Evidence
12 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-12).
-
[1]research packet 1036-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (thin sourcing
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- qualifier: VERIFIED (thin sourcing
- Evidence ID
- uss-yms-18-yms18-pkt-1036-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, YMS-18 (11/19018) - milestone list, specifications, service flags (US and France), photo captions (verified live on navsource.net) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19018.htm - milestone block, specifications block, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: laid down 6 June 1941 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Bristol, RI; launched 8 December 1941 (see date conflict, gaps); completed 9 May 1942; commissioned USS YMS-18 (date not stated); transferred to France 1 October 1944 as Glycine (D 332); sold to France 21 March 1949; 'Struck a mine and sank 28 May 1949 off Vietnam' (conflicts with French official memorial date of 21 April 1949 - see ev-06 and gaps). Specifications: displacement 270 t.; length 136'; beam 24'6"; draft 8'; speed 15 kts; complement 32; armament one 3"/50 dual-purpose mount, two 20mm, two depth-charge projectors; propulsion two 880 bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts. Call sign Nan-Able-Xray-William. Page states 'There is no DANFS history available for YMS-18.' Photo captions document the hull as built (Robert Hurst photo dated 17 April 1946) and a Viet Minh photograph of salvaged 3"/50 ammunition with 20mm guns and .50-cal machine guns from the wreck (courtesy Charles Jaubert via Andre Pilon, RFS Golo).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1941-1949
- Population
- Herreshoff construction trades (1941-42); US Navy crew (1942-44); French crew (1944-49)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates corroborated here against the builder's construction record and uboat.net, but two dates conflict with better-sourced accounts (launch: christened 6 Dec / water entry 7 Dec per contemporaneous press; loss: 21 Apr 1949 per French official memorial). Commissioning date not stated. Contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-01
-
[3]Herreshoff Marine Museum / Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonne, HMCo #415p 'YMs 18' - particulars from the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. Construction Record plus transcribed contemporaneous press (Bristol Phoenix, Washington Post, New York Times) [museum_official]
- Locator
- herreshoff.info HMCo #415p vessel page - Particulars block (Construction Record), 'Other Contemporary Text Source(s)' transcriptions, Drawings list
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Builder's construction record (primary): HMCo hull #415p 'YMs 18' (later Glycine), Power Yard Minesweeper, designed by Nevins, wood construction, LOA 136', LWL 130', beam 24'6", draft 6'4", displacement 270.0 short tons, twin 4-blade propellers (49" dia, 48.5" pitch), '135' Minesweeper & Subchaser. Nevins Design. Govt Furnished Engines.'; construction-record launch date 1941-12-6, delivered 1942-05-9. Contemporaneous press transcribed in the record resolves the launch sequence: Bristol Phoenix, 5 Dec 1941 (launch announced for next morning, christening by Mrs. R. F. Haffenreffer 3rd, fifth minesweeper built at the yard); Washington Post, 7 Dec 1941 (christened 6 Dec but 'a faulty cradle caused postponement of the launching' - a falling jack wedged blocks under the cradle); Providence Journal account (see ev-03) records the hull entering the water the next morning, 7 Dec 1941. Design drawings (cable reels, reel pit, steering) dated Dec 1941-Apr 1942 survive in the Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum (offset booklet HH.4.075).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1941-1942
- Population
- Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. construction trades, Bristol RI (1941-42)
- Limitations
- Builder's own construction record is primary for particulars; newspaper texts are transcribed within the museum registry (original issues not independently read). The registry propulsion field reads 'Gasoline, General Motors' - conflicts with the documented diesel fit (GM 8-268A diesels) and is treated as a cataloging artifact (see gaps). No asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-02
-
[4]Herreshoff Marine Museum / Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonne - transcription of Charles H. Spilman, 'Minesweeper Built in Rhode Island Yard Cited for Accomplishment Off Port in Sicily,' Providence Journal (n.d., wartime), from the Haffenreffer Family scrapbook, Collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum [museum_official]
