Smith, Vernon Charles, RDML

USS RANKIN NEWS, Issue No. 8, December 2007.

Vern Smith joined the Navy as a lowly high school dropout in 1947.

He joined the Rankin as a lowly Ensign in 1956. He retired from the Navy as a not-so-lowly Rear Admiral in 1989. The Gator Navy was quite important in his career.

His Seaman-Recruit-to-Rear-Admiral story, told in his own colorful words.

It covers a lot of ground. (Or is it water?)

Seaman to Admiral: Vern Smith in His Own Words

I was Born 6 November 1929 in Bay City, Michigan and raised on a small farm in Midland. Delivered newspapers on horseback. Learned the value of hard work quickly but was behind the curve on education.

Finished the 10th grade and started the 11th, but in 1947 after a confrontation with a teacher quit school and joined the Navy.

The last thing I wanted was more school but my entrance test scores made me one of three in our company to go on to a service school. After almost a year in airman "P" and Aviation Radioman school I became an ALAA (Aviation Electronics Man Apprentice, E-2).

From March 1949 to August 1950 I was assigned to VR-44 over- hauling R5Ds which were involved in the Berlin Airlift - mostly hauling coal.

I worked the evening shift and actually did some work, but for the most part I played fast pitch softball five days a week. Three days Navy league and two nights civilian league. Consequently I remained an E-2.

From April 1950 until August 1952 I was assigned to the flight test section of the overhaul & repair group of NAS Corpus Christi, Tex.

I made E-3 on arrival through a cooperative Yeoman who accepted my story that I was advanced just before my departure from VR-44 but they must have forgotten to enter it in my record. I flew in all types of aircraft R5Ds, R4Ds, PB4Y2s, TBMs, SB2Cs to name a few. I continued playing ball but did not travel with the team. in November 1950 I married Kathryn, my on again off again sweetheart from the 7th grade.

In those days the Navy did not recognize marriage unless you were at least an E-5 or an E-4 with 7 years service. in March of 1952 my first child was born and I got serious about advancement, making E-4 shortly thereafter.

In August 1952 I was assigned to the Naval Operating Base Argentia, Newfoundland, as a CW/voice operator at the Naval Communications Station. My family could not accompany me because the Navy did not recognize our marriage. At the first opportunity I made E-5 and became eligible to bring my family up, but I was a "left arm rate" and a "right arm rate" could bump me on the housing waiting list. I eventually found housing on the economy. Two 8' by 8' rooms with a semi-attached outhouse, a 55 gallon drum for running water, and a window box for an ice box. One hundred twenty-eight square feet of living space is tight when you consider I worked 3 days, 3 evenings, 3 mids and 3 days off. I now have a 140 square foot storage shed and my kids and grandkids wonder how we ever made it. I made AL1 at the first opportunity and AT1 (Aviation Electronics Technician) on the following exam. LCDR Rapp, later CO of USS Rankin, was my department head at this time. Shortly before detachment we moved into a condemned Quonset hut on base.

From September to the end of 1954, I was stationed with Utility Squadron 4 at Chincoteague, Va. VU-4 was a target towing squadron and I was Shanghaied to Target Drone School, El Centro, California. Detached within 24 hours of notification. After three months of learning how to launch, fly, recover and crash target drones our ten-man unit was assigned to Utility Squadron Six, Norfolk, Va.

In 1956 the OinC of my unit talked to me about the Seaman-to-Admiral program. I wasn?t interested but he put the pressure on and the squadron XO practically ordered me to take the fleet-wide competitive test. First was the physical. The height requirement was 5' 6". I was 5' 53⁄4". The medical exam physician sent me back to the quadron without any further examination, marked "Failed Physical". My XO, LCDR Anderson, was a Naval Academy grad where the height requirement was 5' 4". He was actually about 5' 2'. LCDR Anderson took me back to medical and ordered the doctor to finish the exam and request a medical waiver for me.

Some months later the list for OCS came out and I was not on it. A few weeks passed, and a second list came out with four or five of us who had gotten medical waivers.

I saw LCDR Anderson in 1968 or 1969 in Vietnam. He was XO or OPS Officer on a seaplane tender. He was still a LCDR.

From April 1956 - August 1956. Officers Candidate School, Newport, Rhode Island. Commissioned as an Ensign August 2nd 1956. From here on it is a different career and a much different life.

8/56 to 2/58. USS Rankin. This ship formed my future as an officer.

First, I was lucky because there were Warrant Officers and Limited Duty Officers in the wardroom, so being an ex-enlisted man was not a negative.

