U.S.S. YANCEY AKA-93

Ken Grooms's Navy

A story for the USS Yancey

Up The Lazy River

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It is the title of an old song, but it reminds me of the time the Yancey was at the Oakland Naval Supply Center and got orders to go to sea.

This was during the Korean War, so it wasn't going to be the usual cargo of toilet paper and tires. We hadn't acquired the nickname of "The Dixie Cup Kids" for nothing. Our usual routine was two or three weeks in Oakland and back to Japan; in Japan for two or three weeks and back to Oakland. This time the supplies we were carrying were going to be different.

Our orders were to proceed to Stockton? Yes, the place just a few miles inland into farming country. The route was a choice of one - up the San Joaquin River. Apparently there was a naval supply station there, presumably because many farm goods could be stored and shipped from there without having to bring them to the coast.

Once at the mouth of the river, we made a bee line down the channel. We couldn't turn around until we got to Stockton.

Actually, as I look at the map now, we must have made a big "U" turn with Stockton being at the apex of the "U". Also, the surrounding farm country was as flat as can be. Being from Kansas, I recognized this as flat. It seemed odd to look out of our ship's office porthole and see fields of corn and similar products growing or to see someone fishing on the bank. The trip was uneventful except when we came to a drawbridge, people would get out of their cars to see this huge war vessel coming up the river passing the frogs and fishermen who usually lined the banks.

We arrived at the dock at night and tied up right across from a country club where some feasting, frolic and fun was in progress. Some of us decided that it might be a good time for a swim. We went over the side and into the water. I remember swimming to the opposite bank and back. The water was warm and inviting. As I came out of the water, I was covered with black dirt. No telling what was dumped in that river from all of the surrounding irrigation ditches, but I knew that was the last time I was going to try that.

Ken Groom (K.D.),
Yancey Historian

Submitted 2/10/07
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