The Big Nickel Forums

If you're looking for a shipmate that you served with on board the USS Biddle or USS Claude V. Ricketts, take a look at The Crew Roster and see if they are registered here.  If you don't see them there, post what information you know about them here and then check back every so often and see if anyone has replied.  There are several sites other than this one that have lists of shipmates and you can try those via this page.  You can also give this a try.

We here at The Big Nickel will do what we can to help you find a shipmate, but there are, unfortunately, no guarantees that we will succeed. 

Served on board Sept. 1971 to Sept. 1974,1 year in 1st div,the rest in gun gang.Great tour had some great times.Made 2 Springboard cruises to Caribbean,1  North Atlantic & 1 Med cruise.

I sailed on the CVR form March 1967 until June 1970.  I still remember it like it was yesterday and I have been proud to say I served on the CVR.  I was an FTM assigned to "air aft" and WDE in Combat.  I just contacted Gill Gillispie who was in "air aft" when I sailed on the CVR.  I was sorry to see that Don Comar had passed away.  He was the LPO in "air aft" when I reported aboard.  My first day on the CVR he had me make the coffee.  He told me where to get the water and not to waste any.  I was really careful and did not spill a drop.  Don could not wait for the light to turn red on the coffee pot so he could get his coffee.  As soon as it turned red he pored himsefl a cup and took a swig and spit it out as soon as he tasted it.  I had made it out of salt waater.  Don neglected to tell me the cold water facuet was salt water.

Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays shipmates,

I have included a new field in the Forum registration for your real name.  As most of you registered here prior to this inclusion, I'm asking that you go to the Crew Forums, log in and bring up your profile (select Profile in the menu bar).  On the left side of your profile, select Forum Profile Information.  Here you can add, update or modify anything that relates to your profile.  At the bottom of the page you will see a box for your name.  Enter your name and then select Change Profile.  Once the page has refreshed, select Profile from the menu bar and (hopefully) you will see your name in the middle block of information.  I'm including this field so we can coordinate the forum users with those that have filled in the information on the Crew Registration page.  If you haven't registered on the Crew Registration page, please do so.  If you have any problems or questions, let me know.

I am working on an update to the registration scheme so that you will only have to register in one place and be able to change/add to your information.  This update won't happen until after the holidays.

Have a safe and happy holidays,
   Kirk Neuman (Captain Kirk)

Permission granted Midrats and welcome aboard.  I noticed you have posted lots of pictures and welcome them.  The more the merrier.  I continue to work on the site and welcome any contributions.

Hello Shipmates,
     Wow! It's been 36 years since I walked down the gangway of the Old Claude V. for the last time. I had joined the Navy to fulfill my military obligation. I did my four and got out, looking to catch up on the civilian life I missed so badly. Lots of things happened in that first year back in civilian life. I met the girl who has been my wife for 35 years and joined the workforce as a salesman for Sears and Roebuck. It was not my calling. My wife noticed an ad in the Help Wanted section of the local newspaper from the local Electric Company, looking for workers at a new Power Plant that was being built. I thought to myself; I know about steam boilers, pumps and turbines. Could they possibly have those in this power plant? So, I applied and got the job, thanks to the training and experience I had gotten on that ship. I'm still working in a Power Plant, making superheated steam, turning the blades of the turbines and cranking out power. I owe a lot to the Navy and that beautiful ship, the USS Claude V. Ricketts DDG 5. Hopefully, we'll get an opportunity to go aboard her sister, the former Charles F. Adams DDG 2 someday soon.
Bravo 2 Aye
Midrats

Hi,

Thanks for creating this great web site. One suggestion I might make is to list the actual names of the crew members along with their screen names in the "Crew" section . Also, the links in taps don't seem to work, for me at least.

Walter Myers STG3

Welcome aboard bab bam.  I'm hoping that the forums will become a little more popular as time goes by.  I'm always mucking around with the site, trying to improve it and add more information as I find it or receive it from other shipmates.  Let me know if there's something you'd like to see on the site.

Captain Kirk

(One of these days I'll get a signature together for myself  )

I am close to having the photo gallery ready to go.  However, the next few weeks are going to be rather busy on my end (grandkid watching, prepping for TWO Thanksgiving dinners, getting the tree up for T-Day dinner #2, and whatever sundry errands my CIC decided I need to run) so don't look for anything before the end of the month (November I mean).  In the mean time I'm going to slap together a couple of pages with pictures I've recieved from a couple of you (so far) and get them posted by the end of this week.

My thanks to  jpwillisnitz for notifying me that I had screw up in the forum.  I had started to make a change in one of the code bits when my CIC alerted me to an errand and by the time I got back to my PC, I'd forgotten what I was going to do.  I guess that's what happens when you get old 

It's been a long, long time, but the memories remain. The reunion sounds like a plan, and although I've been aware of past reunions, maybe this one I can find both the time and the money to go to. After all, time is getting short, in not too many years we, like the memories and CVR, will all be history.