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- The Story - Hard Charger! is a comprehensive history of Biddle as told by the officers men who served aboard her. Biddle was an important part of the transition from yesterday's World War II cruiser to today's powerful AEGIS cruiser. Biddle made significant contributions to the war in Vietnam which included duty as PIRAZ (Positive Identification Radar Advisory Zone) control ship, NSAR and SSAR (North and South Search and Rescue) and plane guard. Weapons and NTDS (Naval Tactical System) upgrades such as the NTU (New Threat Upgrade) kept Biddle at the forefront of naval combat systems technology throughout her career. Hard Charger! tells her story. Learn why and how ships in the Belknap Class were built. Be at Bath Iron Works as she was being built, her commissioning in 1967, and the accelerated shakedown before her maiden around the world cruise to the Gulf of Tonkin. Learn what happened in CIC and topside when Biddle was attacked by five MiGs. Then follow her as she sailed the seas for almost 27 years - to Libya to confront Kaddafi and then to Desert Storm and Saddam Hussein.
- My Plans for Hard Charger! - Hard Charger! was published in August 2005 by iUniverse in Lincoln, Nebraska. iUniverse still offers the book in hard cover, paperback and e-book formats. The manuscript as published by iUniverse is the foundation of this website. My plan is to continue to improve the story through this website by adding the following:
A well known publisher of naval literature is currently reviewing a copy of Hard Charger! The Story of the USS Biddle(DLG-34). If they decide to publish the "new" Hard Charger with the improvements listed above, then the material contributed to this site will go into the book. In either case, I need your contributions to make this effort a success. The only way to tell Biddle's story is to allow her crew to step forward and tell it. From admirals to seamen and from CO's to deckhands, everyone is invited to contribute both first hand accounts and photos. Hard Charger! will be a unique blend of history, personal account, book and website - a true living document. Some editing may be required to blend your accounts into the manuscript. Contribute as much or as little as you want. If you are industrious, a chapter would be great ....but so would a sentence or a paragraph. It is probably not a good idea to tell a story that might embarrass or get a shipmate (including yourself) in trouble, if you know what I mean. I reserve the right to determine what material is accepted and how it is added to the manuscript. Photos can be scanned in high resolution jpeg or gif format and e-mailed to me. Or you can snail mail the photos and I will scan them and return your originals. In addition to your literary contributions and photos, I encourage suggestions and comments related to
My e-mail is jatreadway@gmail.com . - Authors - James Treadway
- Biddle plankowner,
USS Biddle Association
Vice-President and Historian, and organizer of Biddle's
first All Hands Reunion, Jim served aboard Biddle from
March 1966 to April 1970 as a Data Systems Technician. He is the
author of "USS Biddle - The Early Years" that appeared in
U.S. Navy Cruiser Sailors
Association. Jim also authored software engineering
technical papers, a computer program debugging textbook, and he
is an inventor with three U.S. Patents. - Reviews and Comments - Co-author RADM Tom Marfiak suggests that "It is a first hand account of what life was like aboard a front line missile cruiser in the middle of the Cold War. The combat sequences have not been equaled anywhere - and the story is by the people who lived them. The book tells the story of a ship from start to finish, a story mirrored by many others, but distinguished in this case by her performance in combat. A ship is just a hull, without her crew. Here is the opportunity to see into who they were, and what they meant to each other and the ship, and so to the Navy and the nation. The tradition continues." Bernie Ditter, writing in Tin Can Sailors, stated, “In this reviewers opinion the real story is the transformation of the surface ships of war from guns to missiles and so far into the information age that the gunner’s mates from the past have almost become anachronistic. Captain Maylon T Scott, Biddle’s first commanding officer, wrote, “Hard Charger! very accurately depicts how Biddle's plankowners, through hard work, determination and dedication, set the high standards that sustained her for almost 27 years and were recognized throughout the Fleet as the standards to emulate. Many of Biddle's policies and operational procedures related to combat readiness and response were new at the time but now are official doctrine in the Fleet today.”
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