-103 Muster Roll; March 21, 1945

Read the rest of this entry »