THE  SCUTTLEBUTT

The Newsletter of the

USS Buchanan DDG-14 Association

December 19, 2002

Vol. IV, No. 4 ___________ http://www.uss-buchanan-ddg14.org ____________Editor: David B. Malone

A decision has been reached about where our next reunion will be.  As chairperson of the reunion committee, Tim Nightingale placed a link on our web site for the membership to vote on where and when our next reunion would take place.  There was an article about this in last June’s newsletter, and a form was provided for mail-in votes.  After carefully reviewing the results of the survey, Tim recommended to the committee that the next USS Buchanan DDG-14 reunion be as follows.

Location:       Pensacola, Florida

Time:              Spring of 2004  (February or March)

Duration:        3 to 4 days

Days:              Thursday through Sunday

He is keeping the precise timing of the event open so that he can work out the dates with hotels in Pensacola.  Stay tuned for more details.

________________________________________________________________________________

TREASURER’S REPORT

If you don’t see your name below, it means you still owe dues for 2002.  Our dues run June 1 through May 31, and are $14.00 per year.  If uncertain of your status, you can check with Dick Zimmermann at dzimmerm@dandp.com.  Please mail your dues to

Dick Zimmermann
2000 S. Eads #329
Arlington, VA 22202

PAID MEMBERS (35)

Ansell, John; Bass, Jack; Bergum, Dave; Boston, Richard; Bowers, Steve; Browning, Rob & Marian; Casmier, Dave; Congdon, Bob; Daisley, Dick; Falade, Mark; Falkenhan, Marc; Giardina, Joe; Gilbert, Joe; Glidewell, Mel; Herrman, Larry; Howard, John; Looney, Glenn; Malone, Dave; Manis, Frank; Mezori, George; Myers, Dean; Norrod, Mike; Parks, Bill; Pinkney, Robert; Poplin, Dave; Ridlon, Lawrence; Sample, Eric; Schiefelbine, Ron; Scott, Walter; Sena, Pat; Shortreed, Fred; Ursich, Al; Waltrip, Jim; Wihera, Victor; Zimmermann, Dick.

NEW MEMBERS (7)

Bass, Jack                          MS3       1973 - 77

Bergum, Dave                    MT2       1961 - 64

Bowers, Steve                    FTM2     1975 - 80

Gilbert, Joe                         BTFA     1978

Norrod, Mike                       OS3       1974 - 76

Pinkney, Robert                  RD3       1965 - 66

Waltrip, Jim                         BM3       1962 - 64

TREASURER’S REPORT

Balance 31 August            $1,760.20

Dues                                         196.00

Ship store sales                      355.15

Ship store expenses               - 55.75

Balance 10 Dec 2002     $2,255.60

A correction from our last newsletter.  George Mezori made BT2 in 1964.  It was his brother who was a BT3.  The editor apologizes for the error.

Reminder:  Please remember to send in your new e-mail address whenever you change ISPs.  We like to keep our crew’s list as up-to-date as possible.

________________________________________________________________________________

Dick Zimmermann’s class from the Naval Academy has published a book of sea stories, collected from individual members of the class.  I have a copy of this book and can verify that it’s a first rate publication and abounds in some wonderful stories.  You don’t run across books filled with sea stories every day, and that makes this publication an unusual one.  I give it my highest recommendation.       -Editor-

The US Naval Academy Class of 1965 has just published a book of sea stories,
called "THERE I WAS ..." The book is hardcover, 7" x 10", and has 320 pages
of sea stories from 78 members of the class. There are 220 stories and 25
black and white illustrations that accompany some of them. The stories
include the Surface, Aviation, Submarine, and Marine Corps communities.
Some are in war situations since our service covered the Vietnam era, but
most of the stories are light-hearted in nature and would be appealing to
readers who served in other time periods as well.

I was the coordinator of the effort, and the book has lots of stories from
my two ships, USS CHARLES H. ROAN (DD-853) and USS BUCHANAN (DDG-14).

Proceeds of the sales go to the US Naval Academy Class of 1965. I am acting
as the class representative for this project, so I collect the money.
Anybody wanting a copy, please send a check for $25 made out to Richard
Zimmermann, and mail it to:

Richard Zimmermann
2000 S. Eads #329
Arlington, VA 22202

________________________________________________________________________________

SHIP’S STORE

Ship’s Store operator Rob Browning wishes to remind the membership of the “Two For” video sale being offered by the Ship’s Store.  The special offer is for the video The Final Mission, the US Navy filming of the Buchanan Sinkex in June, 2000, and the video Who Needs you Buchanan.  Both videos are packaged together for $25.00 plus $5.40 S & H.  This is a total savings of $10.00.  You can also purchase Who Needs You Buchanan separately, reduced from $20.00 to $15.00, plus the S & H.  Both sales expire on December 31, 2002.

