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YSD - 56 |
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Built: 1943? |
Sunk: December 10, 1957 |
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YSD is a U.S. Navy classification for a seaplane wrecking derrick. The YSD-56 was designed to lift a seaplane out of the water, and place it on her own deck or on the deck of another vessel. Often she would recover a downed seaplane, place it on her own deck, then transfer it to a shore facility or to the deck of a repair ship. Alternatively, she could hoist a seaplane off the deck of a large transport and carry it to a shore facility. With a full load, the draft of the YSD-56 was only three feet three inches; this enabled her to operate in extremely shallow water; she worked largely in harbors. She was equipped with a ten-ton revolving crane. Because she had accommodations for twelve personnel, her crew lived on board. In addition to the derrick and heavy-lift tackle, she was outfitted with complete diving apparatus. The YSD-56 was assigned to the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Quonset, Rhode Island. A fierce winter storm swept through the area on the night of December 30-31. Vessels that were tied to the wharf were severely battered by pounding seas. The YSD-56 banged back and forth between the dock and the bow of a gas tanker. Waves crashed over her low freeboard. Morning found the wrecking derrick partially submerged with her deck awash, and her crew undoubtedly exhausted from lack of sleep. She used her own pumps to dewater herself. In December 1957, the YSD-56 was engaged in the removal of construction equipment from a government project on Nomans Land, a small uninhabited island south of Martha’s Vineyard that was used by the military for aerial bombardment tests, gunnery practice, and ordnance disposal. A terrible tempest struck the New England coast on the night of the tenth. The YSD-56 broke loose from her mooring and was driven aground. Five crewmembers were on board at the time. No one was injured. After the storm, the Navy dispatched three salvage tugs to the scene. The Recovery departed from Norfolk, Virginia on December 15; the Windlass departed from Norfolk on December 16; and the Nipmuc departed from Newport, Rhode Island on December 18. All three vessels converged on the YSD-56 on December 18, and commenced salvage operations. After five arduous days on the job, “The salvagers succeeded in pulling the YSD free, but it capsized and sank, in about 30 feet of water. Efforts continued and the badly beat-up craft was righted, but the weather and the condition of the seas continued to pose hazards for the Navy workers.” By that time, “The badly wrecked YSD appeared so badly torn and ruptured that refloatation was impossible, and the YSD sank again on 23 December.” Foul weather “continued to make the task impossible” as the tugs labored in heavy seas. At that point, Rear Admiral Henry Crommelin decided that further salvage work on the YSD-56 was not worth the effort. She was valued at $175,000 when she was new. Now, with her hull breached and her machinery flooded and damaged, she was not worth the cost of repairs. The admiral recalled the salvage vessels so that the men could return to base in time for Christmas. The YSD-56 was left to the arbitrary caprices of nature. The Nipmuc returned to Newport on December 23. The Recovery and the Windlass made Hampton Roads on December 25 - not in time for Christmas Eve, but barely in time for the men to share Christmas dinner with their families. According to Dennis St. Germain, the hull sits upright on a white sandy bottom. The gunwale rises to a height of four feet, although a washout on the starboard side increases the height to six feet. The interior is filled deep enough with sand to cover the machinery. The propeller and rudder are buried. He wrote: “The deck is covered with long tendrils of kelp, rhythmically sloshing back and forth with the surge. Beneath the kelp the deck is pockmarked with holes corroded through to the open spaces below. These holes range from basketball size to the diameter of the average kitchen table. A diver must be careful if he or she settles on the deck. The holes are difficult to see beneath the kelp fronds, and the edges are razor sharp and would easily cut a suit as well as skin. the crane is nowhere to be seen, and neither is any other deck ornament. Today the YSD is a barren hull, sunken into the sand to its once waterline. Sand has filled in the hull making it impossible, as far as I could see, to get below decks. The decking aft, near the stern, has been broken down to the level of the sand. While a diver cannot penetrate the wreck, many large tautog have made a home in the bowels of the wreck. An occasional striped bass could be seen cruising by. The perimeter of the hull is still intact.” Although it might seem that the spelling of Nomans Land is derived from No Man’s Land, such is not the case. Ex-Navy diver Denny Morse told me that, in the 1960’s, he helped to offload out-of-date ammunition onto Nomans Land. He and his fellow sailors placed the live ammo in a huge pile, poured gasoline over the pile, and ignited the gasoline. The resultant detonations gouged house-sized holes in the loose beach sand. This was a standard method of disposing old and unstable gunpowder, gun shells, and other ammunition. Nomans Land is no longer used for ordnance disposal. Today the island is an unstaffed National Wildlife Refuge. Signs posted on the beach warn visitors that the refuge is “Closed to Public Access.” Visiting seals and migratory birds are cautioned that unexploded ordnance may lie on or under the sand. Copyright © 2006 Gary Gentile, Gary Gentile Productions. All Rights Reserved |
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For an in depth examination into the history, as well as the locations of many other shipwrecks around southern Massachusetts, be sure to get a copy of Gary Gentile's book Shipwrecks of Massachusetts, South from the "Popular Dive Guide Series" which is available in now. Ask your local dive shop when they will be in stock. Better yet! Go to Gary's website and order one. While you are there, check out his other books. |
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The following is an excerpt from Gary
Gentile's local book in his Popular Dive Guide Series - Shipwrecks of Massachusetts, South.
An invaluable resource providing a description and history of the sunken
vessels featured, as well as accurate coordinates to where these wrecks
now lay. Few
people may realized the amount of time and effort that is required to do
the research necessary to present the following information on just one
wreck, let alone dozens! This wreck happens to be one of the very few
that Gary was not able to actually dive on, as the weather was not
cooperating while he was here (in Massachusetts). I am humbled and proud
that he used my words to describe to his readers the wreck conditions as
they existed in the summer of 2005.