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USS Barb (SSN 596)

One of the PERMIT - class nuclear-powered attack submarines, the USS BARB was the second ship in the Navy to bear the name of the fish. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on December 20, 1989, the USS BARB later entered the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash. Recycling was completed on March 14, 1996.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS BARB. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Accidents aboard USS BARB:

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USS BARB History:

USS BARB was ordered in March 1959 and laid down on November 9, 1959, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was a PERMIT-class nuclear-powered attack submarine and the second completed United States Navy ship to bear the name Barb, following the World War II submarine USS BARB (SS 220). The earlier USS BARB had become one of the best-known American submarines of the Pacific War under Commander Eugene B. Fluckey, and the new nuclear-powered USS BARB carried that name into the Cold War submarine force. Her design belonged to the THRESHER/PERMIT line, which followed the high-speed SKIPJACK-class but emphasized improved sonar, deeper operating capability, quieter operation, and a weapons layout shaped around a large bow sonar installation. Like her sisters, she had four torpedo tubes positioned amidships to leave the bow available for the sonar sphere, a configuration that reflected the Navy's increasing emphasis on long-range underwater detection and antisubmarine warfare.

USS BARB was launched on February 12, 1962, and christened on February 22, 1962, sponsored by Mrs. Marjorie Fluckey, wife of Rear Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey. After fitting out and trials at Pascagoula, she was commissioned on August 24, 1963, with Commander Charles D. Grojean in command. She entered service during a period in which the United States Navy was expanding its nuclear-powered submarine force rapidly in response to Soviet undersea growth, improved submarine weapons, and the need for quiet, deep-diving attack submarines able to support both fleet operations and classified Cold War missions.

USS BARB departed Pascagoula on September 28, 1963, for her shakedown cruise. She proceeded by way of the Panama Canal and Vallejo, California, toward Puget Sound, where she conducted trials between October 30 and November 19. These included antisubmarine warfare accuracy trials, torpedo tube acceptance trials, and self-noise trials. Such testing was especially important for a new PERMIT-class submarine because the class depended heavily on sonar performance, quieting, fire-control accuracy, and the proper functioning of weapons systems. After completing the Puget Sound trials, USS BARB conducted a four-week round-trip voyage to Hawaii, including intensive type training at Pearl Harbor. She returned to the West Coast on December 17, 1963, and entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard for post-shakedown availability. During this yard period, the AN/BQG-2A PUFFS passive underwater fire-control feasibility system was installed, giving her an additional acoustic-ranging capability consistent with the Navy's effort to improve long-range submarine detection and attack solutions.

The post-shakedown availability carried into 1964. On August 8, 1964, Commander Charles D. Grojean was relieved by Commander R. W. Bulmer during ceremonies at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Upon completion of the extensive post-shakedown work later that month, USS BARB conducted refresher training. Her home port was changed from Vallejo to Pearl Harbor, and she visited Seattle, Washington, while en route to her new base. The move placed her in the central operating structure of the Pacific Fleet submarine force. Pearl Harbor gave her access to Hawaiian training areas, central Pacific operating ranges, and the forward routes leading toward the western Pacific. On December 1, 1964, USS BARB was designated flagship for Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, an unusual role for an attack submarine and a reflection of her importance within the Pacific submarine force at that moment.

During 1965, USS BARB remained almost entirely in the Hawaiian operating area, except for a repair period at Mare Island. From June 9 to July 25, 1965, she made a voyage to Mare Island Naval Shipyard for repairs to the PUFFS AN/BQG-2A sonar system and then returned to Pearl Harbor. The rest of the year was devoted to local operations, training, and continued integration into Pacific Fleet routines. On October 13, 1965, while maneuvering about fifteen miles west of Oahu, USS BARB and USS SARGO (SSN 583) collided. The damage was minor, affecting the forward end of one submarine and the mast and sail of the other, and both submarines returned to port without assistance.

