The following is a press account about the evening that many of us Post-Vietnam sailors heard referred to in awed tones as "The Night Of The MiGs." We found this article in the archives of the Navy Historical Foundation at the Washington Navy Yard. By JO3 Tom Kelly
TONKIN GULF, July 19, 1972 – In the Combat Information Center of the Guided Missile Frigate Biddle, Ship’s Weapons Coordinator CWO2 Loren "Gunner" O’Neal had only one thing on his mind. Navy A-6 aircraft flying over North Vietnam had been hit by either antiaircraft fire or a surface-to-air missile and the task at hand for the Biddle was to guide the crippled aircraft with her wounded co-pilot navigator back to the carrier Midway.
Overhead one of the two Navy aircraft flying Combat Air Patrol had been dispatched under Biddle’s direction to escort the A-6 back home. Though this task had the attention of most of the Condition III watch in CIC, they continued to search the skies or hostile aircraft.
It was well they did. At about 10:20 p.m. five North Vietnamese MiGs were taking off from two separate airfields in North Vietnam for the specific purpose of destroying the Biddle.
Normally, enemy aircraft would only fly to the coastline, feign an attack, and then turn back. This practice was known as keeping their "feet dry" or staying over land. When picked up by air search radar the MiGs were still "feet dry" and their presence was neither unusual or cause for exceptional alarm.
Normal, immediate precautions were taken, of course. The captain was summoned to CIC and all watch personnel were placed on alert. In the ensuing moments came the change that would make the night of July 19 different from all the drills and alarms of past weeks. Moments later the MiGs were "feet wet," or over water, and with that knowledge came the realization that this was no fake attack. The MiGs were attacking for real.
As Captain Edward Carter, skipper of the Biddle, hustled to the CIC, most of the crew was still asleep. As soon as it appeared that the MiGs were a threat to his ship, he ordered General Quarters sounded and took up his command position in CIC.
As awakened members of Biddle’s crew leapt from their bunks and hurriedly threw on their clothes, the air attack was developing rapidly. The first group of three MiGs was approaching at 500 knots from the northwest. The Fire Control Systems Coordinator, Chief James Caswell had the MiGs on his radar scope and was and was waiting for an engagement order from Capt. Carter. Chief Caswell was working side-by-side with Fire Control Technician First Class Lawrence Knight, the engagement controller. When at General Quarters under normal conditions, Caswell and Knight would be relieved by two of the ship’s weapons officers, but in this instance, the aircraft were so close, and coming so fast, that there was no time for them to be relieved. They stayed on station, controlling the engagement and the firing of the missiles. In fact, on accpordance with the ship’s doctrine for such an emergency situation, the entire Condition III was remained at their stations the first attack.
While most of the crew was still scrambling for their GQ stations, Capt. Carter worked quickly to coordinate the efforts of the CIC personnel in identifying and "locking on" to the MiGs in preparation for the launch of the surface-to-air-missiles.
In the missile house, Gunner's Mate Second Class Dave Bayless was not terribly surprised when the order came to send missiles out onto the launcher rails. Several times in the past weeks similar incidents had always resulted in false alarms, and he expected this night would have the same result.
In the aft 5" gun turret, Gunner's Mate Seaman Lance Stock was standing his normal watch. To fill his time he was taping a message to his mother with a small cassette tape recorder. He was just finishing as General Quarters was sounded throughout the ship. As was most of the crew, he wasn’t terribly surprised at this, so he decided to tape the events in the turret while at General Quarters. He had no idea, of course, that he would be recording an important part of a major surface to air engagement.
On the bridge, the OOD, Lieutenant Jim Mleziva responded to the GQ alarm by ordering the bridge secured and intensifying the bridge watche’s navigational efforts. His primary concern was to keep track of the Biddle’s "Shotgun" the destroyer escort Gray that was on station nearby. From CIC came an order from Capt. Carter to increase speed to 25 knots and begin a series of evasive maneuvers to which he quickly responded, As he waited for his relief, Lieutenant Nick McKenna, to reach the bridge, he heard the blast doors to the missile house open.
The launch of the Terrier missiles shocked most of the crew into the realization that this was not a drill or another "false alarm." The illumination of the ship by the boosters, and the blast and noise accompanying their ignition, could only mean that they were being fired in anger. For many crewmen the knowledge that they were actually being attacked brought the sensation of fear that men inevitably experience in combat. As has often been the case, the fear proved useful in motivating greater performance.
