THE SCUTTLEBUTT
The Newsletter of the
USS Buchanan DDG-14 Association
March 30, 2003
Vol.
V, No. 1 ___http://www.uss-buchanan-ddg14.org ___Editor: David B. Malone
NOW HERE THIS...
More to come, so stand by.
Tim Nightingale
______________________________________________________________________________
TREASURER’S REPORT
PAID
MEMBERS (42)
Ansell, John; Bartleson, Don; Bass, Jack; Bergum, Dave; Borg, Gene; Boston, Richard; Botti, Bill; 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; King, Mike; Looney, Glenn; Malone, Dave; Manis, Frank; Mezori, George; Myers, Dean; Nepper, Jerry; Norrod, Mike; Parks, Bill; Pinkney, Robert; Poplin, Dave; Repp, John; Ridlon, Lawrence; Sample, Eric; Schiefelbine, Ron; Scott, Walter; Sena, Pat; Shortreed, Fred; Ursich, Al; Vermillion, Charles; Waltrip, Jim; Wihera, Victor; Zimmermann, Dick
NEW
MEMBERS SINCE DECEMBER 2002 (1)
Charles Vermillion OS1 1975 - 76
FINANCIAL REPORT
Balance 11 Dec 2002 $2,255.60
Dues 112.00
Ship store sales 373.45
Ship store expenses -
44.95
Balance 4 Mar 2003 $2,696.10
______________________________________________________________________________
ONCE I WAS A NAVYMAN
I
printed this poem in the newsletter some time ago. At that time, the author was not know. A man who claims to be the author has since
stepped forward. His name is E.A.
Hughes, FTCM (ret.) He contacted me via
e-mail and sent me an updated version from 1978. I have no way to verify whether or not he is
the true author, but I thought I would take the occasion to run the poem again
with this latest edition.
-Editor
Once
I Was A Navyman
I like the Navy. I like standing on deck during a long voyage with sea spray in
my face and ocean winds whipping in from everywhere - the feel of the giant
steel ship beneath me, it's engines driving against the sea is almost beyond
understanding. It's immense power makes the Navyman feel so insignificant but
yet proud to be a small part of this ship, a small part of her mission.
I like the Navy. I like the sound of taps over the ships announcing system, the
ringing of the ships bell, the foghorns and strong laughter of Navy men at
work. I like the ships of the Navy - nervous darting destroyers, sleek proud
cruisers, majestic battle ships, steady solid carriers and silent hidden
submarines. I like the workhorse tugboats with their proud Indian names:
Iroquois, Apache, Kiawah and Sioux - each stealthy powerful tug safely guiding
the warships to safe deep waters from all harbors.
I like the historic names of other proud Navy Ships: Midway, Hornet, Princeton,
Sea Wolf and Wasp. The Ozark, Hunley, Constitution, Missouri, Iowa and
Manchester, as well as The Sullivan's, Enterprise, Tecumseh and Nautilus - all
majestic ships of the line. Each ship commanding the respect of all Navymen
that have known Her, or were privileged to be a part of Her crew.
I like the bounce of Navy music and the tempo of a Navy Band, "Liberty
Whites" and the spice scent of a foreign port. I like shipmates I've
sailed with, worked with, served with or have known: The Gunners Mate from the
Iowa cornfields; a Sonarman from the Colorado mountain country; a pal from
Cairo, Alabama;
an Italian from near Boston; some boogie boarders of California; and of course
a drawling friendly Oklahoma lad that hailed from Muskogee; and a very
congenial Engineman from the Tennessee hills.
From all parts of the land they came - farms of the Midwest, small towns of New
England - the red clay area and small towns of the South - the mountain and
high prairie towns of the West - the beachfront towns of the Atlantic, the
Pacific and the Gulf. All are American; all are comrades in arms. All are men
of the sea and all are men of honor.
I like the adventure in my heart when the ship puts out to sea, and I like the
electric thrill of sailing home again, with the waving hands of welcome from
family and friends waiting on shore. The extended time at sea drags; the going
is rough on occasion. But there's the companionship of robust Navy laughter,
the devil-may-care philosophy of the sea. This helps the Navyman. The
remembrances of past shipmates fill the mind and restore the memory with images
of other ships, other ports, and other voyages long past. Some memories are
good, some are not so good but all are etched in the mind of the Navyman, and
most will be there forever.
After a day of work, there is the serenity of the sea at dusk. As white caps
dance on the ocean waves, the sunset creates flaming clouds that float in folds
over the horizon - as if painted there by a master. The darkness follows soon
and is mysterious. The ship's wake in darkness has a hypnotic effect, with
foamy white froth and luminescence that forms never ending patterns in the
turbulent waters. I like the lights of the ship in darkness - the masthead
lights, the red and green sidelights and stern lights. They cut through the
night and appear as a mirror of stars in darkness. There are rough stormy
nights, and calm, quiet, still nights where the quiet of the mid-watch allows
the ghosts of all the Sailors of the world to stand with you. They are abundant
and unreachable, but ever apparent. And there is always the aroma of fresh
coffee from the galley.
I like the legends of the Navy and the Navymen that created those legends. I
like the proud names of Navy Heroes: Halsey, Nimitz, Perry, Farragut, McCain,
Rickover and John Paul Jones. A man can find much in the Navy - comrades in
arms, pride in his country. A man can find himself and can revel in this
experience.
In years to come, when the Sailor is home from the sea, he will still recall
with fondness the ocean spray on his face when the sea is angry. There will
come a faint aroma of fresh paint in his nostrils, the echo of hearty laughter
of the seafaring men who once were close companions. Now landlocked, he will
grow wistful of his Navy days, when the seas were the largest part of him and a
new port of call was always just over the horizon.