In early 1966, USS BARB continued local operations out of Pearl Harbor. On March 2, 1966, she departed Pearl Harbor for advanced training exercises in the Pacific and returned on May 15. These operations earned her a Navy Unit Commendation, presented later, for work conducted in the spring of 1966. On May 21, Lieutenant Commander Bernard M. Kauderer relieved Commander Bulmer as commanding officer. On June 11, 1966, the change of command for Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet was held aboard USS BARB in Pearl Harbor, when Rear Admiral John H. Maurer relieved Rear Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey. For a submarine that bore the name associated with Fluckey's wartime command, the ceremony created a direct link between the earlier diesel-electric USS BARB and the nuclear-powered USS BARB then serving as COMSUBPAC flagship.

Throughout June and July 1966, USS BARB conducted local training in the Hawaiian area. In August, she entered drydock at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for approximately three weeks. On September 10, she departed Pearl Harbor for Dabob Bay and Carr Inlet, Washington, where she conducted acoustic trials, sound trials, and fire-control system checks. These trials were part of the technical work required to keep a sonar-centered nuclear attack submarine operationally effective. She returned to Pearl Harbor on October 14. After three weeks of upkeep at Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, she entered drydock at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a restricted availability in which a comprehensive updating of the ship's sonar system was accomplished. USS BARB undocked on December 28, 1966, and returned to the submarine base for post-yard upkeep.

During January and February 1967, USS BARB conducted local operations and refresher training in Hawaiian waters. On March 2 and March 3, 1967, she successfully fired two SUBROC missiles at the Kauai missile range. SUBROC was a torpedo-tube-launched antisubmarine weapon intended to attack submarine contacts at ranges beyond those of conventional torpedoes. Later in March, USS BARB also carried out technical and operational evaluation of the PUFFS passive underwater ranging system. In April, she spent two weeks underway for type training and completed an Operational Readiness Inspection, then devoted the remainder of the month to preparations for a western Pacific deployment.

USS BARB departed Pearl Harbor on May 9, 1967, for her first deployment to the Far East. She arrived at Naha, Okinawa, on May 22 and remained there until May 26. On May 27, she sailed for Vietnamese waters for duty with Task Group 77.9. The deployment took place during the period of major American escalation in Vietnam, when Seventh Fleet forces were heavily engaged in carrier air operations, surface combatant deployments, surveillance, logistics, and other support missions.

After her Vietnam-related duty, USS BARB visited Singapore from June 2 to June 6, 1967. Departing Singapore, she crossed the Equator at 105 degrees 30 minutes east for the traditional line-crossing ceremony and then proceeded north to Yokosuka, Japan, arriving on June 20. On June 29, she departed Yokosuka for an extended advanced training exercise. She returned to Yokosuka on August 19 for a ten-day upkeep period. After completing upkeep, she sailed for Hong Kong, arriving on September 6 for a six-day recreational and goodwill visit. During September and October, she participated in several training exercises and made overnight stops at Naha, Okinawa, on September 16, Okinawa again on October 5, and Subic Bay in the Philippines on October 10. Her final western Pacific port call of the deployment was Guam. After a ten-day upkeep period there, she departed for Pearl Harbor on October 25 and returned to her home port on November 1, 1967. The remaining weeks of the year were spent in a restricted-availability docking at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, holiday leave, and upkeep at Submarine Base Pearl Harbor.

During the first week of 1968, USS BARB completed a Navy Technical Proficiency Inspection and a Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet Operational Reactor Safeguards Examination. After a week of local operations, she departed Pearl Harbor on January 30 for an advanced training exercise and returned on April 10. Public summaries also place USS BARB in a reporting role on April 11, 1968, when numerous Soviet Pacific Fleet warships and submarines were operating with active sonar during the Soviet search that followed the loss of the GOLF II-class submarine K-129.

After a short period of rest and final preparation, USS BARB entered drydock at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on May 27, 1968, and began an overhaul that included SUBSAFE, sonar, fire-control, and engineering-plant modifications. SUBSAFE work was part of the Navy's post-THRESHER (SSN 593) safety program, intended to improve hull integrity, seawater-system reliability, and emergency recovery capability. The overhaul occupied the rest of 1968 and most of 1969. USS BARB undocked on May 26, 1969, and then conducted a fast cruise, three sea trials, dockside sonar certification testing, and combined operability testing between November and early December. The overhaul was completed on December 8, 1969. On December 9, she loaded torpedoes at the Naval Ammunition Depot, West Loch, Pearl Harbor, and then briefly returned to Submarine Base Pearl Harbor. On December 15, she entered drydock again at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for repairs to the number two torpedo tube and replacement of AN/BQG-2A sonar hydrophones. During this period, on June 26, 1969, she had been presented the Navy Unit Commendation for operations conducted in the spring of 1966.

