USS Barb (SSN-596)

USS "Barb" (SSN-596), a "Permit"-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the barb, a kingfish of the Atlantic coast.

The contract to build her was awarded to the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation in Pascagoula, Mississippi , and her keel was laid down on 9 November 1959. She was launched on 12 February 1962 sponsored by Mrs. Marjorie Fluckey, wife of Rear Admiral Eugene Bennett Fluckey, who earned the Medal of Honor as Commanding Officer of USS "Barb" (SS-220). The new "Barb" was commissioned on 24 August 1963, with Commander Charles D. Grojean in command.

Initially homeported in Pearl Harbor as part of Submarine Division 71, she served as the Submarine Force Flagship in 1964. Much of "Barb"'s first years were spent in the development and testing of new weapons and tactics for nuclear submarines. She was the first submarine to be outfitted with the AN/BQG-2A sonar for testing.

On 11 April 1968, while on station near Vladivostok, "Barb" reported dozens of warships, including four or five submarines, of the Soviet Navy's Pacific fleet leaving harbor, all moving slowly and pinging with active sonar. "K-129" was missing, and a series of events that would prompt the building of the Hughes Glomar Explorer six years later had begun.

"Barb" received three major overhauls, two at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, one of which was a refueling overhaul, and an overhaul at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Each overhaul saw her fitted with the latest in sonar, fire control and electronic gear, along with improvements in her propulsion machinery.

On 8 July 1972, "Barb" lay in Apra Harbor completing repairs prior to a patrol in the Mariana Islands. Typhoon Rita was approaching Guam, and the boat intended to be at sea and submerged before the storm arrived. Shortly after 04:00, "Cobalt 2", a B-52 Stratofortress of the Strategic Air Command commanded by United States Air Force Captain Leroy Johnson, took off from Andersen Air Force Base, intending to fly over the storm. Soon after takeoff, however, the aircraft became uncontrollable, and the crew bailed out. By 05:25, the six-man crew were in the ocean.

A C-97 Stratofreighter spotted the survivors and radioed their location to Joint Search and Rescue at Agana. "Barb" and "Gurnard" (SSN-662) were ordered to proceed at best speed and effect rescue. At about 23:00, "Barb" surfaced about convert|12|mi|km from the reported location. The heavy weather had already forced surface ships to turn back, and caused the round-hulled submarine to roll and corkscrew violently. It was 01:15 the next morning before the boat's crew spotted the survivors' lights. They made numerous attempts to rescue the airmen through the night, but did not succeed.

By 07:40, visibility had improved and the typhoon had moved from the immediate area, and the boat approached a group of three rafts. Several attempts to shoot a line to the survivors failed, so Chief Torpedoman Jon Hentz volunteered to swim to them, towing a line. At about 08:15, the rafts holding Major Ronald Dvorak, the electronics warfare officer, Lieutenant William Neely III, the copilot, and Lieutenant Kent Dodson, the navigator, were secured to the submarine. Over the next hour, they were brought about, a task made more challenging by the convert|40|ft|m|sing=on waves that often exposed the submarine's screw and the ballast tank flood grates at the bottom of the boat. At about 10:00, orbiting aircraft vectored "Barb" to the next survivor, Airman Daniel Johansen, the aircraft's gunner, who caught a line shot to him and was pulled aboard in less than a quarter-hour.

Meanwhile, "Gurnard" arrived on the scene, found Captain Leroy Johnson, the aircraft commander, and brought him aboard. Lieutenant Colonel J.L. Vaughn, the radar navigator, had not survived the night. Aircraft sighted his body floating face down, still tied to his raft.

The survivors were carried to back to Guam, where each boat was presented the Meritorious Unit Commendation, and ten submariners who played perilous topside roles received individual commendations. Hentz received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for Heroism.

In 1975 "Barb" was transferred to San Diego, California, to join Submarine Squadron 3.

The Barb underwent an unusually extensive overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard from mid-1980 to late-1982. The propulsion plant underwent steam generator cleaning. The fire control and sonar systems were replaced with the latest AN/BQQ-5 sonar and digital fire control technology. The Barb received the complete SUBSAFE package of modifications the Navy first began installing on submarines in the 1960s. What was to have been an 18-month overhaul stretched into 27 months due to shipyard repair quality problems and scheduling delays. Barb underwent not one but four sea trials as each trial identified additional re-work to be done at the shipyard. Barb eventually returned to the Point Loma submarine base in San Diego, California December 1982. Additional re-work was done in floating dry-dock in San Diego in early 1983.

"Barb" was deactivated on 10 March 1989, then decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 20 December 1989. Ex-"Barb" entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, and on 14 March 1996 ceased to exist.

External links

* [http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/SSN596.htm nvr.navy.mil: USS "Barb"]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08596.htm navsource.org: USS "Barb"]
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b2/barb-ii.htm nvr.navy.mil: USS "Barb"]

* [http://members.aol.com/brittvanm/ssn596/brittweb.htm USS "Barb" website]