THE SCUTTLEBUTT
The Newsletter of the
USS Buchanan (DDG-14) Association
Vol V. No. 3 http://www.uss-buchanan-ddg14.org Editor: David B. Malone
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Our next Ship wide reunion is scheduled for February 18
–22, 2004, At the Beachside Resort & Convention Center,
ROOM COST
$70.00 per night two persons
$89.00 per night beach front rooms two persons
These room rates are available 3 days before and after
the reunion for those members wishing to stay longer or arrive early
You must call the hotel direct at 1 800 232-2416 to
make your reservation and remember to mention USS Buchanan Reunion to get the
special rates.
Hotel Phone numbers: 1 800 232-2416 or (850) 932-5331
Hotel Fax number: (850)932-3011
REGISTRATION and BANQUET DINNER
Tickets ....................... $57.00 each
Tickets ........................$82.00 couple
Tour #1 Historic
Highlights and Naval Air Station Tour
Experience the colorful history of
Tour #2
Battleship Memorial Park and USS Alabama
A day trip to Mobile, Alabama (an hour drive) features Battleship Memorial Park and includes a tour of the USS Alabama and the Aircraft Pavilion. The WWII battleship and her crew of 2500 saw action both the Atlantic and Pacific. The Pavilion includes over 20 combat aircraft from WWII through Desert Storm. Lunch will be served in the Ward Room of the ship. The cost is $45 per person.
We need
a total of 25 persons for each tour.
Please sign up and send in your check so we can fill each. The tour company needs a count by January 5th,
2004.
Go to our website http://www.uss-buchanan-ddg14.org,
click on Reunions and all the information and forms are at your fingers. You can also download forms from the same
location so that you may send your registration and Checks by US mail. If you would like me to send you the forms my
address is; Tim Nightingale, 23239
Whitby, Flat Rock, Michigan 48134-1421.
You can call me at (586) 202-2202 for any and all reunion information.
Tim Nightingale
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TREASURER’S REPORT
PAID MEMBERS (36)
Ansell, John; Baile, Bruce; Bartleson, Don; Bass,
Jack; Bergum, Dave; Borg, Gene; Botti, Bill; Bowers, Steve; Browning, Rob &
Marian; Casmier, Dave; Congdon, Bob; George, David; Gilbert, Joe; Ginter,
Roger; Glidewell, Mel; Heffernan, Michael; Heisler, Tim; Hoermann, Richard;
Howard, John; King, Mike; Looney, Glenn; Malone, Dave; Manis, Frank; Myers,
Dean; Nepper, Jerry; Nightingale, Tim; Norrod, Mike; Repp, John; Schaefer,
Larry; Sena, Pat; Sheridan, Tom; Ursich, Al; Vermillion, Charles; Waltrip, Jim;
Yow, Tom; Zimmermann, Dick
NEW MEMBERS SINCE JUNE 2003
None
TREASURER’S REPORT
Balance 1 June 2003 $2,906.75
Dues 84.00
Ship store sales 213.88
Ship store expenses -
74.55
Balance 10 Sep 2003 $3,130.08
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SAILOR OF THE YEAR
Submitted by Dick Zimmermann
Four years ago, there was no such thing as the USS BUCHANAN Association. And
then Dave Malone, acting on his own initiative, began taking steps that would
lead to the reality of the Association.
Things like this don't happen spontaneously - there
has to be a driving force to make them happen. Dave located and recruited many
former BUCHANAN sailors, sought out other ships' Association officers from whom
to learn the best way to operate an Association, planned and organized the
first USS BUCHANAN Association Reunion in June, 2000, sought out the assistance
of Internet website experts among BUCHANAN shipmates to set up the BUCHANAN
Association Website, and began publishing our newsletter.
As a token of our appreciation for Dave's taking the bull by the horns and
making things happen, Dave has been selected as BUCHANAN Sailor of the Year for
2003. This selection was made jointly by Dean Myers, Vice
President; Rob Browning, Secretary; Dick Zimmermann, Treasurer; and Tim
Nightingale, Webmaster/Reunion Coordinator. Along with a certificate that
details the points mentioned above, we also presented Dave with a check from
the Association for $500.
