Just some frustration talking...

I found out that YP674 is missing from the definitive listing of such boats. So, I decided to do some letter writing.

I wrote the Commander of the Shipbuilding Support Office, Philadelphia, PA several times. I never got a reply. It was only after my third letter than I did a bit more reading thru their web page and discovered that they reply only to official Department of Defense (DOD) requests for information; all other requests are ignored. (A fine way to treat other government agencies let alone the taxpayers!!! Yes, that is irony and heavy handed at that.)

I wrote the Commanding Officer of the Naval Training Command, Newport, Rhode Island. I also wrote the Commander, Naval Officer Candidate School, Newport, Rhode Island. I never got any replies to these letters. I did get a rather disconcerting "answer" of sorts: my last letter to OCS was returned with:

Undeliverable, Commercial Mail

Receiving Agency, Not Authorized

To Accept Mail for this Addressee.

This was a real head scratcher! After all, a Naval Command is not a business!

It finally occurred to me that the Naval Training Command, Newport, was a victim of "downsizing". I confirmed that commands that should have been in Newport were elsewhere...

It finally occurred to me that the Naval OCS (for ship drivers) may have merged with the Aviation OCS (for future pilots and Naval Flight Officers or "NFOs". A Navy joke: NFO means "Non-Functioning Officer"). I felt a certain distaste at this idea as the Newport OCS was run by Navy Officers and Chief Petty Officers ("Chiefs" or "CPOs") and the Pensacol OCS was run by senior Marine Corps Non- Commissioned Officers ("NCOs"), superised by Navy Officers. (I have this preference for Navy personnel being trained by senior Navy personnel! If Officer Candidates want to be trained by Marines, well, the Marines are always looking for a few good men and women. They should go be Marines!)

I wrote the Commanding Officer of the Pensacola, Florida, OCS and got a very nice reply back from this officer. It seems this officer was issued a couple of YPs and simply had no way of finding out what happened to YP674.

So, my detective guesswork follows:

These boats, YP668 to YP676 (inclusive) are missing from the NAVSEA Shipbuilding Support Office listing for Yard Patrol Craft. While there could have been a short run of a "new" class of YPs between the YP654 and YP676 classes, this simply doesn't sound cost effective and so isn't likely to have happened. (Let's face it, a Yard Patrol craft simply is not a sexy boat like a major combatant; there wouldn't be any push for a short run class of this type of boat!)

Thus, YP674 was probably of the YP654 class as the YP676 class was introduced so soon after 674.

Thus, unless someone in the Navy in a position to tell me different reads this web page and feels compelled to reply (this ain't going to happen!), my best answer is the only best answer I'll ever get!

Oh, well...

Enuf whinning...

Back to my main page?