Claude V Ricketts (DDG 5) - Naval Cruise Book

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On February 26, 1964, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert lVlcNamera publicly announced details con- cerning the' demonstration and designated USS Claude V. Ricketts Cthen USS Biddleb as the partici- pating ship. ln early June, 1964, the first non-U.S. personnel reported aboard this ship for duty. Many had taken language and technical courses in their own coun- tries before arriving in the United States. Others had gone to U.S. Navy service schools as a back- ground for their assignment in the ship. As a matter of policy non-U.S. officers preceded the enlisted complements from their countries. The ship which has to serve as the new home for so many of us was built by the New York Shipbuild- ing Company and originally commissioned the USS Biddle in Philadelphia on Nlay 5, 1962. Four hun- dred and thirty-seven feet long and with a forty-seven foot beam, the ship incorporates into her 4,-500 ton displacement the complex weapons systems of the guided missile destroyer class. Training of new arrivals proceeded at a slow but measured pace. As the ship left Norfolk for two and three days of operations at sea, we began to learn our jobs. The mechanics of getting underway, the simple procedures of firing her guns, operating the sonar and radar equipment, responding to basic emergency drills, and - above all - the integration of all of us into a coordinated team occupied the at- tention of the entire ship. OFF VIRGINIA CAPES UNDERWAY TRAIN ING all engines ahead full! 16

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UNDERWAY TRAINING GUNNERY M, 3: - .-quff. 18