The USS Rankin Association's Eleventh Annual Reunion was held in Rhode Island, the Ocean State, from October 2-5, 2014. Reunion headquarters was the Crowne Plaza at The Crossings in Warwick, second from the left in the picture above. The reunion was held jointly with the USS Yancey (AKA-93)  reunion group. There were 55 attendees from the Rankin and 25 from the Yancey, for a total of 80. A good time was had by all. For this reunion, we have this Main Page plus two others. Use the buttons below to view the 2014 Reunion Memory Book, including pictures of all attendees and a recap of all our activities, or to view other photos from the reunion. Many, but not all, of the Other Photos also appear in smaller, low resolution versions in the Memory Book.         REUNION RECAP Thursday featured a tour of Providence and the Johnson & Wales University's Culinary Museum, followed by a buffet dinner in the Rankin/Yancey hospitality room. On Friday, the group had special tours of  Newport's Naval War College Museum (did you know that the United Stated Naval Academy started out in Newport?) and the Surface Warfare Officers School, which uses high-tech bridge simulators to teach shiphandling to surface ship officers from Ensigns to Captains. After the Navy Morning and a very rushed lunch in Newport, we had a Mansions Afternoon, with a motorcoach tour of the famous Newport mansions. A tour of The Breakers, the most opulent and most famous of those mansions, topped off the afternoon. Debarking from our bus just a few minutes before the next one was scheduled to leave, we quickly got ready for the clambake at Francis Farm in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Though some of us enjoyed the meal such as it was, quite a few said that it was the worst meal they had ever had, or at least their worst expensive meal. The service was bad, the promised menu items weren't available, and the clams were full of sand. No coffee was available at all, and the desserts were tiny and few before they ran out. Ugh! Saturday took us to the world-famous Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts, and the world's largest collection of historic naval ships. Our driver gave us a virtuoso demonstration of close-quarters motorcoach maneuvering, forever putting to rest the notion that women drivers are any less skillful than men. We had a delicious lunch in the wardroom of USS Massachusetts (BB-59); to tell the truth, it was better than any meal ever served in the wardroom of the USS Rankin. After lunch we spent a few hours touring the Massachusetts, the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850), and the other ships at the cove. Some of the PT Boats there were made by Higgins Industries of New Orleans, a company best known as the inventor and manufacturer of the LCVP. Did you know that Rankin skipper John Harllee was the squadron commander for JFK's famous PT-109?   The reunion ended Saturday evening after our formal banquet, held in the same large space as our hospitality room. If the noise level from all the conversations is any indication, it was one of our best banquets ever. Next year's reunion will be held in Nashville, Tennessee.