- Locator
- herreshoff.info HMCo #415p - 'Other Contemporary Text Source(s)', Spilman Providence Journal transcription
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Contemporaneous account of this hull's combat service: YMS-18, with YMS-16 and YMS-83, swept a channel through a large enemy minefield off Porto Empedocle, Sicily, under shore-battery fire and air attack (bombs and strafing), enabling landing of supplies 'urgently required for the support of the United States Army in Sicily.' Her commanding officer, Lt. Ralph Blake Williams, USNR, of Dover, Mass., received a letter from the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in Northwest African waters: 'Your meritorious performance of duty as commanding officer of the U. S. S. YMS 18 while engaged in sweeping a channel through a large enemy minefield off Porto Empedocle, Sicily, is worthy of special commendation... This operation... resulted in the successful clearing of a channel into Porto Empedocle, thus enabling the landing of supplies at that port.' The account also records the launch sequence: christened 6 Dec 1941, cradle jammed overnight, 'the next day, at about the same hour that' the Pearl Harbor attack began, 'YMS 18 slipped smoothly and quickly into the water' (i.e., 7 Dec 1941); photo caption 'pictured soon after launching... on Dec. 7, 1941.' Places the hull in the Mediterranean in 1943 - consistent with the Sicily campaign timeline (Porto Empedocle captured mid-July 1943) and with a 1944 in-theater transfer to France.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943 (action); account published wartime
- Population
- US Navy crew under Lt. Ralph Blake Williams USNR, Sicily operation (1943)
- Limitations
- Contemporaneous press account quoting an official Navy letter - the letter itself was not independently located; the article is undated (wartime, post-action disclosure) and museum-transcribed. Porto Empedocle date inferred from campaign chronology, not stated. Establishes service history only - no asbestos or material content; combat exposure claims (if any) would rest on the deck logs, not this account.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-03
-
[5]uboat.net Allied Warships, USS YMS-18 (ship 9438) - milestone table (verified live) [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/9438.html - vessel milestone table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- uboat.net milestone table for this hull: ordered 1 April 1941; laid down 6 June 1941 at Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Bristol RI; launched 8 December 1941 (carries the same variant as NavSource - see gaps); commissioned 9 May 1942; end service 1 October 1944 - 'Transferred to France on 1 October 1944 being renamed Glycine.' This is the only located source stating a commissioning date (9 May 1942).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1941-1944
- Population
- US Navy crew (1942-44)
- Limitations
- Volunteer-maintained reference database (secondary); no operations detail listed ('no commands listed'). The 8 Dec 1941 launch date conflicts with the better-documented 6/7 Dec sequence from contemporaneous press and the builder record. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-04
-
[6]National Archives, Special List 44 - List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947: ship-number listing (current NARA PDF, p. 116; printed volume p. 509) and RG 24 Entry 118 (NAID 581208) series description [other_primary]
- Locator
- SL44 ship-number PDF p. 116 (YMS-18 row); printed SL44 p. 509 ('YMS-18, Oct. 1, 1942-Sept. 30, 1944, 7 logbooks') via Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center scan; NARA navy logbooks page (RG 24 E118, NAID 581208)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds deck logs for USS YMS-18 covering 1 October 1942 - 30 September 1944: the ship-number listing of Special List 44 carries the row 'YMS-18 | 10/1/1942 - 9/30/1944' (current PDF p. 116, verified live), and the printed volume entry on p. 509 lists the same span as 7 logbooks. The logs sit in Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, RG 24, Entry 118 (NAID 581208). Coverage ends exactly at the documented 1 October 1944 transfer to France - the logs document her U.S. Navy period only.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1944 (log span)
- Population
- US Navy crew (Oct 1942 - Sep 1944)
- Limitations
- Finding-aid record of log coverage, not the log contents - the logs were not read this session. Coverage begins 1 Oct 1942, five months after May 1942 completion; no earlier YMS-18 logs appear in SL44 (see gaps). Digitization status in the National Archives Catalog not verified (catalog API unreachable from this session - see ledger). No asbestos content in the listing itself.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-05
