USS Yazoo ( AN - 92 ) USS " Yazoo " ( YN - 121 / AN - 92 ) was a " Cohoes " - class net laying ship which was assigned to protect United States Navy ships and harbors during World War II with her anti - submarine nets . Her World War II career was cut short due to the war coming to an end , but , post - war , she was reactivated and served the Navy in a variety of ways until she was decommissioned in 1962 . Constructed in Minnesota . The second ship to be so named by the Navy , " Yazoo " ( AN - 92 ) was laid down on 6 July 1969 at Duluth , Minnesota , by the Zenith Dredge Co . ; launched on 18 October 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . S . H . Griffin , the wife of Colonel S . H . Griffin , USA ; and commissioned on 31 May 1945 , Lt . Lionel Krisel , USNR , in command . World War II related service . " Yazoo " departed Duluth on 15 June , bound for the Atlantic Ocean ; travelling via the Great Lakes and the St . Lawrence Seaway ; and arrived at the Boston Navy Yard to commence fitting out . After shakedown training out of Melville , Rhode Island , she underwent post - shakedown alterations at Boston , Massachusetts . She conducted net defense evolutions at Melville before beginning net - laying operations which she carried out in the vicinities of Newport , Rhode Island , New York City , and Boston during the next 18 months . Post - war service . " Yazoo " departed Newport on 13 May 1947 and laid fleet moorings at Argentia , Newfoundland , before returning from that cruise on 18 August to resume local operations . She operated out of Newport into 1948 . In January of that year , her duties included ice - breaking in the channels of Narragansett Bay after the severe winter weather had frozen the water there . Operation Martex . That spring , " Yazoo " pulled a large Navy cargo vessel off the beach at Davisville , Rhode Island . between 22 and 25 April 1948 and then made a cruise to Terceira , in the Azores , during September and October of that year , to lay a fleet mooring there . She spent much of the year following her return to the eastern seaboard serving as a target ship for submarines and towing targets for surface battle practices . She conducted similar operations in 1950 . , with time out in June of that year for laying a light indicator net during Operation Martex . After an overhaul at the Charleston Naval Shipyard ( South Carolina ) from July to September 1950 , " Yazoo " trained out of Norfolk , Virginia , before she resumed extensive work with nets off Newport . During March 1951 , " Yazoo " took part in U . S . Atlantic Fleet mining exercises out of Key West , Florida , and then spent the remainder of the year performing mine tests and exercises out of Charleston . Between February and April 1952 , " Yazoo " laid nets off Cape Henry during exercises in the Chesapeake Bay . In January 1953 , semi - permanent mine tracks were installed on the net - layer , enabling the ship to lay 24 moored - type naval mine s . On 9 January , the ship ' s home port was changed to , to enable her to commence a schedule of tests and exercises under the auspices of the Operational Development Force . Operation Hardex . She participated in Operation Hardex off the Virginia Capes in June and July of that year before she resumed duty out of Key West later that summer . She performed services for the Mine Evaluation Detachment from April to August of the following year and — after salvage operations off Key Largo , Florida — joined in Atlantic Fleet exercises that extended along the eastern seaboard of the United States during October 1954 . Operation Canminus . " Yazoo " continued her routine of local operations out of Key West into 1955 . During most of March of that year , the ship took part in one of the largest fleet mine exercises ever held . In one phase of the operation , she planted U . S . Coast Guard buoys marking a channel ; and she was one of the final ships to clear the area after the resultant clean - up operation . In April 1955 , the ship ' s home port was again changed — this time back to Charleston — and she took part in a joint United States - Canadian exercise , Operation Canminus in which " Yazoo " operated as principal minelaying and recovery ship . During the summer of 1955 , " Yazoo " conducted mine exercises out of Key West , Port Everglades , Florida , and Charleston , South Carolina , with the Atlantic Fleet Mine Force . She spent September and November in company with and , carrying out a special project off the coast of Fedhala , French Morocco , the site of the original American landings in North Africa in November 1942 . On her return voyage , " Yazoo " called at Gibraltar , the Azores , and Bermuda , and reached Charleston on 9 December 1955 . She entered the naval shipyard there on 6 January 1956 for an overhaul and , later that spring , carried out refresher training out of Norfolk , Virginia , and two weeks of net - tending training at the Harbor Defense Unit , Little Creek , Virginia . " Yazoo " joined and , on 18 June 