USS Buchanan (DDG-14)

USS Buchanan (DDG-14)
History
United States
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:	Audares Juvo I assist the bold Nobilus est ira Leonis The Wrath of the Lion is Noble
Fate:	Sunk as target 14 June 2000
General characteristics
Class and 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:	2 × Westinghouse steam turbines providing 70,000 shp (52 MW); 2 shafts 4 × Foster-Wheeler 1,275 psi (8,790 kPa) boilers
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:	AN/SPS-39 3D air search radar AN/SPS-10 surface search radar AN/SPG-51 missile fire control radar AN/SPG-53 gunfire control radar AN/SQS-23 Sonar and the hull mounted SQQ-23 Pair Sonar for DDG-2 through 19 AN/SPS-40 Air Search Radar
Armament:	1 Mk 11 missile launcher (DDG2-14) or Mk 13 single arm missile launcher (DDG-15-24) for RIM-24 Tartar SAM system, or later the RIM-66 Standard (SM-1) and Harpoon antiship missile 2 × 5"/54 caliber Mark 42 (127 mm) gun 1 × RUR-5 ASROC Launcher 6 × 12.8 in (324 mm) ASW Torpedo Tubes (2 x Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes)

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, 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.

In April 1962, she arrived in her home port of San Diego for the first time. 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.

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Wikipedia