NameJOHN W PIPPIN
Retirement/Discharge DateJune 1970
Tour 1 DatesJuly - Year - - - Month - 1968
Tour 1 Rank/RateHM2
Tour 1 DivisionMedical
NATO Mixed Manned CrewNo
Comment I remember flying from Roda, Spain to Genoa, Italy where the ship was supposed to be. It wasn't, so I and another sailor took a train from Genoa to Finale Ligure, Italy (Italian Riviera). We were anchored there for nine glorious days. The captain and the mayor of the city were good friends, so we were treated like royalty. I kid you not, the city even had a red carpet on the beach to welcome us. The ship had just finished their Med cruise, so we were on our way back to the states. I think it was during that return that we encountered a large group of Russian trawlers. We really didn't know what to expect but all turned out ok. I was only on-board for about a year. Near the end of my duty I re-upped for four more years and two weeks later I married the love of m

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The Crews of DDG-5
USS Biddle (5/5/62 - 7/28/64)
USS Claude V. Ricketts (7/28/64 - 10/31/89)

Below are the names of the men that, together, made up the crews of the USS Biddle and USS Claude V. Ricketts during her 27 year career.  The names below represent those who have registered on this site and do no comprise the whole of the men who served on board the DDG-5 during her career.  It is estimated that at least 4000 men served on board the DDG-5 during her lifetime.  If you were a crew member of either the Biddle or the Ricketts and you have not yet done so, you can register here.
(To edit your information or to email another shipmate, make sure you are logged in on The Big Nickel home page. Return here and click on your name to edit your informaiton or on the name of another shipmate to email him.  Note that some shipmate's email addresses are missing or not current and the email will "bounce" back to you with an indication that it was undeliverable.)