USS Buchanan (DDG-14)
.jpg) USS Buchanan (DDG-14) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | Buchanan (DDG-14) |
| Namesake: | Franklin Buchanan |
| Ordered: | 17 January 1958 |
| Builder: | Todd-Pacific Shipbuilding, Seattle, Washington |
| Laid down: | 23 April 1959 |
| Launched: | 11 May 1960 |
| Acquired: | 31 January 1962 |
| Commissioned: | 7 February 1962 |
| Decommissioned: | 1 October 1991 |
| Struck: | 20 November 1992 |
| Motto: |
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| Fate: | SINKEX, 14 June 2000 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Charles F. Adams-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 3,277 tons standard, 4,526 full load |
| Length: | 437 ft (133 m) |
| Beam: | 47 ft (14 m) |
| Draft: | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 33 knots (61 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Complement: | 354 (24 officers, 330 enlisted) |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Armament: |
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USS Buchanan (DDG-14), named for Admiral Franklin Buchanan, was a Charles F. Adams class guided missile armed destroyer in the United States Navy.
Buchanan was laid down by Todd-Pacific Shipbuilding at Seattle in Washington on 23 April 1959, launched on 11 May 1960 and commissioned on 7 February 1962. She was commissioned by the Commandant, Thirteenth Naval District, Rear Admiral George C. Towner.[1]
In April 1962, she arrived in her home port of San Diego for the first time.[2] Shakedown training included a visit to Pearl Harbor and taking part in the USS Arizona Monument Dedication of May 31, 1962. A year later, in May 1963, she toured Australia, stopping at several cities to allow the public to board, so the Australian people could see what the U.S. guided missile destroyers looked like that they were purchasing. In June 1963 she was credited with providing medical attention that saved the life of a Chinese sailor (Yunglai Chu) aboard a National Chinese merchant union carrier.
In 1965 Buchanan, along with the other three destroyers of Destroyer Division 152 (COMDESDIV 152) steamed north of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) many times at night on reconnaissance missions. These were the first US naval missions north of the DMZ since the Gulf of Tonkin incidents of early August 1964.
In February 1985, a port visit request by the United States for the Buchanan was refused by New Zealand, as the Buchanan was capable of launching nuclear depth bomb equipped ASROCs. Following the victory of the New Zealand Labour Party led by David Lange at elections in 1984, the Parliament of New Zealand enacted a law which barred nuclear powered or nuclear armed ships from using New Zealand ports, citing the dangers of nuclear weapons and continued nuclear testing in the South Pacific. Given that the United States Navy refused to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard ships, these laws in effect refused access to New Zealand ports for all ships of the United States Navy.
After consultations with Australia and after negotiations with New Zealand broke down, the United States announced that it was suspending its ANZUS treaty obligations to New Zealand until United States Navy ships were readmitted to New Zealand ports, citing that New Zealand was "a friend, but not an ally".
Buchanan was decommissioned on 1 October 1991, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 20 November 1992 and sunk as a target off Hawaii on 14 June 2000.
See also
References
- This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
External links
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