Click On Image
For Full Size Image |
Size |
Image Description |
Contributed
By And/Or Copyright |
04013400 |
44k |
Namesake of USS Biddle, Captain Nicholas Biddle was
born 10 September 1750 in Philadelphia, PA. At the age of 13 he went to
sea in the Merchant Service and survived a shipwreck off Antigua. In 1772,
at the age of 22, he entered the British Navy as a Midshipman and un 1773,
he requested a transfer to one of the ships fitted out by the Royal Geographic
Society for a polar expedition. Refused this transfer because midshipman
billets were limited, he took leave of absence and shipped before the
mast on one of the polar ships. His shipmate, Horatio Nelson, did the
same. After the expedition returned to England, Biddle learned of the
tension between the colonies and the mother country. He resigned his commission
and returned to America and volunteered his services to his state of Pennsylvania.
He became Commanding Officer of the armed galley FRANKLIN on 1 August
1775. FRANKLIN had been fitted out by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety
to defend the DELAWARE. In December 1775, with the rank of Captain, Biddle
was assigned command of the brig ANDREW DORIA, 14 guns. In ANDREW DORIA
he joined the Fleet commanded by Esek Hopkins in the expedition against
New Providence. In this action, Biddle captured numerous armed merchantmen.
Later in the spring of 1776, his small ship captured two armed transports
carrying 400 reinforcements for the British Army in North America. Late
in 1777, Biddle was given command of the speedy RANDOLPH, which was manned,
in part, by paroled British prisoners of war. These prisoners mutinied
shortly after the ship sailed, but stern punishment of the ringleaders
by the 27 year old Captain Biddle ended the trouble quickly. Violent storms
dismasted his ship off the Delaware Capes, but Biddle's seamanship brought
her to port in Charleston, where she was repaired. He sailed again for
the West Indies and on 4 September 1777 captured HMS TRUE BRITON along
with three merchantmen she had been convoying. Biddle took his prizes
to Charleston and was blockaded there until late February 1778, when he
successfully eluded British patrols and put to sea. On 7 March 1778, Biddle
in RANDOLPH, 32 guns, engaged HMS YARMOUTH, 64 guns. Despite this disadvantage
of firepower and a severe wound received early in the action, Captain
Biddle directed the fire of his ship. British Captain Nicholas Vincent
later reported that Biddle fired three deadly accurate broadsides to his
opponent's one. After twenty minutes, fire apparently penetrated the powder
magazine of RANDOLPH and the ship exploded, sinking instantly. Captain
Biddle and his 315 man crew perished leaving only four survivors. Thus
ended the illustrious career of Captain Nicholas Biddle, Continental Navy.
His life may have ended short of its twenty-eighth year, but his spirit
lives on; in this Nation, this Navy and the ship that bore his name. |
Robert M. Cieri |
04013419 |
82k |
Keel Laying at Bath Iron Works on 9 December 1963. |
Robert M. Cieri |
04013420 |
163k |
Biddle under construction, 1964-1965. |
Robert M. Cieri |
04013421 |
134k |
The Christening of USS Biddle (DLG-34) by the Ship's
Sponsor Mrs. William H. Bates on 2 July 1965. Mrs. Bates is the wife of
Congressman Bates of the Sixth District of Massachusetts. |
Robert M. Cieri |
04013422 |
181k |
USS Biddle (DLG-34) slides down the ways to become the 374th
ship launched by Bath Iron Works Corporation. |
Robert M. Cieri |
04013423 |
184k |
USS Biddle (DLG-34) is waterborne in the Kennebec River
at Bath, Maine on 2 July 1965. There will be another 19 months of final
construction. |
Robert M. Cieri |
04013417 |
274k |
Commissioning Program, 21 January 1967. |
Robert M. Cieri |
04013414 |
146k |
Bumpersticker, circa unknown (post 1975 redisignation). |
Robert M. Cieri |
 |
22k |
(Very Small) Port view. |
USN |
 |
113k |
At anchor, Starboard view. (Poor Quality) |
USN |
 |
157k |
Starboard bow, underway. |
USN |
 |
100k |
Undated. Port side. |
Tom Gonzalez |
04013424 |
240k |
USS Biddle (DLG-34) underway in Casco Bay shortly
after her commissioning at the Boston Naval Shipyard on 21 January 1967. |
Robert M. Cieri |
04013418 |
248k |
Port bow view off Norfolk, VA after she reported to Destroyer Squadron
26 in the fall of 1967.
US Navy Photo
|
Robert M. Cieri |
 |
240k |
Pearl Harbor Hawaii, 1968. |
Richard Leonhardt. |
 |
76k |
North Atlantic, October 1976. |
Richard Leonhardt. |
 |
76k |
1976. Port side. |
Dave Seay. |
04013415 |
112k |
Welcome Aboard booklet, circa 1981. |
Robert M. Cieri |
 |
98k |
Aerial stern view of (left to right) the nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier USS
Nimitz (CVN-68), the nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers USS
Mississippi (CGN-40) and USS Texas
(CGN-39), and the guided missile cruiser USS
Biddle (CG-34), underway in the Mediterranean Sea, August 1981.
On August 19, 1981 two F-14A Tomcats from VF-41 "Black Aces,"
based on Nimitz, used Sidewinder missiles to shoot down two Lybian,
Soviet-built SU-22 Fitters over the Gulf of Sidra, after one of the
Lybian jets fired an Atoll heat-seeking missile. This incident marked
the first Navy air combat confrontation since the Vietnam War and the
first ever for the F-14A Tomcat.
US Navy photo by PH3 Cruz (DVIC id.: DNSC8501964).
|
Defense Visual Information Center |
04013416 |
99k |
Welcome Aboard booklet, circa 1989. |
Robert M. Cieri |
 |
39k |
Med moored in Trieste, Italy, October 1992 |
Brian F. Bennett |
 |
188k |
Starboard side view of the forward superstructure while
moored in the Port of Piraeus (Athens), Greece, on 11 Oct 1992 |
Tony Vrailas |
 |
230k |
Starboard side view of the aft superstructure while moored
in the Port of Piraeus (Athens), Greece, on 11 Oct 1992. Note that both
the forward and aft Mack have been painted completely haze grey. |
Tony Vrailas |
 |
182k |
Starboard side view of the fantail while moored in the Port
of Piraeus (Athens), Greece, on 11 Oct 1992. |
Tony Vrailas |
 |
153k |
Looking aft from the bow while moored in the Port of Piraeus
(Athens), Greece, on 11 Oct 1992. Note the "Penthouse" and strikedown
hatch for the MK10 Mod 7 GMLS. |
Tony Vrailas |
04013413 |
170k |
Starboard bow view, location unknown, 1993.
U.S. Navy Photo
|
Robert M. Cieri |
