THE
SCUTTLEBUTT
The Newsletter of the
USS Buchanan (DDG-14) Association
September, 2004
Vol
VI. No. 3 http://www.uss-buchanan-ddg14.org Editor:
David B. Malone
________________________________________________________________
NEXT
Our next reunion site
has been selected by majority vote of association members. The site will be
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THE
PASSING OF TWO SHIPMATES
It is with a sadness
and heavy heart that I inform you of the death of Frank Manis, former OS3 and
Buchanan crew member. Frank died of a
massive heart attack in his home in
Frank was born and
raised in southern
Frank lived and
worked in
Frank was my best
friend in the Navy. My memory is crowded
with images of him. On
duty, standing endless hours on watch together in CIC. On details, painting
bulkheads on the 02 level. On liberty together. In
For those that wish to,
donations may be made to Frank's church in his memory for the Military Ministry
that Frank help to start. Checks should
be made payable to MCCLA. In the memo
section please write "In Memory of Frank Manis" so that the check may
be identified properly. If anyone would
like tax-deductible statements, it is imperative that you include your full
name and address as well.
Checks may be sent
to:
Reverend Neil Thomas
We lost another
shipmate earlier in the year, with the news just reaching us. SM1 Jerry Tanguay died at his home in
Olongapo, Republic of the
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TREASURER’S REPORT
PAID MEMBERS (44)
Acosta,
Javier; Alexander, Ted; Baile, Bruce; Beinke, Phil; Borg, Gene; Botti, Bill;
Browning, Rob & Marian; Boyle, Tim; Casmier, Dave; Cotant, Mike; Crisp,
George; Egge, Dennis; England, Carl; George, David; George, Ken; Ginter,
Roger; Heffernan, Michael; Heisler, Tim;
Hoermann, Richard; Kern, Tom; Kupec, Cole; Looney, Glenn; MacAdam, Mac; Malone,
Dave; Manis, Frank; Marak, Ron; Mezori, George; Myers, Dean; Nepper, Jerry;
Nightingale, Tim; Probus, Ed; Proctor, Lou; Rudisill, Terry; Schaefer, Larry;
Sheridan, Tom; Smeltzer, Steve; Taylor, Jim; Tom, Phillip; Ursich, Al; Wallace,
Jim; Wihera, Victor; Yow, Tom; Ziesmer, Jim; Zimmermann, Dick
NEW MEMBERS SINCE
JUNE 2004
Alexander,
Ted LCDR (XO) 69 - 71
Boyle,
Tim ETC (SW) 85 - 90
Crisp,
George RD3 65 - 67
MacAdam,
Mac HMC 74 - 77
TREASURER’S
REPORT
Balance
1 July 2004 $3,300.87
Dues 218.00
Ship
store sales 188.35
Ship
store expenses -372.77
Balance
30 Sept 2004 $3,334.45
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THE SHIP’S STORE
Rob
Browning, our Ship’s Store operator, has more copies of Buchanan, Who Needs You available. For the uninitiated, Buchanan, Who Needs You is a Navy training
film which was made in 1964, and stars our beloved DDG-14 in the role of the
multi-purpose tin can. If you weren’t
aboard at the time, you probably saw the film in boot camp. In addition to VHS, the movie is now
available on DVD. Both sell for $15.00,
plus Shipping and Handling (S&H).
S&H is as follows. Purchases
0 to $15.00 = $3.85 S&H, $15.01 to $25.00 = $540 S&H, and $25.01 and up
= $6.40 S&H..
And
speaking of S&H, the Ship’s Store is having a Christmas sale. All sales from October 1st through
Christmas Day will be free of S&H.
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NOW ON THE BUCHANAN...
Moments in the life
of USS Buchanan (DDG-14), taken from the ship’s annual reports.
Thirty five years
ago... 1969
From
18 September till 19 October, BUCHANAN
remained in a leave and upkeep status. On 20 October the ship began an
extensive TAV witht the U.S.S. SAMUEL
GOMPERS (AD-37) which lasted till the end of the year. During this time
extensive retubing and rebricking of all boilers was accomplished and the ship
underwent an INSURV inspection from 24 to 26 November.
Thirty years
ago... 1974
Following
her visit ship duties, BUCHANAN
entered an extensive upkeep period which lasted through the first week of September.
During the this period, the ship received the word that BUCHANAN had won the annual competition for the Commander Cruiser
Destropyer Force, Pacific, awards for excellence in the fields of
Anti-Submarine Warfare, Missiles, Gunnery, Operations, and Engineering. It was
also during this time frame that BUCHANAN
was announced as the winner of the Pacific Fleet's Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy
for being the most improved unit in the area of combat readiness.
Fifteen years
ago... 1989
BUCHANAN was
underway again from 25 - 29 September for four days of local operations and on
7 - 11 October the ship was in
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SEA STORY OF THE QUARTER
The Bar
Glasses
By Dean Myers, ETR2, 1971-75
Once
upon a time --- What am I doing? The statute of limitations has long expired,
so I can tell the truth.
It
was 1974 and we were just completing a WESTPAC cruise, stopping at
At
the first establishment we stopped in, we discovered that the cost of beer was
higher than we expected. So we drank one beer and tried another bar, only to
find that the price there was the same as at the first bar.
As
the night progressed someone decided that as much as the beer was costing us,
we must be paying for the glasses too. We started slipping the empty glasses up
our jumper sleeves. When the bar ran out of glasses, we left.
As
the night went of course, we never got to the second “I”. Besides, we probably
couldn’t afford it anyway.
As
the three of us walked through the gate, we each had six glasses up each sleeve
of our jumpers. I believe it was Dave who, when he put his ID back into his
wallet, had an accident. All six glasses in one sleeve fell out and shattered
noisily on ground, making the Marine at the gate wonder what had just happened.
All of us walked a little faster to clear the area before he figured things out.
When
we reached BUCHANAN, the ladder in the forward ship’s passageway down to
Forward Crew's Berthing had been removed - they were painting behind it. No, we
did not fall down the hole, thinking the ladder was there - we were drunk but
not stupid.
So
we had to go into the passageway towards the Wardroom, and down the ladder to
Forward Officers' Country, and come out at the Forward Head over the sonar.
When Rick stepped onto the top rung of the ladder and reached for the
handrails, he let go of his sleeves and the glasses from both arms came out.
The peaceful midmorning silence of the ship was suddenly broken as 12 glasses
bounced and smashed on each of the metal ladder steps as they made their way to
the deck below.
This
created a noise that to us drunks sounded like the earth was exploding. As the
metal rungs of the ladder vibrated like tuning forks, we realized we had
probably just woken up half the officers aboard, with the assumption that those
in After Officers' Berthing may not have been affected too much.
So
we did what came natural - we ran. We were down the ladder and out of officer’s
country in seconds. None of the officers had looked out in time to see who we
were, so we went straight to our berthing areas, kicked off our shoes, crawled
into our racks, hid under our blankets, and pretended to be asleep in the event
we had been followed.
Nothing
ever happened - we figured the next morning there would be an investigation
into who had made the noise and mess, or at least someone bitching about being
woken up - but not a word was said about it.
I
have to assume that either we were the first ones to return from liberty, which
I find hard to believe, or everyone else had just as much to drink as we did,
and was able to sleep through it.