Bob,
Your "uncle" did good.
Commissioning was in February of 1962. The only time I was ever seasick was during sea trials out of Bremerton, WA, where she was built. Many of us had come from other destroyers or destroyer escorts. We hit extremely rough seas and the design of the Buchanan, named the puky buky after that trip, had added stabilizers to the hull. This changed the roll capability greatly and none of us were use to it. It was much slower than a "real' destroyer. Almost all of the crew were seasick but it didn't matter to the CO. We stayed at our posts and left only long enough to do what came naturally.
I'll never forget that trip.
I had done some research a few years ago to find out the fate of my ships. The Twining was sold to Taiwan and renamed. Finally stricken a few years ago, I believe. Not sure when the Colahan was stricken. I saw the website where they showed photos of the sinking of the Buchanan. It really made me sick to see the damage. However she was proud until the last breath. It took two days for her to sink after they threw all they could at her. Guess I won't be salvaging any mementos from her at 2540 fathoms!!
The Fletcher class destroyers, which the Twiining and Colahan were, weighed 2100 tons as I'm sure you remember. The Charles Adams class, of which Buchanan was #14, were 4500 tons. The USS Ramage, DDG-61, which our son will command next week, is 8315 tons, almost as large as current day cruisers!!!
I remember they told us the reason for chipping paint before repainting was one coat on the Fletcher class destroyers weighed 2000lbs! I Can't imagine what one coat on the new destroyers weighs!!!