And, don’t forget that Rob has a supply of USS Buchanan ball caps, which sell for $15.00, plus S & H.  These are good quality caps, and are actually a much finer quality than the ones we purchased aboard Buchanan.

Orders can be placed with Rob Browning at:

Rob Browning

3576 Calvin Ave.

San Jose, CA   95124

Please make all checks payable to USS Buchanan Association.

________________________________________________________________________________

VA MEDICAL BENEFITS

Rob Browning reports that congress passed a law in 1996 that allows ALL VETS to get medical benefits from the Veteran’s Administration.  What any vet has to do is go to the VA web site at http://www.va.gov/elig/, find the enrollment forms, fill them out online and then mail or fax them to their local VA hospital/admin office.  Rob reports that prescriptions have a $7.00 co-pay and that there is a $15.00 co-pay for doctor’s visit.  If you’re in need of medical care, you might want to check it out.

________________________________________________________________________________

LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD PODS

Are you one of those guys who hangs onto paperwork long after it is of any use?  Tim Nightingale is going to try and compile a collection of PODs (Plan of the Day) from the Buchanan. If anyone has any old PODs, you can scan and send them to Tim at tnightinga@aol.com.  He will try to index them on the web sit.  If you don’t have a scanner, I’m sure Tim will promise to take care of it and send it right back to you if you’d like to send it to him for scanning.  If he receives enough of them, he will burn them to CD for the Ships Store.

________________________________________________________________________________

NOW ON THE BUCHANAN...

Taken from the ship’s annual reports.

Forty years ago....

1962:  November found BUCHANAN returning to San Diego for unrestricted duty from post shakedown availability at Bremerton, WA.

Thirty-four years ago...

1968:  From 4 November until 22 December, BUCHANAN was underway weekly while participating in the SAMID project evaluation in the Southern California Operation Area.

Thirty years ago...

1972:  On 13 December, the BUCHANAN began a week of inspections for the coming WESTPAC deployment in February 1972.

Twenty-six years ago...

1976:  The period 10 November to 17 December was spent pierside with the major thrust on getting the plant back to maximum operating condition. On 18 December, the crew entered a much-deserved holiday leave and upkeep period. One final sea trial was conducted 21 December.

Thirteen years ago...

1989:  From 1 - 3 December, BUCHANAN conducted a weapons offload at sea with the USS MAUNA KEA. Over-1200 rounds of 5-inch ammunition, 1200 powders, 33 SM-1 (MR) missiles and 4 Harpoon missiles were offloaded from BUCHANAN without the assistance of aircraft.

________________________________________________________________________________

SEA STORY OF THE QUARTER

Submitted by Dave Bergum.

In late 63, after our first WestPac tour, we had lots of nice new Japanese
electronics in the Tartar missile shop. It was not long before we discovered
that the telemetry antennas, after disconnecting the 1/4 wave tuning traps, made
very good FM radio antennas. We could be quite far out to sea and still pick up
some good FM stations from SD and LA.

Well, we had a missile test firing scheduled, and were very busy testing and
finding a good bird to launch. Part of the prefiring procedure was to confirm
that the telemetry receiver was getting a good signal. We did not have that big
a window to make the decision, before the target range would be wrong for the
particular test scenario.

We were ready to fire and dang, we were not picking up the bird at all. There
was frantic activity. Then some idiot up in Weapons Control (Gee, could have
been me!) asked over the SP phones if the FM tuner was disconnected from the
antenna. Happens the weapons officer was on the wire. Hell Fire!

As soon as the test firing was completed (successfully, I might add), all the
audio gear went down into the warhead magazine. No more tunes!

Well, you know how things are in the navy; memories are short. Wait a couple
weeks, and slowly all the gear migrates back into the shop. But we never forgot
to reconnect the antennas again.

I can't recall the name of the weapons officer at that time. He was a mustang
Lt. Anyone know? He used to always say, "Men, remain flexible!" Then one day
we all started stretching and flopping around. He looked at us real funny, like
he didn't get it. We were young and cruel and foolish then!

Got a good story?  Send it to me at malonedave@aol.com, and we’ll see if we can get it published.