Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]research packet 1064-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-yms-401-yms401-pkt-1064-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, YMS-401 - construction timeline, Naval Register action, disposition, commercial registry, 1953 fire, specifications, commanding-officer list, crew photo captions [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19401.htm header block, specifications block, commanding-officer table, photo caption tables
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper; laid down 17 July 1942 by Henry B. Nevins, Inc., City Island, NY; launched 1 April 1943; completed 4 June 1943; commissioned USS YMS-401, 5 June 1943; decommissioned 1 April 1946; struck from the Naval Register 7 February 1947; transferred to the War Shipping Administration 29 October 1947. Registered in 1949 to Russell Wolf of Harvey, LA as the miscellaneous vessel Wolf V out of New Orleans; registered in 1950 to Russell Wolf and Co., Inc. of Harvey, LA. 'Burned 23 September 1953 in Slip No. 2 at the company's dock, 4-1/2 miles south of Harvey Locks at New Orleans.' Specifications: displacement 270 t. (259 t. in 1949 registry); length 136' (125.2' in 1949); beam 24'6" (24.8' in 1949); draft 8' (11.6' in 1949); speed 15 kts.; complement 32 (10 in 1949); armament one 3"/50 dual-purpose gun mount, two 20mm mounts, two depth charge projectors; propulsion two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts. Commanding officers: LT Peter Sheridan, USNR (5 June 1943 - December 1943); LT John J. McCourt, USNR (December 1943 - August 1944); LT Arleigh P. Hess, Jr., USNR (1945). Photo captions document ENS Howard C. Vanderschaaf collection imagery and a crew photograph c. Summer 1944; a further photo series comes from crewmember Elmer Carter. Page states: 'There is no DANFS history available for YMS-401.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1953
- Population
- Nevins construction trades (1942-43); crew (~32, 1943-46); WSA disposal and Russell Wolf commercial population (1947-53)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - its dates generally track official records but 'commissioned 5 June 1943' conflicts with uboat.net's 4 June 1943 and the Colton yard table's 'struck 1946' conflicts with the 7 February 1947 strike date (see gaps). No asbestos content. The 1949 merchant-registry-derived specification block is unverified against the underlying register. The 1953 fire and Wolf V commercial identity rest on this source alone - no USCG casualty report or press account located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-401-01
-
[3]National Archives and Records Administration, Special List 44 - List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947 (ship-number ordering; NARA-generated PDF from the 1978 publication) [other_primary]
- Locator
- sl-44-ship-number.pdf, PDF page 120, row 'YMS-401 6/5/1943 6/30/1945'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Special List 44 inventories deck logs for YMS-401 covering 5 June 1943 - 30 June 1945 (PDF page 120, verified live by text extraction 2026-10-04). This documents the official inventory of this hull's deck logs for essentially her entire WWII service - logs begin on the commissioning date per NavSource and run through 30 June 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-06-05 to 1945-06-30
- Population
- Crew across the logged period (1943-45)
- Limitations
- An inventory entry, not the logs themselves: establishes that NARA holds (or held at compilation) deck logs for this hull across 1943-06-05 to 1945-06-30; the logs are in RG 24 Entry 118 (NAID 581208) at the National Archives at College Park and are not publicly digitized. Coverage dates are log coverage, not asserted commissioning/decommissioning dates - though here the start date coincides with NavSource's commissioning date. No asbestos content. Note: NAVPERS-documented service extends past this inventory window (occupation duty to 11 January 1946; decommissioned 1 April 1946), so later logs exist or existed outside this listing (see gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-401-02
-
[4]Department of the Navy, Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual NAVPERS 15,790 (Rev. 1953), Part IV (campaign and service medals - ship operations credit lists), HyperWar transcription; corroborating table at Awards-IV-17 (Navy Occupation Service Medal eligibility) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Awards-IV-16.html Part IV operation-participation table, row 'YMS 401:' (P33-1, P34-1, P35, P207-9, P207-12, P207-18 x2); Awards-IV-17.html Navy Occupation Service Medal 'UNITS ELIGIBLE - (A) SHIPS' table, row 'YMS 401'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official Navy awards manual lists 'YMS 401' with engagement credit for: P33-1 (Assault and occupation of Iwo Jima) 17-25 February 1945; P34-1 (Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto) 27-30 June 1945; P35 (3d Fleet operations against Japan) 5-31 July 1945; and Minesweeping Operations Pacific sub-operations P207-9 Kobe (Honshu Area) 15 December 1945 - 10 January 1946, P207-12 Nagasaki (Kyushu-Korea Area) 10-16 September 1945, and P207-18 Fukuoka (Kyushu-Korea Area) 19-28 October 1945 and 9-22 November 1945 (Awards-IV-16, verified live by text extraction 2026-10-04). The Navy Occupation Service Medal ship list separately credits 'YMS 401' with Asiatic-Pacific occupation duty 2 September 1945 - 11 January 1946, clasp 'A' (Awards-IV-17).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945-02-17 to 1946-01-11