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SHIP’S STORE
A reminder from Rob Browning, who runs the Ship’s Store.
Our special on video tapes continues, with the video The Final
Mission, the US Navy filming of the Buchanan Sinker 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.
Also, we have plenty of Buchanan ball caps in
stock. They sell for $15.00, plus
S&H.. Rob would like to remind all
that the holidays are coming and that these items would make great gifts for
any Buchanan sailor. Spouses and family
members are encouraged to contact Rob for great gift suggestions. You can contact Rob at STG1Navy@aol.commailto:STGNavy@aol.com,mailto:NAVY@aol.com,
or at
Rob Browning
3576
Calvin Ave.
San Jose, CA 95124
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SAYING GOODBYE TO AN OLD FRIEND
From the Los Angeles Times
September 13, 2003
Aircraft Carrier Begins Final Journey
Sailors bid farewell to the Constellation as the retired, stripped ship is
towed from San Diego.
By Tony Perry, Times Staff Writer
SAN DIEGO - After 41 years, 21 overseas deployments, eight combat tours and
decades as a local icon, the aircraft carrier Constellation left San Diego Bay
for the final time Friday for a long, slow journey into retirement.
For sailors who had served aboard the giant ship known as "Connie,"
it was a sorrowful occasion.
"Connie is my girl," said Chief Petty Officer Efren Ponce, one of a
group of sailors who sang "Anchors Aweigh" as the ship departed
shortly before 6 a.m. "She's where
I learned how to be a sailor. I'll miss her."
Tugs pushed the 1,069-foot-long, 80,000-ton ship away from the dock at North
Island Naval Air Station. Its boilers cold, its engines silent and its
electronic gear stripped away, the Constellation will be towed to the
mothball fleet at Bremerton, Wash.
"It's very sad to see her like this, just a hulk," said Chief Petty
Officer Salvador Calfy. "She's too young and too good to go like
this." Maybe so, but the Connie is
also too expensive. The Navy cannot afford the
$500-million-a-year cost of maintaining and operating the Constellation, one of
only three conventionally powered carriers in the Navy.
Navy strategy calls for 12 carriers. With the recent
commissioning of a 13th, the nuclear-powered Ronald Reagan, the Constellation
became expendable. The Reagan is expected to arrive in San Diego in the spring
to
join the carriers Nimitz and John C. Stennis. Once the Constellation was home
to 5,000 sailors and Marines. On its final trip, only four sailors will be
aboard to watch for fire and flooding, the twin perils of all ships at sea.
At four to five knots an hour, the ship that moved boldly through the Persian
Gulf at 35 knots to launch planes striking at Iraq will take two weeks for the
1,200-mile voyage to the Naval Inactive Ships Maintenance
Facility.
Crew members spent weeks removing equipment and an estimated $350 million worth
of spare parts from more than 2,600 compartments, tanks, rooms and other work
spaces. When the task was done, the Constellation took on a ghostly emptiness
that was shocking to sailors accustomed to the 24-hour-a-day work schedule of a
carrier at sea.
"It's been difficult seeing her so lifeless - no watch teams, no working
parties, no bells, nobody going on and off the brow," said Chief Petty
Officer William Winstel. "It's been like getting ready for a
funeral." The Constellation
returned to San Diego in June after a deployment in which its warplanes flew
more than 1,500 missions and dropped 1.3 million pounds of bombs on targets in
Iraq. "It was a fitting mission for her last
deployment," said Lt. j.g. Ian Scott. "She was a warship and she was
good at it."
It is a point of pride among Constellation crew members that the ship, although
older and more maintenance-needy, performed as well, maybe better, than other
carriers assigned to war duty.
