USS Biddle We are seeking information
on the USS Biddle and her crews. Files may be emailed to us and we will
incorporate them into these pages. From: "Alan Harper" [email protected] Dear Richard: Friend of retired WWII Army vet who is interested in information re: U.S.S. Biddle ports of call and Wartime activities and movements because his brother Thomas Donovan, was a Lt. Commander on the Ship His brother has been involved in some recent video archiving and is interested in U.S.S. Biddle wartime ports of call and any available information. Thanks again. Sincerely, [email protected] Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 00:40:03 -0500 Richard, My grandfather served aboard USS Biddle (DD-151) from shortly after commissioning in 1919, till return from its maiden deployment on 1922. SN1st Morris Moon of the Village of Caldwell, Town of Lake George, New York, enlisted in 1919 and attended Basic training at Newport Training Station Newport RI. USS Biddle, upon commissioning in Cramp Shipyards, NY, was taken by skeleton crew to Newport where it took a draft of seaman to fill out its crew to wartime compliment. The Honor company was chosen for this task. My grandfather was a member of that company. I do know that Biddle's first deployment lasted almost 3 years and covered the Med and the Black Sea. In the Black Sea it gave support to Multinational forces and White Russian forces engaging the Communist armies. During a mission to rescue a Tug boat under fire by Red forces and carrying some high ranking White Russian personnel, Biddle took a 3" round through its bow. I have all of my grandfathers photo's of the ship and from his cruise on it. I know about the Tug story not only because I have a picture of the tug but have the letter of Commendation sent to the ship from the White Russian brass thanking them. I don't know how it came into my grandfathers possession and didn't ask before he passed away. I also have pictures of Biddle's "Homeward Bound" pennant when she headed for home at the end of her cruise. Biddle being a four stacker, it was flown from her after mast and the ship had to be at speed before it could be flown or it would fall in the water past the fantail. I will attempt to get some copies made of the relevent photo's and send them to you as soon as I can. There is some buried history attached to Biddles deployment to the Black Sea and some day I'll have the time to sort it all out. Yours Truely, From: Randle Biddle <[email protected]> Came to your site through a simple search on USS BIDDLE. I am a model builder and my last name is Biddle. I have 3 photos of DD-151 that I obtained from either the Navy or the National Archives years ago. They are available on Ken's Navy Page (can't find the URL at the moment). I also have the book on US Destroyer Operations that mentions a bit of the ship's service record. The best part of my collection is a very complete set of construction drawings of her that I also got from "the govt" Also have similar information (but only one photo) on the earlier torpedo boat destroyer named BIDDLE. As I do not own the rights to repro any of this material I can only tell you about it. May I wish you well in all your preservation endeavors, and hope that this message gets to the right individual. My most recent research is the famous brig PILGRIM of Richard Henry Dana, Jr's book Two Years Before The Mast. I can safely say I now know more than any living person about that vessel. Anyone in your gang interested, let me know. My model of the early Holland-designed submarine GRAMPUS, A-3, SS-4 is in the San Francisco Maritime Museum. All the best Randle (Randy) McLean Biddle DD-151 |
