USS Biddle (TB-26)

The first USS Biddle (Torpedo Boat No. 26/TB-26/Coast Torpedo Boat No. 12) was a torpedo boat in the United States Navy. She was named for Captain Nicholas Biddle.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Biddle.

History
United States
NameBiddle
NamesakeCaptain Nicholas Biddle
Ordered4 May 1898 (authorized)
BuilderBath Iron Works, Bath, ME
Laid down21 February 1900
Launched18 May 1901[1]
Sponsored byMiss Emily B. Biddle, great-great-grandniece of Captain Biddle
Commissioned26 October 1901
Decommissioned12 March 1919
Renamed
  • Coast Torpedo Boat No. 12,
  • 1 August 1918
IdentificationTB-26
FateSold, 19 July 1920
General characteristics [2]
Class and typeBagley-class torpedo boat
Displacement175 long tons (178 t)[3]
Length157 ft (48 m)
Beam17 ft 8 in (5.38 m)
Draft4 ft 11 in (1.50 m) (mean)[3]
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed
  • 28.6 knots (53.0 km/h; 32.9 mph)
  • 28.54 kn (32.84 mph; 52.86 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[3]
Complement28 officers and enlisted
Armament

Biddle was launched 18 May 1901 by Bath Iron Works, Ltd., Bath, Maine; sponsored by Miss Emily B. Biddle, great-great-grandniece of Captain Biddle; and commissioned 26 October 1901, Lieutenant S. S. Robison in command.

Biddle departed Newport, Rhode Island, 1 November 1901 for Port Royal, South Carolina where she went into reserve. Following recommissioning 28 May 1902 she cruised with the Torpedo Boat Flotilla along the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies until January 1903. She went into reserve again 16 February 1903 at Norfolk Navy Yard and remained there until recommissioned 14 May 1909. Biddle spent the summer cruising with the Atlantic Torpedo Fleet and then went into reserve at Charleston Navy Yard 18 November 1909. In October 1911 she shifted to the Reserve Flotilla Division at Annapolis, Maryland, and went into ordinary at the Naval Academy, 13 March 1914.

After serving with the Pennsylvania Naval Militia (June–September 1915) Biddle reverted to the Annapolis Reserve torpedo Division. Recommissioned 6 April 1917 she served in the 5th Naval District as a patrol and despatch vessel at Norfolk. Biddle was renamed Coast Torpedo Boat No. 12, 1 August 1918.

Ordered to Philadelphia Navy Yard in January 1919, she was decommissioned 12 March 1919 and sold 19 July 1920.

References
  1. http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/tb/050326.htm
  2. "USS Biddle (TB-26)". Navsource.org. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  3. "Table 11 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 725. 1921.

Bibliography
  • Eger, Christopher L. (March 2021). "Hudson Fulton Celebration, Part II". Warship International. LVIII (1): 58–81. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • Additional technical data from Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press. p. 161. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
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