Donald F. Babin

July 21, 2014...As we approach the 70 year anniversary of the demise of the YMS-304, I think of my dad with great respect, knowing he is the last known survivor of this disaster. He is now 89 years old and not as agile, but clear of mind and spirit. Although he was one of the cooks and not a commander of this vessel, does not mean that his bravery and courage are without merit. I can remember being a child and finding his book chronicling the events of this minesweeper and asking him what it was. It's not until his increased age that I have come to realized how quickly he could have become a statistic of this event, yet he is still here to share his story. The fastest sinking of WWII, 63 seconds must have seemed an eternity to all the survivors, not just my dad. This is the stuff that the Babins are made of.

Laid down in June 1942 at the Rice Brothers Corp. Shipyard at East Boothbay, Maine as the 304th member of the YMS-1 Class of Auxiliary Motor Minesweepers for the US Navy, YMS-304 commissioned into service with the US Atlantic Fleet in October 1943.

Immediately starting extensive training off the New England coastline to familiarize her crew with their dangerous task, YMS-304 spent the winter of 1943-44 engaged in a demanding routine of minesweeping drills and exercises as well as escorting convoys before reporting to Boston herself for foreign deployment. Departing American waters in the Spring of 1944, YMS-304 escorted an Allied convoy to the United Kingdom where she joined elements of the Allied Mine Warfare group and resumed her busy schedule of minesweeping training, with an obvious focus on clearing heavily mined shorelines and shallow sea lanes. 

The basis for YMS-304's intensive training schedule became clear to both ship and crew in late May 1944 as she received orders to report to Portsmouth and stand by for deployment to the coast of Normandy as part of the Allied Invasion of Fortress Europe. Assigned to Squadron Y of Assault Force “U”, YMS-304 and her crew departed Portsmouth on June 3rd and began sweeping operations at midnight on June 4th to clear the approaches to Omaha Beach for the inbound invasion force. Operating in combat conditions off the heavily-mined and hotly disputed Normandy beachhead for the following two months, YMS-304 and her crew were given little respite from their operations as more and more Allied supplies were brought to the Normandy shore and into recently captured ports around the peninsula. 

Assigned with USS YMS-378 to sweep and clear a new sea lane to the recently-secured and repaired port at St. Vaast on the morning of July 30th, YMS-304 and her crew rigged her paravanes and moved to the waters off Utah Beach and began her sweep. Moments after starting on her assigned course, YMS-304 was rocked by a tremendous explosion directly beneath her keel as one or more German acoustic mines detonated. Lifted clear of the water by the force of the blast beneath her, YMS-304 crashed back to the surface, immediately split in two pieces and quickly began to flood. Within 62 seconds of the initial detonation, YMS-304 had sunk in at this location, taking eight of her crew with her and sending all thirty injured survivors into the waters around her where they were quickly rescued. 

YMS-304’s wreck was discovered in this location shortly after her loss and salvaged extensively postwar. Belatedly declared a war grave, the wreck lies in two pieces in 22ft of water and has largely deteriorated to its metal fittings. 

www.navsource.org/archives/11/19304.htm

Nearby cities: Bournemouth, Plymouth, London

Coordinates: 49°32'59"N 1°13'59"W