- Population
- Crew during credited operations (Feb 1945 - Jan 1946)
- Limitations
- Official campaign-credit listing, not an operational narrative: establishes that the Navy credited this hull with participation in the named operations on the listed dates - it does not narrate what the ship did day to day. HyperWar is a transcription of NAVPERS 15,790 (Rev. 1953); the printed manual is the underlying source. No asbestos content. Credited windows can fall short of the full operation period (e.g., P35 credited 5-31 July against a 10 July - 15 August operation period).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-401-03
-
[5]Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program - 'Young, Wilford Interview' (1 May 2018, interviewer Alyssa Chaffee), World War II 'All Out for Uncle Sam' collection, OH18_060; 12-page transcript PDF [other_primary]
- Locator
- digital.weber.edu ark:/87278/s62t3hm2 record page; transcript PDF (wsu_files b66aa0b2...pdf), pp. 1-10 of transcription (Nagasaki passage pp. 1-2, typhoon pp. 3-4, ship name p. 5, Okinawa smoke screens pp. 8-9)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- A crewmember's first-person account of this hull, named verbatim ('What was the name of the ship that you commanded?' - 'YMS-401'): Wilford Young (USNR officer, Columbia University midshipmen school and Naval Mine Warfare School trained) served aboard approximately three years. He recounts: the ship was sailing toward the Philippines when word of the war's end came over the radio and she was ordered to Japan; the ship swept mines in Nagasaki harbor (consistent with the NAVPERS P207-12 Nagasaki credit, 10-16 September 1945); liberated American POWs greeted the ship on the hillside and were later clothed and fed; Japanese nationals in an old sailing junk assisted exploding mines in the harbor; a floated mine was pushed away from the hull with a broom handle; during one of 'three or four' typhoons the ship broke adrift from a buoy, collided with another ship, was holed, stood by to abandon ship, and took about a month to repair - while 'four of our other ships' were heard lost over the radio in the China Sea; at Okinawa the ship made smoke screens to hide battleships and cruisers from kamikaze aircraft; Christmas 1945 was spent in Japan; the ship returned to the United States via the Golden Gate. He kept the ship's flag and navigation maps.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-1946 (recollection recorded 2018)
- Population
- Crew under LT Arleigh P. Hess, Jr., USNR and predecessors (1943-46)
- Limitations
- Post-war recollection recorded ~73 years later with self-flagged approximation and interviewer prompting - treated as corroborating testimony, not a schedule of record; NAVPERS (ev-03) supplies the documented operation windows. The typhoon episode is unidentified (which storm, which harbor) and his 'four ships lost' does not reconcile exactly with the class-index figure of seven YMS lost in the 9 October 1945 Okinawa typhoon - unresolved (see gaps). 'Commanded' is the interviewer's word; Young's officer role is corroborated only at recollection level. Contains no asbestos or material-content information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-401-04
-
[6]NavSource Online: Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper (YMS) / British Motor Minesweeper (BYMS) index - class overview (wooden hull, Nevins design, 35 yacht-yard builders, wartime role, postwar AMS reclassification) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19idx.htm class narrative and hull-number index (YMS-401 entry unmarked)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Class context for this hull: the YMS ('Yard class Minesweeper') type was a wooden-hulled inshore motor minesweeper designed by Henry B. Nevins, Inc. - the same City Island yard that built this hull - with 561 built at 35 U.S. yacht yards (12 East Coast, 19 West Coast, four Great Lakes) rather than larger shipyards. YMS-401 falls in the YMS-135 to YMS-445 one-stack appearance group. Surviving YMSs were reclassified AMS in 1947 and given names; the index shows YMS-401 unmarked among renamed neighbors (YMS-395 became Linnet AMS-24, YMS-400 became Magpie AMS-25, YMS-402 became Seagull AMS-55) - she was struck and sold before that program reached her, so she was never renamed. The index also records the class's single worst loss: seven U.S. YMS sunk in a typhoon off Okinawa 9 October 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1941-1969 (class era)
- Population
- YMS-class crews (1942-1969)
- Limitations
- Class-level context only - describes the type, not this hull's material outfit. No asbestos content. Wooden hull and diesel plant confirmed at class level; consistent with this hull's NavSource specification block. The 9 October 1945 typhoon-loss figure is class context and does NOT establish this hull's presence in that storm (see gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-401-05