Recalling those days and times, he will stand taller and say: "ONCE I WAS
A NAVYMAN !"
E.A. Hughes, FTCM (SS), USN (Retired)
- Copyright, 1958, 1978
_______________________________________________________________________________
FROM THE SHIP’S STORE
Rob Browning, our ship’s store operator, is extending the sale video tapes. You can purchase Buchanan, Who Needs You and the Sinkex video as a package for $25.00 plus $5.40 shipping, for a total $30.40. This offer is extended until further notice.
_______________________________________________________________________________
“NOW, ON THE BUCHANAN...”
Moments
in the ship's history, compiled from the annual reports of
USS
Buchanan (DDG-14)
April, 1963:
In April of 1963, BUCHANAN departed on her
first WESTPAC deployment. During the eight-month absence from the United
States, BUCHANAN received many compliments, especially in Melbourne,
Australia, where she participated in the Coral Sea Festival's Twentieth
Anniversary.
March, 1968:
On the 26th of March BUCHANAN took her first
break from the combat zone and made a port visit to Subic Bay. Leaving Subic
Bay on the 5th of April, BUCHANAN returned to the coast of Vietnam near
the DMZ where she spent the 7th and 8th of April on picket duty and then on the
8th of April she returned to operation SEA DRAGON.
April, 1973:
The year began with BUCHANAN in the middle of a
leave and upkeep period inport San Diego. up until 2 April 1973 she remained in
San Diego in an extended tender availability to effect repairs from the
previous deployment.
March, 1978:
BUCHANAN had
extensive industrial work conducted on all levels from ship's force to various
IMA's to civilian contractors. It was during this period that BUCHANAN
corrected several lingering material problems from previous years.
March 1983:
On 7 March, the Commander of Destroyer Squadron 31
(DESRON 31) frocked the Commanding Officer, Commander Michael E. Mays, to the
rank of Captain. BUCHANAN deployed on 21 March, starting with TRANSITEX
83-8 arriving in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1 April 1983.
______________________________________________________________________________
BUCHANAN SNIPE STORY FORUM
Our shipmate John Freeman, MM3 1981-83 has generously set up a web-based forum for our snipe sea story exchange program. It is a great forum and we hope that if this proves successful, we can set up similar forums for those who weren’t snipes.
The forum is located at http://www.usscochrane.com/ddg14/forum/default.asp.
You can read the stories that are already posted without registering.
If you want to post a story, or respond to a story that’s already there, you have to register first. A tip on registering, so you don’t make the same mistake I did. Any stories you post will show your user name as the AUTHOR, so it’s better to use your actual name rather than some cryptic computer name. For example, I prefer that my user name show as Dick Zimmermann, rather than rpzimmermann65, which nobody but me would recognize. John kindly changed my user name for me.
Note that since I’m the one who entered the stories that we already have in hand, I show up as the author of all these. You’ll see that only the TOPICS (or story titles) show at first, along with AUTHOR and some other info. When you click on the TOPIC, you’ll see the whole story, which will show who the real author is.
Again, if you just want to read stories that are posted, you do not have to register. If you want to post your own stories, or reply to someone who has already posted a story, you have to register.
Go ahead and give it a shot, and at least look over the forum. It has lots of capabilities that I haven’t figured out yet, and can be a great way of exchanging thoughts between ourselves.
An important note: each screen under a given area (e.g., Fire Room) holds 15 topics, so if there are more than 15, you have to move to the next page to see the ones that don’t fit on the first page. Note that there are two places to move to the next page, one at the top right corner and another at the bottom left.
Let me know if you have difficulty in finding the site, or in getting around once you locate it. Or also let me know if you were able to do everything you wanted to.
And thanks again to John Freeman for setting all this up.
Regards,
Dick Zimmermann
Chief Engineer 1970-71
______________________________________________________________________________
SEA STORY OF THE QUARTER
By
Howard Lightwine; BTC 1970-73
A
Bad Day Topside and Below
We were steaming off the cost of North Vietnam on 17 April 1972 - it was the
day of the mining of Hai Phong Harbor.
At 0600 word came down to light fires in 1B and 2B boilers. I was in charge
of the forward fireroom. At 0605, we lit fires in 1B boiler, and at 0700 we
opened the main and auxiliary. We put 1B1 and 1B2 forced draft blowers on
the line and also put on one more feed pump and feed boster pump.
At 0730 General Quarters was sounded, and at 0800 we started our firing run
on the north part of Hai Phong Harbor. We were at G.Q. for a while, and then
word came over the 1MC that BUCHANAN had been hit. The bridge called for
EMERGENCY flank ahead and the forward engineroom started drawing my steam
and every thing went to max.
There was a loud noise like a steam line had ruptured. I just knew we were
all going to die. I asked the upper levelman if he knew what it was - he
said no. It was my watch so I got a broom with a wooden handle on it and
started at the back of 1B boiler with the broom out in front of me.
When I got to the drains off 1B1 forced draft blower, I ran the broom handle
under them and it cut the end of the handle off. I know what was wrong, so I
called Main Control and told them I was going to take 1B1 forced draft
blower in hand and slow it down so we could close the drain valve. Then
everything returned to normal in the forward fireroom.
But SN Leonard Ray Davis lost his life that day from a direct hit on the
main deck by gunfire from the shore.
If
you have a good sea story to tell, just forward it to malonedave@aol.com,
and
I’ll
do my best to get it published.