"Other carriers sometimes got underway late, but the Connie always got
underway on time," said Lt. Sarah Coplan. "I'll never forget standing
on the bridge and watching the planes launching with bombs and then coming back
later without any bombs: Mission accomplished." The Constellation, the
second in a new Kitty Hawk class of carriers authorized during the Eisenhower
administration, almost didn't make it into
the fleet.
While under construction at the New York Navy Yard in 1960, the ship's
structure was severely damaged by an explosion and fire that killed 50 shipyard
workers and injured 150.
A second tragedy struck during a sea trial in 1961 when a flash fire in the
engine room killed two sailors and two civilians. Although the fires delayed
construction, Navy planners were determined to build the largest warships the
world had ever known during the Cold War with the former Soviet Union.
After a voyage around Cape Horn at the tip of South America, the Constellation
arrived in San Diego on Sept. 17, 1962, to enormous hoopla. Children were
allowed to skip school to await the arrival; thousands of San
Diegans lined the shore to watch the ship glide around Ballast Point and into
the bay.
After Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in 1964, some of the first
U.S. airstrikes of the Vietnam War were launched from the Constellation. The
ship was deployed seven times during the war.
Flying their F-4 Phantom off the Constellation in 1972, pilot Lt.
Randall "Duke" Cunningham and radar-intercept officer Lt. j.g. Willie
Driscoll downed five MIGs, becoming America's first fighter aces of the war.
Cunningham is a Republican congressman from San Diego; Driscoll lives in Del
Mar and sells commercial real estate.
Driscoll said Friday that he felt a pang of sadness when he saw pictures on
television of the Constellation's departure.
"She was a great ship," Driscoll said. "For me and Duke, she
represented a safe refuge from the hellfire of real combat. She was our whole
world." In 1982, President Ronald Reagan, during an on-board visit, dubbed
the Constellation "America's flagship," a nickname that stuck. More
than 390,000 landings were made on the flight deck during its four decades in
the fleet. Even in military-centric San
Diego, where the comings and goings of ships and Marine combat units are
afforded large-scale news coverage, the Constellation was a standout.
Coverage of the ship's decommissioning ceremony in August was voluminous. Four
television stations provided live coverage of Friday's unceremonious departure.
Part of the Constellation's charisma may come from its longevity. Few ships
remain in the same home port as long as the Constellation. The number 64 on the
ship's control tower, which is kept visible at night by
lights, was one of the most recognizable features of the local waterfront.
"That 64 has been there a long time," said Capt. David Landon,
commanding officer at North Island.
"It's going to be a big blank space out there."
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NOW ON THE BUCHANAN...
Taken from the ship’s annual reports.
Forty Years Ago...
In August 1963,
Commander Webster was relieved by Commander Wilton A. Atkinson as the
Commanding Officer.
Thirty Five
Years Ago...
The period from
11 August until 16 September provided the crew of BUCHANAN an
opportunity to take post deployment leave and time to perform upkeep and
repairs on the ship. From 16th until the 28th of September BUCHANAN
again put to sea to participate in Gun Projectile Effectiveness test conducted
in the Southern California Operation Area. This test was to evaluate the
effectiveness of various types of projectiles against small, high-speed surface
craft.
Thirty Years Ago...
Immediately following her escort
duties, BUCHANAN headed for her first real prot of call, Kaohsiung,
Taiwan. Arriving on 24 September, BUCHANAN remained in an upkeep/tender
availability for the next week.
Twenty Five
Years Ago...
Following an
inport weekend in San Diego, BUCHANAN departed for Mazatlan, Mexico and
commenced in intensive training program during the four day transit, including
Engineering Casualty Control Drills and preparations for the approaching
Interim Refresher Training (IRFT) period.
On Sunday night, 5 November, BUCHANAN
helped Mexican authorities extinguish a large waterfront fire involving several
hundred bales of cotton. The quick reaction of the crew in controlling this
very dangerous blaze earned messages of gratitude and commendation from US DAO,
Mexico City, and the local U.S. Consul.
Twenty Years
Ago...