After completion of the 1969 overhaul and the short follow-on work, USS BARB entered 1970 in the process of returning fully to operations. Following a drydocking period in January, she transited to Washington state. During February, she conducted weapons-system trials in Dabob Bay and sound surveys at Carr Inlet. The weapons trials included the first shipboard firing of the Mark 48 Mod 1 torpedo, linking USS BARB to the early operational development of the heavyweight torpedo that became a central American submarine weapon of the Cold War era. From March through December 1970, she operated in the mid-Pacific from her home port of Pearl Harbor. During this period, she conducted sonar-equipment evaluations, fired two SUBROC missiles, and participated in several exercises, including a quick-reaction exercise that required getting underway for extended operations on twenty-four hours' notice. On July 11, 1970, Commander John G. Juergens relieved Commander Bernard M. Kauderer as commanding officer. In December, USS BARB completed preparations for a western Pacific deployment scheduled just after the start of the new year.

On January 2, 1971, USS BARB departed Pearl Harbor for the western Pacific. She combined her westward transit with a month-long special operation, which made the passage unusually long. On February 7, she moored at the Ship Repair Facility in Yokosuka, Japan, for upkeep and evaluation. After a transit and a one-day stop at Subic Bay, she departed on another month of special operations. On March 28, she returned to Subic Bay for voyage repairs before proceeding to Hong Kong. From April 1 to April 7, the crew made a visit to Hong Kong for rest and recreation. From Hong Kong, the submarine transited to Guam in the Mariana Islands for a two-and-a-half-week upkeep period. On May 1, she put to sea again for a two-month special operation and returned to her home port on June 25. From June 25 to July 30, the crew had a post-deployment standdown. On July 30, USS BARB entered Dry Dock No. 4 at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a restricted-availability docking. She left drydock on October 15 and was moored at shipyard berth Bravo-1 for continued shipyard work. On November 17, she returned to Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, where she spent the remainder of the year in upkeep and completion of shipyard work.

In January 1972, USS BARB completed a six-month shipyard availability at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, during which significant work had been done on several engineering plant systems. From January into early May, she conducted local operations and remained in upkeep at Pearl Harbor. On May 22, with only two weeks' notice, she departed Pearl Harbor for a seven-month deployment to the western Pacific. By early July, after four weeks of upkeep and crew training in and around Guam, she was preparing for operations in the Marianas when Typhoon Rita approached Guam.

On July 8, 1972, a Strategic Air Command B-52 bomber, call sign Cobalt 2, departed Andersen Air Force Base on Guam and crashed after the crew bailed out over the ocean. Joint Search and Rescue at Agana directed USS BARB and USS GURNARD (SSN 662) to proceed at best speed to assist. During the night and morning of July 9, USS BARB operated in heavy seas caused by Typhoon Rita. Surface ships had been forced to turn back, and the submarine herself rolled and corkscrewed heavily in the storm. After numerous attempts to reach the survivors, the submarine's crew brought three aviators from one raft alongside with the help of a swimmer, lines, and then the ship's elevated bridge area because the main deck was untenable. Later that morning, USS BARB recovered a fourth survivor. USS GURNARD recovered another member of the B-52 crew. One crewman did not survive. USS BARB returned the rescued aviators to Guam and received a Meritorious Unit Commendation for her part in the rescue, while individual members of the crew received commendations for hazardous topside work during the recovery.

