Key Points and Summary – On June 14, 2000, decommissioned destroyer USS Buchanan was used as a RIMPAC target off Kauai—and refused to die. Over 24 hours she absorbed Hellfires, multiple Harpoon hits, and a 2,400-lb GBU-24, while a planned MK-48 torpedo coup de grâce failed.
-Only after an EOD team placed 200 lbs of C-4 did Buchanan slip beneath the Pacific, among four target ships needing demolition. A poem by SINKEX coordinator Rick Dillard memorialized her grit.
-RIMPAC 2000 was then the world’s largest maritime exercise (50+ ships, 200 aircraft, 22,000 personnel). Planning for RIMPAC 2026 is underway as the series continues to hone allied interoperability.
The Target Ship That Wouldn’t Die: USS Buchanan’s Wild RIMPAC SINKEX
On June 14, 2000, the USS Buchanan sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean after she was struck by missiles, bombs, and eventually C-4.
And that was exactly the plan.
The Buchanan, a destroyer commissioned in 1962, had been decommissioned nine years earlier, in October of 1991. The June 2020 sinking took place as part of the RIMPAC 2000, exercise in the Pacific.
According to Aviation Geek Club, which cited a USS Buchanan official website that appears to no longer be online, the Buchanan was the target ship for the RIMPAC event, which took place at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, north of the Hawaiian Island of Kauai.
For more than 24 hours, American, Canadian, and Australian forces tried and failed to sink the Buchanan, using a variety of weapons.
“She took three hits from Hellfire missiles fired from SH-60 LAMPS helos; Three Harpoon Missiles fired from RAAF F-111 & US P-3 aircraft, and several allied ships; and a GBU-24 (2400 lb laser guided) bomb,” the official site’s account said, according to Aviation Geek Club. “The USS Buffalo’s MK-48 torpedo that was to have delivered the coup de grâce malfunctioned.”
A team boarded the ship the following day and placed 200 pounds of C-4 onboard. Sixteen minutes later, “the Buchanan gracefully in a bow down attitude slid below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.”
Of four target ships used in the RIMPAC exercise, the Buchanan was the only one that remained afloat and required an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team to finally sink it.
A video is available on YouTube of the sinking itself which is above.
According to Global Security, RIMPAC 2000 was “the largest maritime exercise in the world” until that time. It ran from late May through early July and boasted the participation of Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The event featured more than 50 ships, 200 aircraft, and 22,000 people, including sailors, airmen, Marines, soldiers and Coast Guardsmen.
A Poem For The Great Ship
Rick Dillard, formerly a U.S. Navy coordinator of SINKEX events in Third fleet waters, wrote a poem to commemorate the Buchanan. It covered the events of that day.
After describing the first strikes, the poem states that Buchanan was “now hit three times, she stood to take some more, As inbound came the Orions, to put her on the ocean floor.
“Two warheads hit to port, forward of the gun, still without a mortal injury, still too proud to run.”
The poem concludes:
“‘Forward of the ASROC, where her mast had once stood, she had taken severe damage, and sink they thought she should.
“Ten times they’d made her shudder, and injured did she feel, But she still stood in dignity, upon an even keel.”
“They Don’t Build Them Like That Anymore”
According to the Aviation Geek Club story, Senior Chief Randy Carpenter said the events of that day led to widespread marvel at the ship’s resilience.
“Sixteen minutes and three seconds after igniting the time fuse the Buchanan gracefully in a bow down attitude slid below the surface of the Pacific Ocean,” Carpenter said. “From the helicopter as the Buchanan was in her [descent]. I spoke a prayer of gratefulness to God Almighty.”
History of the Ship
According to the Navy’s official history site, the USS Buchanan was named for Admiral Franklin Buchanan.
The Buchanan was deployed during the Vietnam War and was awarded the Armed Services Expeditionary Forces Medal for “supporting air strike operations over Vietnam.”
“During the Cold War, the guided-missile destroyer took on a primary role in the surface fleet, capable of engaging airborne and land-based targets at range through missiles,” Military Factory wrote in a history of the vessel. “For the USN, the DDG hull designation covered such ships in the role and the type was a critical component for the branch throughout the remaining decades of its “hot/cold” conflict with the East.”
In 1967, the Buchanan collided with a civilian fishing vessel. In 1984, New Zealand infamously turned the Buchanan away as part of a government policy aimed at making the nation nuclear-free. This happened even though The Newsroom described it as an “ageing tub” and that, while it was “theoretically nuclear-capable, everyone knew it didn’t carry nukes.”
The Buchanan’s final deployment was in 1989. For most of 1991, the ship “served as a training ship for SEAL Teams One and Five to practice boarding operations while she underwent preparations to be decommissioned.”
About RIMPAC
RIMPAC has taken place on a biennial basis since 1988. In the 2014 version of the event, China participated for the first time, although China was later disinvited from the 2018 event.
Earlier this year, a draft version of the National Defense Authorization Act in the U.S. Senate included language that “strongly encourages” the inclusion of Taiwan in future RIMPAC exercises, while also encouraging the cooperation of the U.S. and Taiwan in developing “unmanned and counter-unmanned aerial systems.”
In previous years, the language merely “suggested” that Taiwan be invited to RIMPAC.
Looking to 2026
In late June, the RIMPAC 2026 Initial Planning Conference officially launched. Participants from around the world gathered to begin planning the 30th edition of the exercise, which is set for the summer of 2026. The specific dates and participating countries have not yet been announced.
“We brought together our international partners to align on shared objectives, discuss potential training scenarios, and lay the groundwork for an exercise that will enhance our collective interoperability and readiness to respond to the complex challenges of the maritime domain,” Vice Adm. John Wade, Commander, U.S. Third Fleet, said in the announcement of the event.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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