Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

Sandcaster (YM-31)
ex
 YSD-64


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Delta - Juliet - Oscar
 NDJO
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - American Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - National Defense Service Medal
Dredge (Self-propelled)
  • Built by Soule Steel Co., San Francisco CA
  • Laid down, 29 September 1943
  • Launched, 13 July 1944
  • Completed as Seaplane Wrecking Derrick YSD-64, 15 July 1944
  • Initially assigned to Fourteenth Naval District at Pearl Harbor
  • Transferred to Ulithi, February 1945
  • Towed from Ulithi to Kerama Retto, Okinawa by Extricate (ARS-16), 22-29 June 1945
  • Assigned to Fourteenth Naval District through 1955
  • Assigned to Service Craft Unit 1 (diving school) at Pearl, 1958
  • Converted to a Dredge and redesignated YM-31, 1968
  • Name Sandcaster assigned, 14 December 1968
  • Mined on Cua Viet River, Vietnam (7 foreign crew killed), 25 February 1971
  • Salvaged by Australian Clearance Diving Team 3
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 01 September 1972
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrap, 21 February 1973
    Specifications:
    Displacement 240 tons (lt) 270 tons (fl)
    Length 104'
    Beam 31' 2"
    Draft 4'
    Lifting Capacity 10 tons
    Accommodations
    Officers 1
    Enlisted 15
    Propulsion
    two Superior Diesel engines
    two propellers, 640shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    YSD-64
    YSD-64 188k YSD-64 transporting a replacement TBM Avenger to Yorktown (CV-10) at Ulithi, 05 March 1945.
    National Archives photo 80-G-314905    		 Tracy White @ Researcher @ Large
    YSD-64 133k YSD-64 underway at Pearl Harbor, date unknown. Mike Murphy
    Oneyana 201k YSD-64 supporting navy divers efforts to raise Oneyana (YTB-262) from the harbor floor. Apparently she sunk at her moorings at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, date unknown. Mike Murphy
    SANDCASTER (YM-31)
    YSD-64 389k Sandcaster (YM-31) removing shoals on the Cua Viet River, Vietnam, circa 1969. Photo from South East Asia: Building the Bases by Richard Tregaskis Dave Wright
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Craft Index Back To The Seaplane Wrecking Derrick (YSD) Photo Index Back To The Dredge (YM) Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 26 October 2018