USS Claude V. Ricketts (DDG-5)

USS Claude V. Ricketts (DDG-5), previously Biddle and DD-955, was a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy. She was the third US Naval ship named after Nicholas Biddle, one of the first five captains of the Continental Navy.

Originally to be designated as DD-955, the ship was laid down as DDG-5 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey on 18 May 1959, launched on 4 June 1960 and commissioned as USS Biddle on 5 May 1962, at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard CDR Paul Roth in command.

Biddle was renamed to Claude V. Ricketts on 28 July 1964 in honor of Admiral Claude V. Ricketts, who had died on 6 July 1964.

Multilateral Force
From June 1964 to end of 1965 Claude V. Ricketts was part of a mixed-manning experiment for a proposed Multilateral Force (MLF). Its crew consisted of 10 officers and 164 crew from the US Navy with the remainder filled by sailors from West Germany, Italy, Greece, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Turkey. Though the MLF never was created, Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze stated that the project on Claude V. Ricketts was successful. The ship's crest includes the NATO insignia.

Belknap collision
The Claude V. Ricketts (DDG-5) served as the rescue unit and tied up alongside USS Belknap after her collision with USS John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1975 - the twelfth anniversary of the assassination of the president so named. The cruiser was ablaze with exploding ammunition and magazines, but the guided-missile destroyer and her crewmen fought and limited damage. In the end, CG-26 was knocked and melted to her 01 level, which is the next level above the main deck. Seven crewmembers aboard Belknap and one aboard the Kennedy were killed.

Iranian Hostage Crisis
The Claude V. Ricketts (DDG-5) was making a port visit to Karachi, Pakistan when radical students invaded and took control of the embassy staff on November 4, 1979. The Ricketts was immediately tasked to proceed to the Persian Gulf area of operations to join with the USS La Salle (AGF-3) and remained for the next four months continuously at sea. Fog shrouded the area for the week after arrival and lifted to reveal the Iranian coastline less than 10 miles away. At one point four armed Iranian F-4 Phantoms harassed the Ricketts with close fly-bys during refueling operations. The crew faced hardships as food stores dwindled. Full rations became half rations and then one third rations until the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) battlegroup arrived in January with food, mail, and other necessities. The Ricketts returned to Norfolk in March 1980.

Decommissioning
Claude V. Ricketts was decommissioned on 31 October 1989 at Norfolk Naval Station, Norfolk, VA, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 June 1990 and sold for scrap on 15 April 1994, to NR Acquisitions of NYC and towed to Bethlehem Steel's old Fairfield yard in Baltimore, MD for scrapping by Wilmington Resources, Inc. of Wilmington, NC. Sale price $ 184,550.66. The scrap contract was terminated on 1 October 1996, and the Navy repossessed the ship on 18 October, and returned to NISMF Philadelphia and the ship was resold to Metro Machine, Incorporated, of Philadelphia Pennsylvania on 5 December 2001. Scrapping was completed on 8 November 2002.

For other ships named Biddle, see USS Biddle. As of 2007, there have been no other ships named for Claude V. Ricketts.