  | The Virginian-PilotMullinnix, Biddle Steam Out of NorfolkDestination Believed To Be Off S. VietnamBy JOHN STEVENSONVirginian-Pilot Staff Writer |
| Thursday, April 13, 1972 - NORFOLK: Cloaked in secrecy and blessed by the tears of women and children, the destroyer Mullinnix, and guided-missile frigate Biddle, left Norfolk Wednesday for a destination that has not been disclosed by the Navy. Reliable sources say the ships are going to Vietnam as part of a massive sea and air buildup in support of the South Vietnamese. The heavy cruisers Newport News will follow the Mullinnix and Biddle out of Norfolk today, sources said, and tentative plans reportedly have been made to pull the Newport, R.I. based destroyers Miles C. Fox and Charles P. Cecil out of the Mediterranean. All will go to Southeast Asia, reliable sources said. The Vietnamese buildup already has sent the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga CVA-60 on her way to the Pacific with three squadrons of fighter planes from Oceana Naval Air Station. The aircraft are from Fighter Squadrons 31 and 103, which fly the F4 Phantom, and Attack Squadron 75, equipped with A6 Intruder attach bombers. There was no fanfare for Wednesday's departure of the Mullinnix and Biddle, only morning showers which mingled with the tears to give the ships a damp sendoff at 10 a.m. Instead of the brass bands that sometimes play for ship movements here, there was only a lone trumpeter, a lieutenant who had been released from the Mullinnix Sunday and who turned out to give his former shipmates a musical farewell. He was identified as Charlie McCloskey. Instead of the hundreds that often jam Norfolk Naval Station to wave hello or good by to Navy ships, there were only a small handful of dependents on the pier. The Navy, following its policy of the last week, refused to comment on where the Mullinnix and Biddle are going. A public affairs officer Wednesday plunged his hands into the pockets of a blue overcoat and told reporters only that they could not board the ships or interview military personnel. "We have ships coming and going all the time," he said. "We cannot discuss where these ships are going." But a third class petty officer, shouting from the Biddle's fantail, instructed newsmen to "tell the people that we are killing the Commies." He appeared more enthusiastic than the women and children on the pier. "They don't like it (the deployment)," said Jeanie Elliott, who made a special trip from Chicago to say goodbye to Bob DiNaro on the Mullinnix. "I haven't heard anybody say they like it." She added, "They're going here and there and everywhere, I guess. We're not supposed to say." Most dependents were upset because the Navy has placed no time limit on the deployment. "Some say 30 days, some say longer. We don't know, and I don't like it," said Jean Cecil, wife of Boatswain's Mate William Cecil. Mrs. Cecil said that her husband had made two previous trips to Vietnam. "The first time he got shot," she said, "and the second time his boat was blown up." Debbie Perrine, wife of Gunner's Mate Daniel Perrine of Warren, Ohio, said that when she was told about the deployment Sunday, "They said a week to four months. Then they said four moths to six moths. Now it's indefinite." Perrine's father watched the Mullinnix pull away in the rain and said, "I think this is a political play, the whole damn works. All I can say is we will be here when he gets back." Dependents said the Mullinnix only recently had returned from a South American exercise and, until Wednesday's departure was announced during the weekend, had not been scheduled for a lengthy deployment soon. Mrs. Cecil said that the Mullinnix had been scheduled to enter a shipyard for repairs in August. The vessel, which carries 14 officers and 250 enlisted men, was commissioned in March 1958. It is equipped with three 5-inch guns, one double-barrel 3-inch gun, and triple torpedo launchers (paper actually said "two 5-inch guns, an Asroc rocket launcher, and triple torpedo launchers). The Biddle was commissioned in January 1967 and is equipped with Terrier guided missiles, Asroc antisubmarine rockets, torpedoes, a 5-inch automatic gun, and two 3-inch 50-caliber guns. The vessel also carriers the Navy Tactical Data System, an intership computerized information and control network, and a very long-range sonar system. The Biddle is manned by 31 officers and 365 enlisted personnel. Although official spokesmen refused to acknowledge the Mullinnix and Biddle are headed for Vietnam, they did quote an August news release, which said that 149 Southeast Asian deployments have been made by Atlantic Fleet ships. They said that the first Atlantic Fleet ship sent to Vietnam was the carrier Independence, which deployed in May 1965, and the last was the guided-missile frigate William H. Standley. Atlantic Fleet aircraft carriers have taken station off Vietnam on 12 separate deployments, the spokesman said. |
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 | The Virginian-PilotAmerica May Sail Early to the MedBy JOHN STEVENSONVirginian-Pilot Staff WriterApril 12, 1972 |
| NORFOLK – (The first of this article discussed carrier movements and who would replace who)
...Meanwhile, preparations here for the Vietnamese buildup took a new turn Wednesday when the Navy, according to reliable sources, formulated plans to move Vice Adm. Vincent P. dePoix and his 2nd Fleet staff from the cruiser Newport News to the amphibious command ship Mount Whitney. The move will be made so that the Newport News can sail for Vietnam Thursday, sources said. They said that two additional Norfolk-based ships, the destroyers Mullinnix and Biddle, will leave for Vietnam today. The Biddle is equipped with guided missiles. (More discussion of carriers and planes, etc) An antiwar group in Cambridge, Mass., reported Tuesday that at least 21,600 men, 411 planes, and 11 ships have left the United States or will leave soon for Indochina due to the North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam. The Ad Hoc Military Buildup Committee, a coalition of antiwar groups, said an additional 199 aircraft, 25 ships, and 37,200 men have either been placed on alert or have left or will leave for unknown destinations. A spokesman for the group using figures he said were supplied by military personnel, said 11 ships have left various ports for a rendezvous in the Pacific. A member of the group stresses that they had no information to indicate that a blockade of North Vietnam was planned. |
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13 April, Enroute to Vietnam