In CIC, Capt Carter and his weapons specialists "waited for what was only a few seconds, but seemed like eternity," as the missiles streaked toward their target. Finally, the range rate on one target went to zero, indicating that one of the MiGs had been shot down. By radio, the Grey reported missile detonation on the proper line of bearing, as did topside personnel on the Biddle and in the Combat Air Patrol overhead. Biddle’s missiles had done their job.
Almost immediately, the two remaining MiGs in the first flight turned around and headed back for North Vietnam.
A period of relative clam overtook CIC for the next 15 minutes, General Quarters was set throughout the ship but most everyone became convinced that the attack was over. The notion was quickly proven to be an illusion.
The detection of a second MiG attack gave Biddle even less time than had the first. A pair of MiGs flying in slot formation, one behind the other, at a very low altitude, were picked up off Biddle’s port side.
Capt Carter knew that the altitude of the aircraft would make it difficult to "lock on" to them with the fire control radars, While bringing the radars to bear, he ordered the 5" gun on the fantail and the portside 3" gun to open fire.
On the port 3" mount, Gunner's Mate Third Class Bruce Tanner, the gun captain had made it to his GQ station just as the first missiles had been launched. No one on the port gun crew had ever been on the weather decks during a missile firing, and the experienced "scared hell" out of all of them. As they waited through the seemingly endless minutes between the first and second raids, all were acutely aware that they were in a situation where their performance could very well determine their own survival and that of their shipmates.
In minutes the order was passed: "Lowflyers, 270 degrees, commence fire!"
The gun crews on the 3" and 5" guns went into action, In the aft 5" turret the excitement` was still being recorded on the cassette deck Lance Stock was taping for his mother. "Well, Mom, now you've heard it," Stock said into the microphone, "my first time in combat."
On the portside 3" gun mount, the ammo handlers and gunners worked harder than they ever had before, In the past, they had never managed to get more than 20 rounds per minute out of their manually loaded gun. This night they would get 28, "Fast enough," said Lieutenant Jack Crowley, "to make the MiG s think that they were coming at a battleship."
As the guns lit up the horizon to port, the CIC personnel under the direction of Capt. Carter had "locked on" to the second flight of MiGs. As the gunners worked furiously, Terrier missiles were again launched at the "low flyers" that were now five miles away from the Biddle.
Within seconds of the launch of the missiles, one of the MiGs disappeared from the radar scope. Either the aircraft was hit and destroyed or it crashed into the ocean while attempting to evade. Regardless of what happened, the fate of the first MIG caused the second pilot to panic and pull his plane into a steep climb, passing directly over the Biddle, After climbing sharply for several thousand feet the pilot dove back down to a low altitude and sped back to the safety of the North Vietnamese mainland.
All the action was not over, however, On the 3" gun mount, a shell had jammed in the breach, rendering the gun inoperable and dangerous to the men around it. The gunners hurriedly raised the barrel to a vertical position and shook it back and forth by means of its controls. When the shell was finally freed, Gunner's Mate Third Class "Buck" Owens picked it up, carried it to the side, and threw it overboard, removing the last threat to the crewmen of the Biddle.
In CIC, Capt Carter ordered that General Quarters be held. He kept GQ intact through the next half hour until he was absolutely sure that the raids were over. Only then did he allow his crew to return to their bunks or their watch stations, all of them logging in their minds forever the memory of the events of the past hour.
Although she had deployed from Norfolk on only three days notice, Biddle spent a full four months on the firing line off the coast of Vietnam, During that time, Biddle controlled a total of 102 Navy and 56 Air Force major air strikes against North Vietnam, She was credited with directing the intercept and destruction of 13 enemy MIG aircraft by Navy and Air Force fighters, In addition, she directed the rescue of 17 American pilots.
Their single most exciting performance, of course, was the July 19 confrontation with the five North Vietnamese MiGs. As a result of their success that night Capt. Carter received a letter from Admiral Elmo R, Zumwalt Jr., Chief of Naval Operations, which read in part: "Your out standing leadership and the superb performance of your crew are a tribute to the United States Navy. You and your men have clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of a highly disciplined, imaginative and dedicated fighting force. Biddle distinguished herself in this engagement and, to a man, you should be very proud of her achievement."
It would seem that the boldness of Captain Nicholas Biddle has been inherited by the men who sail the ship that bears his name.
