NameDerek L Farthing
Retirement/Discharge DateOctober 1994
Tour 1 DatesMay 1975 - Febuary 1977
Tour 1 Rank/RateOS3
Tour 1 DivisionOI
NATO Mixed Manned CrewNo
CommentI held the position of the CIC-Bridge S/P phone talker when CIC passes that they hold the Belknap and Kennedy closing in on each other...Fleetac speaker spurred out, "Belknap, this is Kennedy over!" Immediate concern went out because of the use of plain names with a Soviet tattle tail "in formation". Next CIC passes through me, that they hold the Belknap & Kennedy merged. All bridge hands' feet and eyes shot over to the Stbd bridge wing...There in the distant, I saw, I reported back to CIC, "There's a large explosion...,they've collided!" Thus began a night which can never be forgotten. DLF

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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.)