After returning the aviators to Guam, USS BARB departed on July 10 for special operations. She returned to Subic Bay in mid-August for four days, then departed Subic Bay on August 21 and provided services to aircraft squadrons and surface ships during a transit to Yokosuka, Japan. She arrived at Yokosuka on September 5 for a two-week upkeep period. On September 16, Commander John G. Juergens was relieved as commanding officer by Commander John J. Hummer. On September 22, USS BARB left Yokosuka for another special operation. She arrived at Pusan, South Korea, on October 31 for a short port visit, mooring to USS CHANTICLEER (ASR 7) in the Pusan anchorage. On November 4, she departed for Singapore, but a main engine failure caused the submarine to divert to Guam for repairs. After repair of the main engine, she participated in several exercises with Guam-based fleet ballistic missile submarines. On December 8, she began the return trip to Pearl Harbor and arrived there on December 15. She spent the remainder of the year in post-deployment holiday standdown.

From January to early March 1973, USS BARB conducted normal training missions from Pearl Harbor. On March 10, she stood out from Pearl Harbor for a three-month overseas assignment. After another eight-week special operation, she visited Pusan, South Korea, for four days during the second week of May. From Pusan, she sailed back to the Marianas, operating in that area for about a month before departing for Hawaii on June 10. She reentered Pearl Harbor on June 18. At the end of the normal month of leave and upkeep, she resumed local training in July. In September, USS BARB participated in Exercise RIMPAC 73. The Rim of the Pacific series brought together United States and allied naval forces for coordinated maritime operations, communications training, antisubmarine warfare, and combined-force procedures in the Pacific. For a nuclear attack submarine, RIMPAC provided a setting in which she could serve both as an active participant and as a demanding target for surface ships, aircraft, and other submarines. During the remainder of 1973, USS BARB returned to local training duty and began preparing for her second refueling overhaul.

On March 1, 1974, USS BARB entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard for that refueling overhaul. The overhaul lasted just over twenty months. During the yard period, her home port was changed from Pearl Harbor to San Diego, California. This change placed the submarine in the Point Loma and southern California operating structure that supported many Pacific Fleet attack submarines. When she completed the overhaul in early November 1975, USS BARB began refresher training from her new home port. On November 8, 1975, she was welcomed by the civilian and military communities at San Diego. For almost sixteen months after the overhaul, she conducted training, trials, and assignments along the West Coast of North America. She did not begin preparing for another overseas deployment until late in 1976, and the deployment itself did not begin until early 1977.

On February 17, 1977, USS BARB departed San Diego for the Far East. On the first leg of the voyage, she participated in Exercise RIMPAC 77 and then made a two-day call at her former home port, Pearl Harbor, near the end of February. She then began the passage to Subic Bay, a transit extended by exercises with Task Group 37.9 and Task Group 77.3. USS BARB arrived at Subic Bay on March 18 but returned to sea almost immediately for the passage to Chinhae, South Korea. Along the way, she took part in exercises with units of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and with elements of the Republic of Korea Navy. She visited Chinhae from March 29 to April 1 and then called at Hong Kong from April 11 to April 14. From Hong Kong, she set out for the Marianas, exercising with Royal New Zealand Air Force and United States Navy patrol aircraft along the way. She was in port at Guam from April 20 to May 9, then put to sea for the first of two special operations conducted in May and June. She reentered Guam on May 24, returned to sea the next day for the second and longer of the two special operations, and completed that assignment at the end of June. After a week of liberty at Subic Bay, she departed for the United States on July 7. She called at Hawaii for several days in the latter part of July, resumed the voyage home on July 25, and arrived back at San Diego on August 2, 1977.

After several weeks of relative inactivity, USS BARB began a schedule of local operations. In late October 1977, she was selected as a test platform for the Tomahawk cruise missile. She remained involved in Tomahawk-related work through the end of 1977 and into the second quarter of 1978. In February 1978, she made her first successful submerged launch of a Tomahawk missile. The event linked an older PERMIT-class submarine to the Navy's emerging submarine-launched cruise missile capability, a development that would become far more prominent in later attack-submarine operations.

On April 26, 1978, USS BARB entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard for a three-month availability. She resumed normal operations from San Diego late in July and remained so engaged until September 27, when she deployed again to the western Pacific. She spent the week from October 3 to October 10 in Hawaii, then resumed her passage westward and arrived at Subic Bay on October 29. After three weeks at Subic Bay, she sailed for Japan on November 20. After four days of voyage repairs at Yokosuka, she returned to sea on December 1 for a month-long special operation. She completed that operation at Chinhae, South Korea, on December 31, 1978.