-
[7]Memorial national des marins morts pour la France (association recognized as being of public utility; cites Etat-Major de la Marine, Marines No. 57, Rene Bail) - vessel entry 'Glycine - Dragueur de mines' (verified live) [museum_official]
- Locator
- memorial-national-des-marins.fr/marin/3275-glycine.html - vessel entry text
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- French national memorial record for this hull's loss in French service: 'Dragueur de mines, type YMS (US) 280 tx, ex YMS 18, la Glycine D 332' - sailing alone, struck a mine at about 16:00 on 21 April 1949 on the Mekong, in the rach (tributary) Thuong, 11 km north-northeast of Tan Chau; 'coupé en deux derrière le bloc passerelle' (cut in two abaft the bridge block), sank rapidly; personnel in the water were machine-gunned by automatic weapons on the bank; 2 officers and 30 men killed or missing; single survivor, EV Clement; a commemorative monument erected in Saigon. This is the better-sourced loss date (21 April 1949) versus NavSource's 28 May 1949.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1949-04-21
- Population
- French crew, Glycine, Forces maritimes du Mekong (1949)
- Limitations
- French-language memorial compiled from navy staff sources (Marines No. 57 article cited); conflicts with NavSource on the loss date and differs from the officer-memorial accounting of casualties (32 killed/missing here vs 14 dead + 18 captured-never-released there - see ev-07 and gaps). Vessel-history only - no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-06
-
[8]Memorial des officiers de marine - personnel record for EV1 Henri Rene Monnory, officier en second, dragueur Glycine (verified live) [museum_official]
- Locator
- memorial-aen.fr/detail.php?id=1967 - 'Circonstances du décès' and 'Citations & Décorations' blocks
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- French officer-memorial corroboration of the loss: 'Le 21 avril 1949, sur la rivière Song-So-Thuong, affluent du Mékong (région de Tan-Chau, province de Chau-Doc, Sud Viêt-nam), le dragueur D 27 Glycine sauta sur une mine posée par les rebelles et coula immédiatement' - 14 dead including commanding officer Lt. de vaisseau Lesieur, one survivor (the officier en troisième), and 18 prisoners who were never released (a 1956 Vietnamese account concluded all prisoners died); Monnory's death was declared by the Tribunal civil de la Seine, 18 May 1958, 'MORT POUR LA FRANCE.' The entry quotes the ministerial citation a l'ordre de l'Armée de Mer of 17 April 1950: 'Affecté le 26 mars 1949 aux Forces maritimes du Mékong... A sauté sur une mine le 21 avril alors qu'il effectuait pour la deuxième fois une mission de soutien d'un poste isolé en plaine des Joncs' - documenting Mekong riverine patrol and fire-support operations (4 and 20 April) in the weeks before the loss.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1949
- Population
- French crew, Glycine, incl. CO LV Lesieur and EV1 Monnory (1948-49)
- Limitations
- Personnel-memorial page (vessel data incidental); writes the pennant 'D 27' - variant of D 332 flagged in gaps; casualty accounting (14 dead + 18 captured) differs from the national memorial's 32 killed-or-missing; French-language source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-07
-
[9]Shipbuilding History (Tim Colton compilation, njscuba mirror), 'Yard Minesweepers (YMS/BYMS)' - per-hull table line and class overview (verified live) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net/us-navy-small/ym/ - intro paragraph and YMS table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Per-hull table line: 'YMS-18 | Herreshoff Manufacturing | Bristol RI | 136 | ... | 9 May 1942 | struck 1946' - the only located source giving a US strike year ('struck 1946', unverified against the Naval Register). Class-level context: in the three years spring 1942 - spring 1945, 35 boatyards built 561 wooden-hulled minesweepers, all essentially the same 136-ft design; the Mk I series ran YMS-1 through YMS-135 (two stacks); 30 boats were transferred to the Free French Navy in 1944 - the transfer group into which this hull went.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1941-1946
- Population
- Construction trades across 35 yards (1942-45); Free French Navy crews (1944-45 transfers)
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation; per-hull cells unverified against the Naval Vessel Register (YMS-18 predates NVR's coverage cutoff). 'Struck 1946' may reflect post-war administrative striking of a hull already transferred Oct 1944 - not confirmed. Table speed figure (13 kts class design) conflicts with NavSource's 15 kts - spec variants noted in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-08
