Wooden Ships and Iron Men: The U.S. Navy's Coastal and Motor Minesweepers, 1941-1953 - David Bruhn. Possessing insufficient minesweepers to protect U.S. harbors and bays as the threat of war in Europe spread, in the winter of 1939-40 the Navy began purchasing fishing vessels and modifying them to combat mines. One of them, Condor (AMc-14), first sighted the Japanese Type-A midget submarine that destroyer Ward (DD-139) sank on December 7, 1941 with the first shots fired by American forces during World War II. She would be one of six coastal minesweepers to receive a battle star. From boat- and shipyards across America came the largest production run of any World War II warship, 561 scrappy little 136-foot wooden-hulled vessels characterized by Arnold Lott in Most Dangerous Sea as "belligerent-looking yachts wearing grey paint." Although their designers envisioned that they would operate primarily in the vicinity of yards or bases, the YMSs (too numerous to be given names) would see action in every theater of war, earning almost 700 battle stars, twenty-one Presidential Unit Citations, and fifteen Navy Unit Commendations. YMSs were present in the North African campaign, in Sicily, at Anzio, Salerno, and elsewhere in Italy, and swept ahead of invasion forces at Normandy and in Southern France. In the Pacific, they operated in the Marshall Islands, New Guinea, Solomons, Treasury Island, Gilbert Islands, New Britain, Admiralty Islands, Guam, Palau, Leyte, Luzon, Manila Bay, Iwo Jima, Southern Philippines, Okinawa, and Borneo. Following the war, they cleared mines from the East China Sea, Yangtze River approaches, and throughout Japanese waters, and their activities gave rise to the proud slogan of the mine force: "Where the Fleet Goes, We've Been." During the Korean War, a mere sixteen auxiliary motor minesweepers (former YMSs) performed the bulk of mine clearance, often while inside the range of enemy coastal artillery, necessary for larger naval vessels to close the coast to support operations ashore. Garnering collectively 124 battle stars, seven Presidential Unit Citations, and seven Navy Unit Commendations, the men aboard these ships were then, and remain to date, the most highly decorated crews of minesweepers in the history of the U.S. Navy. 2009, 5½x8½, paper, index, 368 pp. $32.00 B4909 ISBN: 0788449095
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Author
To the "iron men" who have served since 1941 in wooden-hulled minesweepers, and particularly those sweep sailors, many of them reservists, who went in harm's way during World War II and the Korean War.
About the Author
Commander David D. Bruhn, U.S. Navy (Retired) served twenty-two years on active duty and two in the Naval Reserve, as both an enlisted man and as an officer, between 1977 and 2001.
Following completion of basic training, he served as a sonar technician aboard USS Miller (FF 1091) and USS Leftwich (DD 984). He was commissioned in 1983 following graduation from California State University at Chico. His initial assignment was to USS Excel (MSO 439), serving as Supply Officer, Damage Control Assistant, and Chief Engineer. He then served in USS Thach (FFG 43) as Chief Engineer and Destroyer Squadron 13 as Material Officer.
After graduation from the Naval Postgraduate School, Cdr. Bruhn was assigned to Secretary of the Navy and CNO staffs as a budget analyst and (Future Years Defense Plan) resources planner before attending the Naval War College in 1996, following which he commanded the mine countermeasures ships USS Gladiator (MCM 11) and USS Dextrous (MCM 13) in the Persian Gulf.
Commander Bruhn's final assignment was Executive Assistant to a senior (SES-4) government service executive at the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization in Washington, D.C.
Since retiring, he has been a high school science teacher and track coach, and is currently the senior naval science instructor for a high school Navy Junior ROTC program. He lives in northern California with his wife Nancy and sons David and Michael.
He is the author of Wooden Ships and Iron Men: The U.S. Navy's Ocean Minesweepers, 1953-1994, published in 2006 by Heritage Books, and of Ready to Answer All Bells, published by the Naval Institute Press in 1997.
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