|
 THE MINESWEEPER YMS-316
passes alongside the troopship USAT SEA CAT. The scenery looks a lot like the Brisbane River
looking in a southerly direction. In all, 561 wooden-hulled minesweepers were built,
all essentially of the same design - 136 ft long, 24'6" beam, draft 8',
displacing 270 tons, and with a speed of 13 knots. VMS-316, a Mk.
II, was completed in August 1943 (and was struck from the Navy
Register December 1947.) On 29 January 1945,
escorted by
the Australian sloop HMAS WARREGO, it
marked inshore shoals for the US landings at Subic Bay, Philippines.
The following day both vessels
carried out inshore surveys and buoyed wrecks off
Bataan Peninsula while US troops fought their way off the landing
beaches.The vessels
continued this activity until 19 February, often landing armed parties
in areas not cleared of the enemy to erect survey markers.
(I have to apologize for
the condition of this print as the original was so poor as to have been
almost completely useless. Though experienced, I am not an expert
at photo retouching and this print was one of the worst I have ever had
to begin with. Normally I wouldn't have bothered - except for the
fact that in my research of the history of the minesweeper
YMS-316, I was unable to
find any photograph of it available anywhere on the internet - so this
one might well be unique in the public domain.
Generallly, processing
black and white film is relatively easy when the basic technique is
followed, and it requires little in the way of experience. However, with
numerous of the private WWII photographs I have seen, there is a gamut
of darkroom errors, probably brought about by extreme conditions of heat
and humidity, contaminated and exhausted chemicals, water
impurities, skill and luck. - Ed.) . |