Second my first Commanding Officer was Wally Wendt - tough as nails, and later four star CINCUS-NAVEUR. He would have been CNO but for Admiral Zumwalt who was more personnel oriented.

Thirdly, my second Commanding Officer was John Harllee. He was people oriented to a fault. Unfortunately I was his Public Affairs Officer, and God help me if a new crew member's picture was not on our famous quarterdeck picture board the day after he reported aboard. The same applies to the birthday party celebrations - each crew member had a birthday cake and dinner with the Captain on his birthday. We all cringed at the summons for the Division Officer or Department Head and sometimes the Executive Officer to report to the Captain's cabin to answer for any complaints the individual had about the chain of command. I learned the importance of caring for your men, but also the foolishness of destroying the chain of command.

Fortunately I had an Executive Officer named Paul Hopkins. He saved my bacon more than once. Harllee was so upset with me that he refused to attend my piping over the side on detachment. For those who don't remember Paul, he was a big man and one of the many times I screwed up he picked me up and shook the devil out of me and said if I screwed up again he would "wear my guts for a necklace". I loved this man. He put me in charge of his family and to this day I look after his widow, Ruthie, who lives in Vero Beach, Florida.

While in OCS I learned that there were two areas of a Naval Officer's life that I was scared of: engineering and gunnery. I requested an assignment in either, and was then sent to an engineering school for destroyer officers.

4/59 to 7/60. After four months of engineering school I was assigned to the USS Ault (DD-698) as chief engineer. Here I encountered the 'better than I" culture. Ex-enlisted were not all that welcome and I got loaded with most of the collateral duties that could be assigned, even though I had by far the largest department. Special events: we opened the Saint Lawrence Seaway to the Great Lakes - had over 100,000 attend an amphibious landing in Milwaukee - and we were the first U.S. ship to enter the Black Sea since World War II.

8/60 to 5/62. Commanding Officer USS Rockville (EPCER-851), a patrol craft rescue converted to an experimental research ship, home ported at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC. We carried a research team of 8 to 10 scientists from NRL and did all sorts of weapons testing - sonar research and ocean bottom core sampling - mostly in the Caribbean.

5/62 to 6/64. OPNAV staff, OP-943 where I was head of the Communications Procedure Unit. Most notable accomplishment was an internal memo on how to operate the coffee mess. A very demeaning assignment after being a Commanding Officer with my very own parking space, to one having to park in the West Parking lot at the Pentagon, 1.1 miles from the office.

During this Pentagon assignment I attended George Washington University night school, earning 30 semester hours of credit. More on this later.

7/64 to 6/66. Commanding Officer USS Avenge (MSO-423). I was a LT in a LCDR billet on the division flagship with a CDR that had never been away from his family and didn?t even know how allotments worked. He finished a 30-year career with one assignment separated from his family. We participated in the Cuban Blockade.

6/66 to 6/68. After years of night school and correspondence courses, I acquired the necessary 45 semester hours of credit to apply for the five term program. You get three terms on your own and then apply for the program and if accepted the Navy will put you in a program at a university to get the remaining five terms. I was selected and assigned to the Naval Post Graduate School at Monterey, Cal. Unfortunately my credit hours were in business administration and commercial law. They assigned me to the engineering curriculum with an advanced standing of eight credit hours. Therefore I needed 112 credit hours in engineering with all the necessary labs for EE, physics, chemistry etc., all to be completed in two years. Made it with BS in engineering science but with a terrible toll on family life.

7/68 to 2/70. CO, USS Washoe County (LST-1165). CAPT John Adams, the surface placement officer from BUPERS told me I could have command of a destroyer out of any East or West coast port upon graduation. Again the ring knockers came out. I hadn't paid my dues with enough time in destroyers and therefore had to serve as an XO. I declined the offer and took command of the Washoe County out of Yokosuka, Japan. Spent most of the next 18 months in Vietnam in support of Market Time operations and with the Swift Boats in the Bode River and off the Cau Mau Peninsula with 4th Corp.

3/70 to 12/71. Defense Communications Agency, Washington, DC. The greatest collection of incompetents in the world, with the possible exception of the United Nations. Enough said.

2/72 to 1/74. During this time I was selected for a graduate program in computer science at Washington State University. I was about to accept the assignment when I was offered command of the USS Harlan County (LST-1196). Needless to say I took the assignment back to sea. A wonderful assignment with lifelong ties to Harlan County, Kentucky.

