USS Barbero

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Barbero after conversion to guided missile submarine in 1955
History
United States
BuilderGeneral Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut[1]
Laid down25 March 1943[1]
Launched12 December 1943[1]
Commissioned29 April 1944[1]
Decommissioned30 June 1950[1]
Recommissioned28 October 1955[1]
Decommissioned30 June 1964[1]
Stricken1 July 1964[1]
FateSunk as a target off Pearl Harbor on 7 October 1964[2]
General characteristics
Class and type
diesel-electric submarine[2]
Displacement1,526 tons (1,550 t) surfaced,[2] 2,424 tons (2,460 t) submerged[2]
Length311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[2]
Beam27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2]
Draft16 ft 10 in (5.13 m)maximum[2]
Propulsion
Speed20.25 kn (37.50 km/h) surfaced,[3] 8.75 kn (16.21 km/h) submerged[3]
Range11,000 nmi (20,000 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)[3]
Endurance48 hours at 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged,[3] 75 days on patrol
Test depth400 ft (120 m)[3]
Complement10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[3]
Armament

USS Barbero (SS/SSA/SSG-317) was a

surgeon fish
.

Construction and commissioning

Barbero was

launched on 12 December 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Katherine R. Keating, and commissioned
on 29 April 1944.

Service history

World War II

Barbero's war operations span the period from 9 August 1944– 2 January 1945, during which she completed two war patrols. She is credited with sinking three Japanese merchant ships totaling 9,126 tons while patrolling in the Java and South China Seas.

Barbero embarked on her first war patrol from

5 in (127 mm) deck gun. Though she obtained no definite results, her failure to detect radar activity the following night prompted her claim to have neutralized the station. The submarine cleared the area on 24 September 1944 and headed for western Australia, concluding a disappointing 56-day patrol at Fremantle
on 4 October.

After refit and a brief training period, Barbero departed Fremantle on her second war patrol on 26 October. On this patrol, Comdr. Hartman also assumed command of a coordinated attack group (nicknamed a

shore batteries fired on her, Barbero sank her first ship, a 2,700-ton troop transport. On 8 November, she sent a 7,500-ton tanker to the bottom during a coordinated attack on a small convoy (consisting of submarine chasers CH-7
and CH-8 escorting oilers Shimotsu Maru and Nichinan Maru No. 2) carried out in cooperation with Redfin. Redfin received credit for sinking the other tanker in the convoy.

Following a three-day stop at

reduction gear
. The damage forced her to cover the distance remaining to Fremantle on a single screw, and put her out of action for the remainder of the war. In 68 days away from Fremantle, Barbero returned having sunk four ships totalling 21,700 tons and claiming damage to a fifth of 5,000 tons.

Post-war cargo and Regulus missile conversions

In September 1945, she was ordered to Mare Island Naval Shipyard – where she underwent pre-inactivation overhaul – and was placed in commission in reserve on 25 April 1946.

Following conversion to a cargo submarine at Mare Island, Barbero was recommissioned, redesignated SSA-317, and assigned to the Pacific Fleet on 31 March 1948. From October 1948 – March 1950, she took part in an experimental program to evaluate her capabilities as a cargo carrier. Experimentation ended in early 1950, and she was decommissioned into the reserve on 30 June 1950.

On 1 February 1955, Barbero entered

fleet ballistic missile submarine. She conducted patrols in the Atlantic for the next three years, under a policy of having one Regulus boat in each ocean.[7]

On 1 July 1959, Barbero was reassigned to the Pacific Fleet's Submarine Squadron 1, based at Pearl Harbor to conduct deterrent patrols in the Pacific due to a shift in policy placing all deployed Regulus assets there. She usually patrolled with Tunny to provide four missiles on station.

United States West Coast. After concluding the overhaul in June 1962, Barbero carried out local operations and conducted refresher training. She then completed a single deterrent patrol in the latter half of 1962. Barbero conducted another two deterrent patrols in 1963, making liberty calls in East Asian
ports at the conclusion of each.

Missile Mail

Main article: Rocket mail

In 1959 Barbero assisted the United States Post Office Department, predecessor of what in 1971 became today's United States Postal Service (USPS), in its search for faster, more efficient forms of mail transportation. The Post Office tried its first and only delivery of "Missile Mail", though the idea of delivering mail by rocket was not new. Shortly before noon on 8 June 1959, off the northern Florida coast under command of her new skipper Robert H. Blount, Barbero fired a Regulus cruise missile towards the Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Mayport, Florida. Twenty-two minutes later the training type missile landed at its target; its training-type warhead having been configured to contain two official USPS mail containers.[8]

The Post Office had officially established a branch post office on Barbero and delivered some 3,000 pieces of mail to it before Barbero left

Arthur E. Summerfield. Their postage (four cents domestic, eight cents international) had been cancelled "USS Barbero 8 June 9.30 am 1959" before the boat put to sea. In Mayport, the Regulus was opened and the mail forwarded to the Jacksonville, Florida Post Office for further sorting and routing.[8]

Upon witnessing the missile's landing, Summerfield stated, "This peacetime employment of a guided missile for the important and practical purpose of carrying mail, is the first known official use of missiles by any Post Office Department of any nation." Summerfield proclaimed the event to be "of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world," and predicted that "before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail."[8]

Decommissioning and disposal

Regulus was superseded by the

Naval Vessel Registry on 1 July 1964, prior to being used as a target and sunk by the submarine USS Swordfish off Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
, on 7 October 1964.

Awards

Citations

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-55750-263-3
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-313-26202-0
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  4. ^ a b U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  5. ^ Gardiner, Robert "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995", London: Conway Maritime Press, 1995, pg. 611.
  6. ^ Friedman since 1945, p. 178
  7. ^ a b Friedman since 1945, p. 183
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0-07-141036-6
    . Retrieved 7 June 2011.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Barbero (SS-317).

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