Hard Charger: The Story of the USS Biddle

Hard Charger! is a comprehensive history of the USS Biddle (DLG/CG-34) as told by the officers and men who served aboard her. Co-author RADM Tom Marfiak suggests that It is a first hand account of what life was like aboard a front line missile cruiser in the middle of the Cold War. The combat sequences have not been equaled anywhere—and the story is by the people who lived them. The book tells the story of a ship from start to finish, a story mirrored by many others, but distinguished in this case by her performance in combat. A ship is just a hull, without her crew. Here is the opportunity to see into who they were, and what they meant to each other and the ship, and so to the Navy and the nation. The tradition continues.” Bernie Ditter, writing in Tin Can Sailors, stated, In this reviewers opinion the real story is the transformation of the surface ships of war from guns to missiles and so far into the information age that the gunner’s mates from the past have almost become anachronistic.” Captain Maylon T Scott, Biddle’s first commanding officer, wrote, Hard Charger! very accurately depicts how Biddle’s plank owners, through hard work, determination and dedication, set the high standards that sustained her for almost 27 years and were recognized throughout the Fleet as the standards to emulate. Many of Biddle’s policies and operational procedures related to combat readiness and response were new at the time but now are official doctrine in the Fleet today.”Treadway, James is the author of 'Hard Charger: The Story of the USS Biddle', published 2005 under ISBN 9780595673131 and ISBN 0595673139.