USS Yazoo (AN-92) - Operation Canminus

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 Orleans Parish and Peregrine, 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 Exultant and Fidelity, 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 Gwin 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 Observer and Salute.

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.