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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

HMS BYMS-2188
ex-HMS J-988
ex-YMS-188


BYMS-2188 served the Navies of Great Britian and The Netherlands.
YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 22 July 1942 as YMS-188 by Greenport Basin and Construction Co., Greenport, Long Island, NY
  • Launched, 26 September 1942
  • Completed, 30 March 1943 and transferred to Great Britain as HMS J-988
  • Renamed HMS BYMS-2188
  • Struck from the Naval Register 13 December 1946
  • Transferred to The Netherlands in 1946 as Volkerak (M 838)
  • Returned to U.S. custody 1 January 1947
  • Transferred to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission in February 1947
  • Struck from the Naval Register in 1957
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 270 t.
  • Length 136'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 8'
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 32
  • Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, two 20mm mounts and two depth chage projectiles
  • Propulsion: Two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    YMS-188
    YMS-188 90k YMS-188 underway on sea trials before transfer to Great Britain Victor Barnaby
    HMS BYMS-2188
    YMS-188 205k c. February - May 1946
    Netherlands
    Gordon Hunter in the engineroom "Happiness in the land of dials"
    From the collection of Engineman Gordon Hunter    		 Ian Hunter
    YMS-188 85k c. 1946
    "Wonders never cease. The '88' at sea on engine trials outside Ijmuiden" [The Netherlands]
    From the collection of Engineman Gordon Hunter
    YMS-188 23k c. 1946
    "Safely swept"
    From the collection of Engineman Gordon Hunter
    YMS-188 99k c. 1946
    Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    From the collection of Engineman Gordon Hunter
    There is no DANFS history available for BYMS-2188
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & Michael Mohl
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