2/74 to 6/75. Stashed at COMPHIBLANT for 3 months, then a year at the US Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pa. I majored in bass fishing and pheasant hunting. Also participated in a study that concluded that we would be a Spanish speaking nation by 2050. It may well be happening sooner.

7/75 to 7/77. Director of readiness and evaluation at the Naval Telecommunications Command in Washington, DC. No one was quite ready for an independent department to tell them how poorly they performed. I was lucky to get out of there alive.

7/77 to 7/79. Executive Assistant and senior aide to the Director of Command, Control and Communications OP-094. A tough assignment which I was ill prepared for but after two years of 14 to 15 hour days working for a three star and one two star admiral I survived.

1/80 to 11/81. After three months at the nuclear power school Senior Officers Material Readiness class in Great Falls, Idaho, I assumed command of the USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20).

Mount Whitney was the flagship of Commander Second Fleet, Commander Amphibious Group Two, and Commanding General of the Second Marine Amphibious Force. Three flag officers on one ship. Talk about a headache. Anyway I survived the experience.

12/81 to 6/83. Commander Amphibious Squadron Six. During this 18 month period I probably had less than eight weeks in home port. Deployed and redeployed.

Ended up in Northern Europe, only to be directed to proceed at best speed into the Mediterranean for duty as Commander Amphibious Force U.S. Sixth Fleet. Ended up landing our Marines in Lebanon late 1982. After approximately five months as Commander U.S. Forces Lebanon, I was selected for flag rank at the age of 53. Probably the oldest flag select ever.

7/83 to 8/86. Commander Naval Telecommunication Command. In charge of naval communications around the world.

9/86 to 6/88. Commander Amphibious Group One, and Commander Amphibious Forces Seventh Fleet, and Commander Amphibious Forces Western Pacific.

Many stories, but am getting tired of telling stories. My biggest challenge was command of 68 ships and over 200,000 people in an amphibious operation in South Korea.

7/88 to 7/89. Vice Chief of Naval Education and Training Command. My more important duties were NJROTC, NROTC, and Recruit Training Centers. A wonderful experience from a kid who could not swim to an Admiral in charge of the whole thing.

Talk about the American dream! Does it get any better than this?

7/89 to Present. After retirement I worked for four years as VP of MILCOM Systems Corporation, a family owned electronics business headquartered in Virginia Beach but with offices worldwide.

In 1992 I bought 30 acres on the James River in Nelson County, VA and in 1994 started building my dream cabin. Still working on it. My wife and I are now living in our 28th home. She does not want to move anymore.

In 2004, I attended the Rankin reunion in Norfolk.

In May of 2007, I graduated from Liberty University Bible College at the young age 77. I am debating whether to proceed with a graduate degree in theology. I come from a long line of ministers so the heat is on.

I have one last story, about the diving board at Naval Recruit Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois, where I and so many others went to boot camp. I am a non-swimmer. In fact I am almost deathly afraid of the water. In recruit training I was required to jump from a platform into the swimming pool. In my mind the platform was at least 20 to 30 feet above the water. I could not jump, so the instructors pushed me off the platform into the water. I was then placed in remedial swimming for the remainder of recruit training. I did not learn to swim, so upon the final swim test prior to graduation I hid in the overhead of the barracks and did not take the final swimming test. I was the company guide, so I wonder how I got away with it.

Over 40 years later, serving as Vice Chief of Naval Education and Training I was guest speaker at a recruit graduation at Great Lakes.

During the tour of the training facility I saw the 20 to 30 foot platform. Somehow it was reduced in height to 6 to 8 feet. Things DO change with time.


To a Ship at Sea:
May the prow of your ship not bury itself in an oncoming wave,
May its keel not feel the scratch of a coral reef,
May its deck not be marred by shrapnel or bullets,
And on returning to port may its berth not be occupied by some other less worthy vessel.
From Ed Gaskell, the USS Rankin Toastmaster

Rankin History
The USS Rankin was built by North Carolina Shipbuilding Co., in Wilmington, NC, and named after Rankin County, Mississippi.

Commissioned in February 1945, she participated in the final stages of the Battle of Okinawa, one of the last actions of WWII.

She was decommissioned in May 1947 and put into mothballs on the

West Coast. Rankin was recommissioned in 1952 during the Korean War and assigned to the East Coast.

She spent the rest of her life on cruises to the Mediterranean and Caribbean, training and showing the flag in hot spots. She was redesignated LKA-103 in 1969. Her final decommissioning was in May 1971, after 21 years and 5 months of total commissioned service.

In 1988, she was sunk as a fishing reef off Stuart, Florida.