YMP-1

Wheel House, YMP-1 (ex - JMP-70 )

QM1 Sandusky at the wheel c1954 @ USNavy Photo LWuellner collection

Last Update: 3239 The following recounts experiences of LT jg Lou Wuellner (ex- OiC, YMP-1), Comments can be sent to martyk9 @ webtv.net NOTE: To send me an e-mail, please delete the two spaces in the above electronic address. Thank you. I will forward any thing received to Mr. Wuellner.

The SHIP: The US Navy YMP-1 was owned by the Fifth Naval District, Norfolk Va. and assigned to the Navy Harbor Defense Base at Little Creek, Va. (east of Norfolk in the Chesapeake Bay). YMP-1 was one of several FPs (Army Freight / Pasenger vessels) transferred to the Navy after the war (WW-2). Mine (had been outfitted by the Army as a Junior Mine Planter [JMP]) was transferred to the Navy and re-built as a Yard Mine Planter (YMP). I think she was the only one of the JMPs. Another mine planter YMP-2 (had also been acquired from the Army during her Army re-building) was specially designed in the early 1950s as an all steel highly maneuverable craft with Cycloidal propellers (kind of like egg-beaters wherling below the ship) able to pivot the craft around any spot. My YMP-1 was all wood, 114 ft long, 27 ft beam, 14 ft draft and displaced about 300 tons. I still have a set of her blueprints. The power plant was two Atlas Imperial 6 cyl, 4 cycle direct reverse cam-following Diesel engines with 10 in bore, 15 in stroke. They were slow turning with a maximum of 300 rpm, and a cruise speed of 250 rpm. Being direct reversable drive meant that to shift to reverse: The engineman must throttle down, then use the control wheel to: ....... 1. Shift reverse cam-followers inside the engine. ....... 2. Restart the engine with compressed air. ( to proceed forward, again he had to repeat the above procedures ) We carried four auxiliary Diesel generator / air compressors to furnish 500 psi air for engine starting and to supply electrical power to the craft, winches and crane boom.

The CREW: The Ship's company consisted of the OiC (Officer in Charge) me, an Executive Officer (a commissioned Warrent Officer), and 22 Enlisted men including seamen, enginemen, an electrician, a quartermaster (navigation & signaling), two cooks and a Corpsman. (In time, I will insert a crew photo taken by a Navy Photographer when I arranged a Dress Inspection of the Ship and Crew.)

CWO Buell in the Engine Room w/ EN1 Poissant

XO at the Starboard engine control c1954 @ USNavy Photo LWuellner Collection

The MISSION: Our mission was to was to provide harbor defense training for reservists, and to maintain the practice minefield at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay. The typical day involved getting underway about 0800, picking up or laying hydrophones, planting 3000 lbs (weight of maximum explosive charge) mines (sand filled at this time not TNT) and laying lots of underwater cable.

Mine deck

188 ft Mine Planter c1945 @ WClark collection

"PLUNGE-1" ( our radio call sign ) could carry 7 mines (1/2 of a submarine mine group) and it was a real hassle for the deck crew to rig them over the side for planting. Every man, not on watch elsewhere would pitch-in. The Quartermaster and I would man the bridge. He would steer and I would handle the engine-room telegraph and radio. Our position was tracked by large telescopes in observation towers ( ex-Coast Artillery Base End Stations ) on shore and plotted on a large plotting board in a casemate ( ex-Coast Artillery Mine Casemate ) at Fort Henry. They could plot our position within a few feet at a range of 15 miles and give us steering directions by radio. ( This procedure would permit a diagram on the plotting map to show where each mine was located as well as the position and path of any target; so that, when it approached a mine the Casemate could explode the mine or place it on active auto-matic firing . Marty)

Operations: I will never forget one particular day when YMP-1 ran into trouble. We were ordered to the south end of the minefield in the shipping channel by Cape Henry to raise some old mines which had been detected by a magnetometer ship. We had a USNR Captain on board as a trainee for the day. Another craft draged, located and marked the lift cable with buoys. But the job had taken about six hours longer than planned. We stayed a couple of miles out of the way, had lunch, performed some practice drills and even had swim call. We finally got orders to move in and raise one of the mines late in the afternoon. We located the buoy and moved along-side to grab the line. But, as I rang for "ALLBACK, TWO-THIRDS" the ship wouldn't stop, "ALL BACK EMERGENCY, FULL" (See paragraph 1 for reversing procedures). The buoy slid aft and suddenly the buoy went "BLOOP" and dissapeared. Down in the engine room, the port engine went "CHUFF - CHUFF - POOF". The 1 & 1/2 inch steel cable had been grabbed by the screw and got rapped around the propeller shaft half dozen times. My Mistake!! Answer this "What changes direction every six hours?

BMC Lancaster and Starboard Detail

Ready to insall Starboard Cathead c1954 @ USNavy Photo LWuellner Collection

BMC Newman (background) with the Port Detail

Ready to insall the Port Cathead c1954 USNavy Photo LWuellner Collection

EN Striker ( ? ) and EN Striker Blaney

Engine room crew c1954 @ USNavy Photo LWuellner Collection

The Tide: In that area the tide travels at 5-6 knots! I came in with the tide, not against it (as originally planned six hours previously). So, we were hamstrung to a mine (over 1 & 1/2 tons) in the middle of the shipping channel with night coming on. A salvage ship with deep-sea divers arrived several hours later and with their help and lots of undersea cutting we retrieved the mine and got the cable unwound from the screw at about 0200 hours. What a day!