-
[7]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979); plus NavSource specifications (GM 8-268A diesel plant; wooden-hulled class) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403); NavSource specification block and class index
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference for this hull: GAO documented that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s - spanning this hull's entire construction (1942-43) and Navy service era (1943-46). Aboard a wooden-hulled diesel motor minesweeper the steam-plant lagging pathway does not apply; the era-standard asbestos applications relevant to a vessel of this type are machinery and diesel-exhaust lagging, gaskets, valve packing, and electrical insulation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1953
- Population
- Nevins construction trades (1942-43); crew (~32, 1943-46); any repair-yard population during availabilities (incl. the ~one-month typhoon-damage repair recounted by Young); Russell Wolf commercial population (1947-53)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for YMS-401; names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity; no manufacturer attribution. GAO full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403, confirmed 2026-10-04) - GAO content via product-page description. A wooden hull materially narrows the plausible application set versus steel steam vessels - this row should not be read as a ship-proven finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-401-06
-
[8]uboat.net Allied Warships of WWII, USS YMS-401 (YMS-401) - builder, order date, construction milestones, stricken/sold entries [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net ship/9819 data table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Corroborating database record: built by Henry B. Nevins Inc. (City Island, New York); ordered 15 May 1942; laid down 17 July 1942; launched 1 April 1943; commissioned 4 June 1943; stricken 7 February 1947; sold 29 October 1947. No commands listed; no further service detail on the page.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Limitations
- Research-grade secondary database, not a primary registry. Its 'commissioned 4 June 1943' equals NavSource's 'completed' date - treated here as the completion/commissioning discrepancy carried in gaps; the deck-log start of 5 June 1943 supports 5 June. 'Sold 29 October 1947' and NavSource's 'transferred to the War Shipping Administration 29 October 1947' are the same event at different description levels. The order date (15 May 1942) has no independent primary confirmation in this record. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-401-07
-
[9]Shipbuilding History (Colton yard table), Henry B. Nevins Yacht Builders, City Island NY - 'YMS 401 | U. S. Navy | Minesweeper | | 136 | 4-Jun-43 | Struck 1946' (njscuba.net mirror also live-verified) [reputable_press]
- Locator
- shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/yachtsmall/nevins.htm yard production table, row 'YMS 401'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The Colton yard production table for the builder lists YMS 401 as a U.S. Navy minesweeper, 136 ft, delivered/completed 4 June 1943, 'Struck 1946' - placing the hull in Nevins's wartime YMS block (YMS-398 through -404 delivered March-August 1943) and corroborating builder, type, and completion date.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation, not an official registry. Its 'Struck 1946' conflicts with the 7 February 1947 Naval Register strike carried by NavSource and uboat.net - the 1946 figure likely conflates the 1 April 1946 decommissioning with striking; conflict is carried in gaps. The yard-hull number cell is blank in this table (no Nevins hull number recovered for YMS-401). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-401-08
-
[10]Batch-9039 search ledger (this record): NavSource vessel page + class index; NARA Special List 44 ship-number PDF; NAVPERS 15,790 HyperWar transcription; Weber State oral-history transcript; uboat.net; Shipbuilding History Nevins yard table; NHHC site search; NVR; NARA digitized-logs list and Wikimedia Commons; CourtListener (paced - see ledger); secondary web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-yms-401-01 through sl-uss-yms-401-12
- 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-401 / YMS-401 / Wolf V was found in the public sources searched. CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the fleet pacing governor refused the base queries ('fleet-wide request budget momentarily spent') on three spaced attempts on 2026-10-04; logged as blocked in search_ledger, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case and no law-firm marketing pages specific to this hull.
- 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. Undigitized RG 24 deck logs, the hull's war-diary series entries (RG 38), WSA disposal file, and Russell Wolf commercial records are open archival leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-401-09