The Chinhae visit extended into January 1979. On January 3, USS BARB departed for the Marianas. She reached Guam on January 11 and remained there through the end of the month. On February 1, she began the voyage to Subic Bay, arriving there on February 6. Three days later, she put to sea for MULTIPLEX 2-79, which lasted until February 21. She returned to Subic Bay for the last week of February and departed for home on February 28. On March 17, 1979, she stood into San Diego and began seven weeks of post-deployment leave and upkeep. At the end of the first week in May, she resumed a normal training routine in the southern California operating area. Similar operations occupied the remainder of 1979 and the first weeks of 1980.

On February 7, 1980, USS BARB deployed to the mid-Pacific region to conduct equipment tests, procedure evaluations, and participate in Exercise RIMPAC 80. Based at Pearl Harbor during that period, she carried out those missions until early April, when she returned to San Diego. She then completed another seven-week upkeep period and resumed local operations out of San Diego. During this same period, USS BARB participated in a priority-one Chief of Naval Operations research project testing a wide-aperture array and rapid-localization sonar and fire-control system. Her performance in this period, including RIMPAC 80, resulted in Submarine Squadron Three Battle Efficiency and Engineering "E" awards in 1980.

On July 21, 1980, USS BARB entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard for an unusually extensive overhaul. The overhaul lasted until late 1982. During this yard period, her propulsion plant underwent steam-generator cleaning, and her fire-control and sonar systems were replaced with modern digital combat systems, including the AN/BQQ-5 sonar and digital fire-control technology. She also received the complete SUBSAFE package of modifications. What had been planned as an eighteen-month overhaul stretched into twenty-seven months because of repair-quality problems and scheduling delays. USS BARB underwent four sea trials, each of which identified additional rework that had to be completed by the shipyard. She finally returned to the Point Loma submarine base in San Diego in December 1982. Additional rework was performed in floating drydock at San Diego in early 1983.

BARB resumed post-overhaul operations from San Diego, completed additional rework and certification, rebuilt crew proficiency after the long yard period, and returned to the Pacific Fleet training and deployment cycle. By this point, she was an older PERMIT-class submarine modernized with improved sonar and fire-control systems. The Cold War maritime environment of the early 1980s was again intense: the United States Navy emphasized forward operations, antisubmarine warfare, and pressure on Soviet naval forces, while the Soviet Pacific Fleet remained a central concern in Pacific planning.

USS BARB completed a western Pacific deployment in 1985. One publicly reported event from that cruise places her arriving at Yokosuka, Japan, on August 21, 1985, during a period of frequent nuclear-powered submarine visits to that port. The same report described it as the twenty-second Yokosuka port call by a nuclear-powered submarine that year, underscoring how routine such visits had become by the mid-1980s compared with the politically sensitive early nuclear-submarine visits of the 1960s. For USS BARB, the deployment continued the pattern of western Pacific presence, allied port access, exercises, and submarine operations that had shaped much of her career.

In 1986, USS BARB received the Submarine Squadron Three Anti-Submarine Warfare "A", recognizing performance in one of the principal mission areas for which the PERMIT-class had been built. In 1987, she completed another western Pacific deployment and received the Engineering "E". The deployment took place during the final years of Cold War maritime competition, when older but modernized nuclear attack submarines still supported Pacific Fleet requirements even as LOS ANGELES-class boats formed the core of the newer SSN force.

In August 1988, Commander Frank M. Stewart assumed command of USS BARB. By then, the submarine was approaching the end of active service. She had been in commission for twenty-five years, had completed multiple western Pacific deployments, had been extensively modernized, and had served through the Vietnam War era, the late Cold War naval buildup, and the transition from early undersea weapons to Tomahawk-era attack-submarine capabilities.

USS BARB was deactivated on March 10, 1989. She was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on December 20, 1989. Her commissioned service had lasted more than twenty-six years. After decommissioning, ex-BARB entered the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. Nuclear-powered ship recycling records list reactor-compartment disposal for ex-BARB in 1990 and completion of ship recycling in 1996.

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