-
[10]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) - product page description (verified live via firecrawl) [gao]
- Locator
- gao.gov/products/hrd-80-2 product page (Highlights); full text at /assets/hrd-80-2.pdf unfetched
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- Program-level context for the era in which this hull was built and served: GAO reviewed 'the use of asbestos in Navy ships, the cost of removing asbestos from Navy ships, and compensation programs for asbestos-related disabilities,' documenting that the Navy's 1975 policy was still remove-and-replace only for damaged insulation, modified 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas - i.e., asbestos insulation was standard aboard Navy ships through this hull's construction (1941-42) and service era (1942-49).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1979 (report)
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation only - fieldwork was Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards; supports era context, not any fact specific to this hull. GAO asbestos framing addresses steam-plant insulation aboard large ships; applicability to a 136-ft wooden diesel sweeper is limited (see ev-10). Full report PDF blocked to direct fetch from this network (HTML interstitial); content is the product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-09
-
[11]Era inference built on: NavSource specification block (two GM 8-268A diesels, two shafts, wooden hull per class); Herreshoff Construction Record particulars (wood construction, Nevins design, government-furnished engines); Shipbuilding History class overview (561 wooden-hulled sweepers, 136-ft design) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19018 spec block; herreshoff.info #415p particulars; shipbuildinghistory ym/ class overview
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A wooden-hulled diesel motor minesweeper built 1941-42 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era, but the hull type bounds the plausible applications: no steam plant, so no boiler or turbine lagging pathway; era-standard applications for a small diesel craft were engine-exhaust lagging, gaskets, valve and machinery packing, and electrical insulation, with any additional fireproofing confined to machinery spaces. Asbestos inventory aboard this class would have been materially smaller than aboard steam-driven steel combatants.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1941-1949
- Population
- Herreshoff construction trades (1941-42); US Navy crew (1942-44); French crew (1944-49)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, specification sheet, or work package located for YMS-18. Names era-plausible applications, not confirmed installed materials; no quantity or manufacturer attribution. Wooden-hull construction eliminates whole asbestos categories present on steel steam vessels.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-10
-
[12]Batch-8842 search ledger (this record): NavSource; uboat.net; Herreshoff builder record + transcribed contemporaneous press; NARA Special List 44 (ship-number PDF p. 116 / printed p. 509); Memorial national des marins morts pour la France; Memorial des officiers de marine; Shipbuilding History; CourtListener API v4 (authenticated, paced); secondary web sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-yms-18-yms18-01 through -16
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation naming USS YMS-18 / Glycine was found in the sources searched. CourtListener authenticated API base queries: 'YMS-18' opinions = 0 results; 'USS YMS-18' opinions = 0 results; 'YMS-18' dockets = 1 result, classified NAME COLLISION (Oak River Asset Management LLC, Ch. 11 bankruptcy, C.D. Cal. 2:16-bk-19233 - string appears inside an attorney fee document; no vessel or asbestos connection); 'USS YMS-18' dockets = BLOCKED by fleet pacing (see sl-13) - an open gap, not a negative result. The only 'asbestos' material on this hull class in open web results is unattributed secondary content; no law-firm or marketing pages were used.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 2026-10-04
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - it is the honest record of what was searched. NARA deck logs (Oct 1942 - Sep 1944) are unread and may contain repair/maintenance detail bearing on materials. French archives (SHD Marine, Toulon) for Glycine's 1944-49 service were not searched. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-18-yms18-11