Repairs: The YMP-1 had two shipyard availabilities (sheduled overhauls ? . Marty) during my command. The first was at Salisbury Md. which required navigating the Wicomico River - lots of sharp turns, and a depth of 14 ft (same as our draft). But, we were accustomed to rubbing the bottom because a lot of our work in the minefield was in shallow water. The trip to Salisbury required 8 or 9 hours and we wanted to traverse the river in daylight, so we planned to leave Little Creek at midnight. All the crew was on board and ready at 2345 hours except "Pop" Perry, the cook - he was last seen at the ferry boat pier having a beer. Several crew-members raced to drag him home and we got underway. Pop was pretty sorry for being late and immediately got busy baking 12 dozen biscuits for the crew. The aroma of baking filled the ship and those hot fresh biscuits are still remembered to this day. There was something neat, too, about navigating Chesapeake Bay throughout the night.

Small shipyards use a marine railway to haul ships. A marine railway is a set of rails on an incline down into the water. A large wood framework on steel wheels mounted on the rail is rolled down under water below the waiting ship. Woods chocks on the frame are pushed in against the ships hull to keep it from tipping over, and the two are hauled out of the water with a large winch. Most times everything goes OK, but, we learned that when they hauled the previous ship, a minesweeper, the up-haul cable broke near the end of the haul and the ship and frame rumbled down the railway and the ship was launched right across the riven into the mud. We were luckier!

Bottom repairs

188 ft Mine Planter c1945, @ WClark collection

Our second availability was at Colonna Shipyard in South Norfolk. It was there that I watched real shipwrights cut, hew, steam and bend 12 x 18 inch oak timbers to form kelsons (the timber next to the keel), then force-jack, fit and screw them into the hull frames. It's almost a lost art these days. Colonna had a coal-fired steam rail-crane for heavy lifting. I remember the operator, Eddie, quite well. He was black, wore black clothes, the crame was painted flat-black and all you could see was the lit end of his cigarette and two yellow eyes in the cab. It was fascinating to watch Eddie finesse heavy objects around as they dangled from the crane.

Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving 1953, was a special event for the YMP-1 Crew. "Pop" Perry, our head cook asked for permission to prepare the diner for the Crew members and their families. He did, and the dinner included 2 turkeys, 3 hams and all the possible dishes you could imagine - a truly grand feast.

Storms: Hurricanes were quite frequent during our Norfolk stay. Whenever they occurred, Navy ships took to the sea, but, small craft like the YMP-1 doubled up lines and rode it out at the pier with all hands on board, the engines warmed up and ready for emergencies.

Sleeping Accommodations: As to sleeping accommadations. Since the crew was officialy on shore duty, the officers and most of the married petty officers lived on shore. There were two, perhaps three, staterooms aft - behindthe engine room. They were used by petty officers. The strikers slept in the forward crew quarters, forward of the cargo hatch. Two staterooms were on the main deck forward of the gally. One on the port side was the sick bay used by the Corpsman. The starboard stateroom was our engineering office used by the Executive Officer (a CWO - Engineering). I don't recall where the cooks stayed. OBTW - one interesting note about the gally - the cooking range was fired by diesel fuel ! Why not ! (I think the water heater in the engine room was also diesel fueled but it may have been electrical).

Questions & Answers (I hope)

- Regards interior of the Wheel House; Ship had two engines, therefore two engine room telegraphs (side by side), Yes ? --- There were two engine order telegraphs, one each side of the wheelhouse. They were duplicates and ganged together for the convience of the skipper. Each telegraph had two handles - one each side - for left and right engines.

- Gore Vidal's novel, "Dangerous Voyage" mentioned the skipper liked to use the electric steering while he liked to use the Wheel. Can you explain ? And if there was such a device was it a joystick (I have seen that device on larger mine planters, but, it's function was not identified). -- You will notice a small wheel in the center of the steering column. It is the electrical steering wheel. A control lever on the column would engage either the electric wheel or the large manual wheel (for emergency failures). No joy stick. However on the YMP-2 with cycloidal screws, the helmsman had everal levers which controlled the direction and force of the thrust. I know very little more about the YMP-2 steering, except that I saw a pictorial chart on their bulkhead which diagrammed the lever positions and direction of thrust

- Regards the photos of installing the Catheads. You indicated BMC Newman working the Port Cathead, therefore, was BMC Lancaster working the Starboard ? (My assumption is BMC Newman worked the Port detail while BMC Lancaster worked the Starboard detail. The guard rail around the whinches indicates the catheads were on opposite sides) -- Our deckcrew moved around as a unit - using the port or starboard catheads as the need arose - such as, which side is best for laying or retrieving the underwater cables, hydrophones opr mines. Newman and Lancaster worked side by side (date of rank determined seniority).