Biddle (DLG 34) - Naval Cruise Book

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Perspecti c... through the Long Glass 1968. What kind of a year was it? On the world scene, a Capetown Doctor transplanted a human heart. London Bridge was taken down, the British Pound devaluated and Queen Mary de- commissioned. DeGaulle tried to devalue dollars while riots paralyzed Paris. Russia invaded Czechoslovakia and Red Guards took two steps back in China. Moscow split with Peking and linked with New York by air. The first spaceman, Yuri Gagarin, died in a plane crash. ' The Marines held Khe Sanhg peace talks began in Paris while war continued in Viet Nam. Rhodesia rebelled, Huks harassed the Philippines, and deserters found asylum in Sweden. Japan reclaimed Iwo Jima, the Pope banned the pill and Jews and Arabs continued to wrangle. Scorpion was lost in the Atlantic, North Korea hijacked Pueblo and BIDDLE circumnavigated the world via Tonkin Gulf. AT HOME, hippies began to lose flower- Dower. Civil Rights, civil riots and Viet Nam made headlines. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were Q ,.,, .. v -. ' -Mata 4 ' V Q f . if 1 'inf . ,gm ' J Q' X X . f 7 X ff a ,4,,,. W., ,, If- , M' f -N A ,Wg -r ,ll ,,j ,, ,, 4 WM ttf' y C 'V 'asf ff- ,f ,f Q my W SWR N ,, Q X it killed. Draft cards were burned, police maligned, installment buying thrived and Silver Certificates passed into history. President Johnson abdicated nomination and Humphrey and Nixon squared-off for election. Clark Clifford replaced Defense Secretary McNamara and the Battleship NEW JERSEY got underway. Soul music outshouted symphony. Playboy published monthly center folds, and the SST airliner got off the ground. The Fourth of July death toll dipped, pollution progressed as Red- woods regressed, Computers calculated credit ratings, moon landings and marriageability. Megalopolis absorbed suburbs, miniskirts multiplied and long-haired boys dated short- haired girls. The Pepsi generation bought pizza, cars and color T,V. Biddlemen read the Hardcharger News stood watch, took shots, got promoted, detected MIGS, watched movies, wrote letters, landed helos, read mail, fixed equipment, made history and saw the world in 1968. o o WALSWORTH ' . 127 Marceline, Mo., U.S.A. Norfolk, virg s E5 'c 2 o .L iff-5 5 E - lb- K v Q 9 ,fi S I 1 K-1 a pe. ge 55 J , x P 1 1 a 'u r n J e , ma I 4 P

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126 Nicholas BIDDLE was born September 10, 175Oin Philadelphia. At age 13 he joined the Merchant Service, and at 22, he became a midshipman in the British Navy. Shortly before the Revolution, BIDDLE resigned his commission, returned to America and volun- teered his services. On August 11, 1775 he became Commanding Officer of Pennsylvania's armed galley, FRANKLIN. In December 1775, Captain BIDDLE took command of the 14- gun brig, USS ANDREW DORIA, and Joined Commodore Esek Hopkins in the expedition against New Providence. BIDDLE cap- tured numerous armed merchantmen, and in early 1776, seized two armed British troop transports. In 1775, Captain BIDDLE assumed command of the speedy USS RANDOLPH. In the West Indies on September 4, 1777, he captured HMS TRUE BRITON, along with her three-ship convoy, and took his four prizes back to Charleston. On March 7, 1778, the 32-gun RANDOLPH engaged HMS YARMOUTH, 64-guns. Despite his firepower disadvantage and a severe wound, Captain BIDDLE brilliantly directed his cannon- fire. HMS YARMOUTH's Captain, Nicholas Vincent, reported that BIDDLE fired three accurate broadsides to YARMOUTH's one. Tragically, fire penetrated the powder magazines of the out- gunned RANDOLPH. The ship exploded sinking instantly. Captain Nicholas BIDDLE and 315 men perished. Thus ended the brief but 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 this ship which bears his name. Nicholas Biddle 1750- 17 78 USS Randolph engaging HMS Yarmouth March 7, 1778

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