BUCHANAN was inport Rodman Naval Station,
Panama on 1 September. From 2 September through 8 September, she was escorting
two Army LCU'S (landing craft, utility) up the coast of Central American to
Honduras. On 5 September, using her own couplings and hoses, she refueled the
two LCU'S while underway, a Navy first. On 9 September, she began the transit
home and arrived in San Diego, California, on 17 September.
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SEA STORY OF THE QUARTER
By Mike Fox, BT3, 1967 - 68
Drawing Enemy Fire
Sometime after the start of '68, we teamed up with an Aussie DDG just like the
BUCHANAN, the HMS HOBART. The Australians purchased it from the same shipyard
that had built the BUCHANAN. The Aussies were lots and lots of fun and could be
very tough both at Subic and fighting the gooks. You wanted them on your side
at all times. They always intended to WIN no matter WHAT IT TOOK! The two DDGs
teamed up and headed to the north. This is something that nobody was supposed
to know.
Our game was this, one of the two DDGs would pull into a cove and fire 30-40
rounds from the 5"54s, you would go in and the forward mount would fire 15
or so rounds, turn and follow up with the aft mount. As the ship was turning it
would go as fast as possible to keep from getting return fire. One DDG would
stay out a few hundred yards and protect the other from return fire. We did this several times, it was always
exciting to do, whether you were the ship in the cove or the one protecting.
Looking back, I think that we were trying to get Charlie to respond.
This one dark night it was decided that both DDGs would go in and do a
prolonged firing. This time we were to stay in this cove, slow to a couple of
knots, and fire and fire at some gook targets that were given to us.
After going to Battle Stations about 0300, oh, I forgot to tell you we had all
four boilers lit off each time we did this. I was a pumpman and when we had 1A
& 1B boilers going, we had three pumpmen, one watching the water level and
the other two checking the booster pumps and having 1C main feed pump rolling
over just to make sure we did not drop the load. God, could you imagine that
happening?
We are in this cove for well over an hour, just floating and firing few rounds,
then waiting for a different target. All of a sudden, a very loud BANG, silence
for a couple of seconds or so, and then another BANG. The ship
vibrates and shakes. As the pumpman watching the water level, I yell down to
the top watch, "What the hell is that?" More BANGS and the answer
from down below, "You dumb ass, we are being shot at!"
"Check for Damage"! This is all happening in milliseconds, the BELL
rings up "ALL AHEAD FLANK"! WE RESPOND TO THE BELL! Burners come up,
blowers go wild, wide open go the main pumps, someone brings up 1 Charlie main
feed pump, (The most dependable of the
three, 1A you had to keep an eye out for - it liked to kick out, just when you
need the SOB), just in case, up comes the steam, and "Hard to Port."
The water level is damned hard to find in the glass, we are turning so hard.
Forward Fireroom is hoping that Forward
Engineroom throttleman is not going to pull too much, to pull us off the
line. We stay a bit ahead of the
throttleman - that is way it is supposed to be.
As we are turning the aft mount goes wild firing 5 "inchers" as fast
as it will fire. Somebody said 30+ rounds a minute, the aft mount continues to
fire and fire even after being told to CEASE FIRING. The Fire Control
Officer calls down to the aft mount wanting to know what the hell is going on.
It is found out later that some third class gunner has PANICKED and they had to
pry him off the firing pedal to stop the gun. I sure hope he scared
"Charlie." We do not know it at the time but the Aussies are like us
running for open water at FLANK speed. They are firing too. This just scared
the hell out of the both crews. But we went back at this several times.
After getting back to sea, checking damage, we had to go to Subic for two weeks
of repair. The gooks had used two or three portable artillery guns on us but we
were just a bit to far away for them to damage the hull. But
between the Aussie and BUCHANAN, they had damaged our radar, mast and all of
the electronics up on the mast to the tune of $90,000+.
Spending two weeks in Subic was hell after the first week. You were running out
of money, fights, and those SOBs from that bar where we had the trouble with
the bass drummer, remembered us. So, when the time came to back plane guarding,
no one bitched.