USS YP-389
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Shipyard |
Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation |
| Launch | 1941 |
| 1. Period of service |
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|
| Commissioning | February 6, 1942 |
| Whereabouts | by on June 19, 1942 U 701 sunk |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
170 ts |
| length |
31.10 meters |
| crew |
24 men (at the time of loss) |
| drive |
Diesel engine, 1 shaft |
| speed |
10 kn |
| Armament |
|
The USS YP-389 was an inshore minesweeper and patrol vehicle for the United States Navy . which was used in World War II and was sunk in June 1942.
history
The boat was completed on October 9, 1941 at the shipyard of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in Quincy , Massachusetts , under the name Cohasset as a fishing cutter and initially operated by the fishing company R. O'Brien & Company. After the American entry into World War II in December 1941, the boat was taken over by the American Navy on February 6, 1942. Initially it was planned to put the boat into service as the AMc-202 coastal minesweeper . However, this project was rejected and the small trawler was finally put into service as a patrol boat on May 1, 1942 under the designation YP-389 . The main area of operation should be the American east coast between Cape Hatteras and Shinnecock Inlet (Naval District No. 3), where Allied shipping was heavily attacked by German submarines at that time.
Armament
For this purpose, the 170 ts displacement boat was armed with a 7.62-cm gun, two 7.62-mm machine guns and a makeshift slide for depth charges (for ten depth charges) at the stern. The crew comprised 24 (according to other sources 25) men. The maximum speed of the cutter was around 10 knots .
loss
In the early morning hours of June 19, 1942, the patrol boat off Cape Hatteras , about ten nautical miles from Diamond Head , was sighted by the German submarine U 701 (Kapitänleutnant Horst Degen ) and attacked while surfaced. The Germans fired at the patrol boat with the 8.8 cm on-board gun of the submarine and hit the 7.62 cm cannon of the Americans with the first shots, which got wedged and could no longer be moved. YP-389 was then only able to defend itself with the two machine guns and was shot down and sunk by the submarine in a gun battle lasting almost 90 minutes. Six men from the boat's crew died in the fight, 18 survived and were later rescued (the sources contradict each other somewhat, and there are also some references to four victims and 21 survivors). U 701 suffered no damage or personnel losses in the fight.
Discovery of the wreck
The wreck of the cutter was discovered in 2009 by a search expedition of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The trawler is at position 34 ° 50 ′ 0 ″ N , 75 ° 19 ′ 59 ″ W at a depth of about 100 meters on a level keel and is in a relative good condition. Since several crew members were killed in the sinking, the wreck is declared a war grave and may not be dived.