USS Biddle (CG-34)

USS Biddle (CG-34): The Last Belknap

Commissioned on 21 January 1967, USS Biddle was the ninth and final Belknap-class guided missile cruiser. Named for Commodore James Biddle, who negotiated the first American trade treaty with China in 1846 and served with distinction in the War of 1812, she carried a name from early American naval diplomacy into the guided missile era. She closed out the Belknap class with the class's second-highest combined battle star total: six Vietnam battle stars and two Gulf War battle stars, eight total.

Six Vietnam battle stars reflect sustained Western Pacific and Gulf of Tonkin deployments through the full arc of American Vietnam involvement. Biddle was commissioned in January 1967, the year American troop commitment in Vietnam reached its maximum and carrier operations in the Gulf of Tonkin were at their highest intensity. She went to war almost from commissioning and kept going through every phase of the conflict until the final American naval withdrawal.

Two Gulf War battle stars, one of the higher Gulf War totals in the Belknap class, indicate active participation in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991. Nearly a quarter century after commissioning, Biddle was still operational enough to contribute meaningfully to coalition naval operations in the Persian Gulf, earning battle stars in a conflict very different from the one she was designed for.

Biddle was decommissioned on 11 February 1995, closing out the Belknap class. Eight battle stars, a name from the commodore who opened China to American trade, service from Vietnam to the Gulf War. Tactically Acquired's USS Biddle (CG-34) collection honors the last Belknap and the full measure of the class's Cold War service record.