USS Barber

History
United States
Name	USS Barber (DE-161)
Namesake	Malcolm, Randolph, & Leroy Barber
Ordered	1942
Builder	Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia
Laid down	27 April 1943
Launched	30 May 1943
Christened	10 October 1943
Sponsored by	Mrs. Peter Thomas Barber
Commissioned	10 October 1943
Refit	October 1944 – January 1945, Philadelphia Navy Yard
Reclassified	APD-57, 23 October 1944
Decommissioned	22 March 1946
Honors and awards	3 battle stars, World War II
Stricken	27 November 1968
Fate	transferred to Mexican Navy, 17 February 1969
History
Mexico
Name	ARM Coahuila (B07)[1]
Namesake	Coahuila
Acquired	17 February 1969
Renamed	ARM Vincente Guerrero, 1994[1][2]
Namesake	Vicente Guerrero
Renamed	ARM Coahuila (E21)[1]
History
Stricken	16 July 2001
Fate	unknown
General characteristics
Class and type	Buckley-class destroyer escort, as built
Class and type	Charles Lawrence-class transport, after October 1944
Displacement	1,400 long tons (1,422 t) light 1,740 long tons (1,768 t) standard
Length	306 ft (93 m)
Beam	37 ft (11 m)
Draft	9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) standard 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) full load
Propulsion	2 × boilers turbo-electric drive 12,000 shp (8.9 MW) 2 × solid manganese-bronze 3,600 lb (1,600 kg) 3-bladed propellers, 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) diameter, 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) pitch 2 × rudders 359 tons fuel oil
Speed	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Range	3,700 nmi (6,900 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	15 officers, 198 men
Armament	3 × 3-inch/50-caliber guns 1 × quad 1.1-inch/75-caliber gun 8 × single 20 mm guns 1 × triple 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar 8 × K-gun depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Barber (DE-161/APD-57) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. In 1969, she was sold to Mexico where she served until 2001.

History

Barber was named in honor of brothers Malcolm, Randolph, and Leroy Barber who were all killed aboard the

one month later, but because the Barber brothers' mother was not available on the day of launching, the ship was christened at the same time that she was commissioned in October 1943.

U.S. Navy (1943-1969)

Barber (DE-161) was laid down on 27 April 1943 at

and was launched on 24 May 1943. However, because the sponsor, Mrs. Peter Thomas Barber, the mother of the Barber brothers, could not be present at the launching of the ship, Barber's christening was delayed until the day of her commissioning, 10 October 1943, when the two ceremonies were held simultaneously. Mrs. Barber christened the ship, and USS Barber was placed in commission.

Battle of the Atlantic

Following shakedown training off

.

She spent most of February and March 1944 performing escort duties between New York and Norfolk; and, then, on 24 March, received orders to join an anti-submarine "hunter killer" group TG 21.15, built around Croatan (CVE-25) and joined by four other destroyer escorts.

Formed to hunt German U-boats, the group recorded its first success on 26 April when Barber and the escorts Frost (DE-144), Huse (DE-145), and Snowden (DE-246), teamed up to sink the U-488 at 17°54′N 38°05′W / 17.900°N 38.083°W / 17.900; -38.083. Relieved by another hunter killer group, Barber's unit headed for home on 11 May. After a brief availability at the New York Navy Yard and two weeks of maneuvers at Casco Bay, Maine, Barber resumed her convoy escort duties. She made two more transatlantic voyages to North Africa before October 1944 but did not encounter any enemy ships.

On 9 October, Barber entered the

. Although she was reclassified APD-57 on 23 October, she did not complete the preparations for her new role until January 1945. On the 17th, she left Philadelphia and proceeded to Norfolk's convoy escort piers. For a month, the fast transport served as "school ship" for crews of APD's not yet commissioned. Each day she got underway to train these crews in evolutions such as fueling, gunfire, target tracking, and other combat procedures.

Pacific War

On George

.

Barber arrived there on 30 April and spent five days preparing for front line duty at

Anchorage on 10 May and, throughout the daylight hours, heard not a sound from the Japanese. However, with sunset, the Japanese air attacks began in earnest.

On 11 May, Barber received orders to assist

Ie Shima

on the 12th. The enemy never came close by air; but, on 15 May, Barber picked up four Japanese soldiers in a raft and later transferred them to an Army boat for internment in an Okinawa camp.

Barber's good luck continued to hold. Every picket station on which she served had been the scene of a casualty either immediately before her duty there or would become one soon after she departed. On 20 May, the Japanese directed a massive force of midget submarines, mines and kamikaze aircraft at the Allied naval forces. Barber pursued two midget submarines and evaluated one as a "probable kill." The high speed transport continued on patrol, enduring nightly general quarters alarms for Japanese air raids. On 14 June, she captured three more prisoners. On the evening of 16 June, while Barber stood rescue-ship watch at anchor off Hagushi, Twiggs (DD-591) suffered a hit by air raiders and sank within an hour. Barber rushed to the area immediately to search for survivors. The fast transport worked through the night assisting in the rescue of the 188 sailors who survived before returning to the anchorage early the next morning.

Released from duty at Okinawa on

The fast transport took them to Guam the next day.

Barber remained at Guam until 21 July when she sailed for Ulithi escorting escort carrier

After another three weeks of screening incoming and outgoing ships, the transport received orders to load passengers to capacity and return home. On 21 November, she embarked on the long voyage home. After steaming via Sasebo, Eniwetok, Pearl Harbor, San Diego, and Panama, Barber returned to the east coast for pre-inactivation overhaul, and was decommissioned on 22 May 1946. Barber received three

service.

She was berthed with the reserve fleet at Green Cove Springs, Florida, and remained there for more than two decades. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 27 November 1968.

Mexican Navy career

On 22 December 1969, she was sold to the Mexican Navy and was commissioned the following February as ARM Coahuila (B07).^[1] In 1994, she was renamed ARM Vincente Guerrero,^[1][2] In 1994, she was renamed ARM Vincente Guerrero after former Mexican president Vicente Guerrero. The ship was later restored to her original Mexican name of Coahuila with a new pennant number of E21, before she was stricken from the rolls of the Mexican Navy in July 2001. Her ultimate fate is unreported in secondary sources.^[1][2]

Notes

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Notes 3,4 from crew's "History of the USS Barber DE161-APD57" and the eyewitness account of crewman WT Third Class Stan Stempien.

External links

• Photo gallery of USS Barber at NavSource Naval History