Hard Charger! is the story of a Cold War cruiser, the USS Biddle (DLG-34), the last Navy cruiser powered by conventional steam, the last of the single-ended guided missile frigates, the last ship of her class, but the first on the front lines. Biddle’s story is traced from when her combat systems were conceived soon after the end of World War II and then designed and built during the 50’s and 60’s, to her construction, commission, shakedown, combat assignments in Vietnam, her battle at PIRAZ, overhauls, upgrades, training exercises and cruises to the North Atlantic and Mediterranean, and finally her decommissioning. The story is told by the officers and men who served aboard her – captains and deckhands, technicians and engineering officers, chiefs petty officers, plankowners and her decommissioning crew. Though Biddle is gone, her remarkable story remains, as does the freedom she helped protect. Historians, those currently involved with Navy combat systems, and those who served aboard a similar ship or during the Cold War will find Biddle’s story interesting and thought provoking. Hard Charger! is the only book written about Biddle or any Belknap class cruiser.

Author Biography

James Treadway, a Biddle plank owner and USS Biddle Association Vice President and Historian, witnessed Biddle’s construction, commissioning and shakedown and was aboard Biddle during her first two combat deployments to the Gulf of Tonkin. RADM Tom Marfiak, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, past Biddle Engineering Officer and U.S. Naval Institute CEO and Publisher, commanded the USS Kitty Hawk Aircraft Carrier Battle Group and the AEGIS cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He writes from more than 40 years experience in the U.S. Navy. CAPT David L. Boslaugh spent most of his 30-year Navy career in research and development and project management assignments as a naval engineering duty officer. His five-year assignment in the Naval Tactical Data System Project Office uniquely qualifies him to explain the events that led to the development of Biddle’s Naval Tactical Data System.

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