1956 , in carrying out a special mine project off the coast of Charleston and Cape Romain , South Carolina , that lasted until 23 July . After that task , " Yazoo " again operated out of Key West , providing services to the Mine Warfare Evaluation Detachment in a Mine Force special project . Later , during Atlantic Fleet mining exercises between 29 October and 24 November , " Yazoo " laid two large Coast Guard buoys ; assisted in establishing a 10 - mile exercise channel with Coast Guard lighted buoys and dan buoys ; laid surface minefields ; delivered triangulation data to the umpiring group during aerial minelaying ; and participated in the mine recovery and clean - up phase . She then proceeded to Key West , where she conducted a Mine Force special project in company with and . In the spring of 1957 , " Yazoo " cruised in the Caribbean with the Mine Force and called at San Juan , Puerto Rico ; Charlotte Amalie , St . Thomas , Virgin Islands ; and Ciudad Trujillo , Dominican Republic . Upon her return to Charleston , the ship carried out several special mine projects in local areas and spent a " fortnight " operating with the Mine Warfare Evaluation Detachment at Key West . After an overhaul in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard from July to August 1957 , " Yazoo " conducted refresher training out of Charleston and participated in a service mine test . Exercise Sweep Clear III . Recovering a 200 - year - old cannon . The ship spent the first three weeks of 1958 training with the Harbor Defense Unit at Norfolk before she shifted southward to Charleston to participate in Atlantic Fleet amphibious exercises . During July and August of that year , " Yazoo " participated in Exercise Sweep Clear III , a NATO minesweeping exercise near Sydney , Nova Scotia . During the cruise — on 26 July 1958 — the net layer visited Louisburg , Nova Scotia , and recovered a cannon from a French man - of - war that sank on 26 July 1758 — two hundred years earlier ! Following her return to Charleston on 15 August , " Yazoo " took part in fleet service mine tests and trained foreign mine warfare officers in the Charleston vicinity . She spent the remainder of 1958 in operations out of Charleston and off the Virginia Capes . Exercise Clear Sweep IV . Overhauled at the Charleston Naval Shipyard between February and May 1959 , " Yazoo " conducted refresher training and then took part in Exercise Clear Sweep IV off Charleston . Among the ship ' s duties performed in that vicinity were conducting net training and type training , planting buoys , and laying practice mines for mine warfare schools . During September 1959 , " Yazoo " carried out sweep gear evaluation for the U . S . Bureau of Ships in the Charleston area before she returned to active operations as a minelaying and recovery unit during Fleet exercises off the Virginia Capes and at Onslow Bay , North Carolina . " Yazoo " again took part in amphibious exercises at Onslow Bay in January 1960 , before she carried out service mine tests out of Charleston that lasted into the spring . In July 1960 , " Yazoo " received the battle efficiency competition award for the fiscal year 1960 . Operation Clear Sweep V . That autumn , " Yazoo " distinguished herself while participating in Operation Clear Sweep V off Nova Scotia . On 12 October , " Yazoo " received special praise for towing 35 miles to port after that minecraft had suffered a materiel casualty . Three days later , on the 15th , when the Canadian escort maintenance ship suffered a casualty , " Yazoo " came to the rescue and towed the ship out of dangerous waters , saving her from almost certain grounding in the shoals of Shelburne Harbor . After returning southward , " Yazoo " underwent a lengthy overhaul at Charleston from November 1960 to February 1961 . She operated again with the Mine Force in the Caribbean from February to March 1961 , taking part in Fleet amphibious warfare exercises before completing a service mine test off Charleston . Underwater detonation exercises . That spring , she again participated in exercises off Charleston with Canadian minesweeping and minelaying units and then underwent harbor net training at Norfolk . In July , " Yazoo " cruised off the coast of Maine , detonating underwater explosions under the auspices of the Office of Naval Research for the Carnegie Institute of Washington , D . C . , and received commendations for a job well done from both agencies . " Yazoo " underwent repairs at Charleston from late July 1961 into September , before she resumed her schedule of mining exercises and net training out of Charleston and Norfolk . Post - service inactivation . After a year of such duty , she was decommissioned on 28 August 1962 . Assigned to the Norfolk group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet , " Yazoo " was struck from the Navy List on 1 July 1963 and transferred to the U . S . Maritime Administration ( MarAd ) for lay up in the James River . She remained in MarAd custody until sometime between 1973 and 1975 .