The USS Brownson Association Gallery

Dic Carnes

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:10:23 -0700

Contributed by Dic Carnes (ET2 '49)

Billy Canterbury

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:27:26 -0700

Contributed by Billy R. "Bob" Canterbury (GMSN '48-'50)

Charles Davis

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:31:40 -0700

Contributed by Charles Davis (GMG3 '64-'65)

Ed Bledsoe

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:33:26 -0700

Contributed by Ed Bledsoe (ETR2 '72-'75)

Hospitality Room

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:06:39 -0700

Bob Linley

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:11:58 -0700

Banquet

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:33:03 -0700

Thomas McCray

Sun, 25 May 2008 08:08:58 -0700

Contributed by Thomas G. McCray (ETR2 '67-'70

Vin Ring

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:47:33 -0700

Contributed by Vincent Ring (IC2 '57-'59)

Various

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 07:53:40 -0700

Contributions from various sources.

Collision with USS Roan

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:41:25 -0700

Photos and articles regarding the 1950 collision between the Brownson and the USS Roan (DD853).

Bob Rogowski

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:40:23 -0800

Contributed by Bob Rogowski (FN1 '46-'48)

Dick Rentner

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:17:48 -0800

Photos from various sources contributed by Dick Rentner (CWO4)

Peter Robinson

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:07:56 -0800

Contributed by Peter D. Robinson (OS2 '72-'73)

Farewell

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:56:58 -0800

Lyle Staley

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:21:25 -0800

Contributed by Lyle Staley (DP1 '72-'73)

Erik Videlock

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:12:18 -0800

Bob Sanderson

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 10:48:17 -0700

Contributed by Bob Sanderson (ETN3 '64-'66), your webmaster

Reunion 2007

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 08:54:19 -0700

Roy Hauck

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 09:14:27 -0700

Contributed by Roy Hauck (PNSN '64-'65)

Northern Ireland '65

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 10:31:08 -0700

These photos of the Brownson's 1965 visit to Northern Ireland were sent to me by a resident. I was particularly happy to see them as I was on that cruise and a few of my friends are visible in the photos. This is the letter he sent with the photos.

"Hello, I was going through our family photograph album following the death of my father when these photographs came to my attention. In July 1965 we had the excitement of seeing an American ship anchor off Newcastle County Down Northern Ireland. I was only five, but my sister who was eight and my father had the opportunity of going aboard. For us country born Northern Irish it was an exciting day and one my sister still avidly remembers.

I thought you might possibly like these, even thought the quality isn't too great, some sailors appear and who knows, someone might appreciate seeing a bit of their past!

God Bless
Ivan McKeown
Ballywalter, County Down, Northern Ireland"

All photos copyright Ivan McKeon unless otherwise noted.

Nick Vozza

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 17:27:06 -0800

Contributed by Nick Vozza (FTG3 '60-'62)

Louis "Frenchy" Robicheau

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:14:23 -0800

Contributed by Louis "Frenchy" Robicheau. Photos developed in Bath, ME, in October, 1946, by Douglas Photo Shop.

Dick Brastin's Brownson Model

Sun, 11 Dec 2005 14:28:14 -0800

It took Dick Brastin more than four decades to re-create a place he called home for only two years!

Brastin, a 72 year old retired bricklayer from Willoughby Hills, Ohio, started in 1957 building an exact replica of the USS Brownson (DD-868) on which he served from 1946 to 1948.

On February 25, 1999, Brastin donned his old sailor's cap and posed; for a picture beside his 6 foot, 2 inch recreation, which from even a distance cannot be mistaken for a mere balsa wood kit.

"I can't believe it's done," said Brastin, who still can't keep his fingers from fiddling with the miniature destroyer, adjusting gun positions and depth charges demonstrating how a canvas cover was set over an open hatch to protect it from sea spray.

The detail is startling. Fire hoses lie coiled on the deck life rafts complete with tiny oars hang alongside side rails. The anchor works, hatches open and close and, thanks to the motor from an old electric clock, the radar dish atop the mast makes a slow sweep across an imaginary sea.

One reason the project took so long Brastin said, is that he was never satisfied with the model's realism "I kept finding different things to add, like firehoses or ladders. I must've drilled a million holes." More than once, he said, he dismantled entire sections and started over again.

The USS Brownson model Brastin created is based on photographs and sketches he made while aboard ship. He still has the drawings, seven yellowed pages torn from a ruled notebook that, when laid end to end, depict the destroyer. Brastin eventually ordered blueprints from the U.S. Navy though, to ensure his model was built to scale.

The model's hull is fashioned from 2-inch thick wood planks. Most deck fixtures, from hatches and mast to the bridge, were created with plywood. Tiny wires, most no thicker than a strand of hair, represent siderails. Tight mesh or gauze netting was used to reconstruct life rafts and the large radar dish at the top of the mast.

Almost everything on the model functions. The anchor drops from a jewelry chain. Guns retract against tiny springs built into their housing. Hatches lift to reveal the boatswain's locker in the bow and in the stern, and a portion of the deck lifts up over miniature replicas of the very bunks in which Brastin and some 300 other sailors slept.

In one bunk, Brastin placed the handmade, hand painted figure of a man sleeping. A few rows over, another seaman sits on the edge of a bottom bunk, writing on a tablet no larger than a pea. That Brastin said, represents him: A friend took a photograph of him sitting in that very position.

The seamen were handmade, using slivers of wood and painted with the slimmest of brushes and a boatload of patience. A few figures are seated behind guns, or standing on deck.

Brastin is at a loss as to why he bothered with so many details. 'When I was a kid, I used to build models" he said, though he added that before the Brownson he had never built one from scratch.

The rest of the Brownson model may function just fine but the tiny torpedoes are which nixes one idea for Brastin's next project ... "My nephew thinks I should build a model of a submarine to attack.

Article contributed by Larry Gordon

Update: Dick Brastin passed away in October of 2005. At the present time, we do not know what the family intends to do with the modei.

Stephen Poturalski

Sun, 24 Apr 2005 07:41:55 -0700

Contributed by Stephen Poturalski (STG2). All photos CIRCA 1967. Viet Nam Tour.

Henry Miller

Sun, 06 Feb 2005 12:29:59 -0800