1967 - 1980
Vietnam to Romania
USS Biddle set a fast pace in her first thirteen years of fleet duty. In 1968 and again in 1969 she deployed to the Pacific and served a total of fourteen months off the coast of Vietnam.
An extensive overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 1970-71 brought many improvements in living accommodations and combat systems. Then, in early 1972, Biddle again deployed to Vietnam and on July 19th, in the Gulf of Tonkin, Biddle was attacked by five MIG aircraft in two raids. She destroyed one MIG with Terrier Missiles and possibly a second with gun fire from the 5" and 3" guns. The ship was awarded a Navy Unit Commendation for "exceptionally meritorious service while engaged in combat operations against the enemy in North Vietnam." In all her Vietnam service Biddle controlled no less than 168 strikes against the enemy and was responsible for the rescue of survivors from 27 American planes downed in action. 
Jerry Van Cleave For the first time since her commissioning Biddle deployed to the Mediterranean in mid 1974 where she participated in the Cyprus Crisis plus search and rescue operations for a TWA airliner that had crashed into the sea fifty miles off the coast of Greece. In October the ship steamed into the Black Sea, to exercise the provisions of the Montreaux Convention which govern passage through the Dardanelles and Bosporus Straits. Biddle returned to her birthplace of Bath Iron Works in Maine for another extensive overhaul commencing March 1975. Coming out of the shipyard in April 1976 Biddle conducted training exercises in the Caribbean during the summer and in the fall participated in a Multi-lateral NATO exercise in the Baltic and North Seas. Ports in Denmark, Germany, Belgium and France were visited. Upon completion of this at sea period Biddle received a Light Airborne Multi-Purpose Systems (LAMPS) helicopter detachment, significantly enhancing her anti-submarine warfare capabilities. Two more Mediterranean deployments followed in mid 1977 and late 1978 where ports in Greece, Italy, Spain, France and Tunisia hosted the ship. In November 1978 Biddle again entered the Black Sea, this time for liberty call in the Socialist Republic of Romania city of Constanta.
