USS Barr (DE-576/APD-39), originally a , and later a Charles Lawrence-class of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 named for Pvt. Woodrow Wilson Barr

Woodrow Wilson Barr

Woodrow Wilson Barr was a United States Marine with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion. He was killed in action at Tulagi, Solomon Islands, August 7, 1942 — and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star medal for his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepedity in action" during the action at...

 of Keyser, West Virginia

Keyser, West Virginia

Keyser is a city in and the county seat of Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,303 at the 2000 census.- History :...

.

Barr was laid down on 5 November 1943 at Hingham, Massachusetts

Hingham, Massachusetts

Hingham is a town in northern Plymouth County on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and suburb in Greater Boston. The United States Census Bureau 2008 estimated population was 22,561...

, by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding

Bethlehem Shipbuilding

Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard was founded in 1887 as Maryland Steel in Sparrows Point, Maryland. It was acquired by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in 1916 and renamed Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard. The shipyard was sold in 1997 to Baltimore Marine Industries Inc....

 Co.; launched on 28 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Cora Dell Barr, Pfc. Barr's mother; and commissioned on 16 February 1944, Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...

 Henry H. Love in command.

Atlantic, 1944

Following shakedown off Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 and escort training at Casco Bay, Maine, the destroyer escort reported to Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

 for anti-submarine duty in the Atlantic off the Cape Verde

Cape Verde

The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...

 Islands. She operated as part of a hunter-killer group built around the escort carrier  and also composed of , , and . Throughout May, this task group followed up submarine reports, chasing down sonar contacts that usually proved to be fish or debris. On 6 May, Buckley rammed and sank an enemy submarine, verifying that the waters of the South Atlantic did hide enemy submarines.

On 29 May, while closing a reported submarine, Block Island suffered a torpedo hit. Barr pursued the U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

, later identified as , until around 2030 when a torpedo struck Barr as well. The explosion wrecked the ship aft of the No. 2 engine room, killing four of her crew, injuring 14, and leaving 12 missing. Throughout the night, Barr stayed dead in the water while patrolled around her. Eugene E. Elmore took Barr's injured and about half of her crew on board, hooked up a towline to the damaged escort and began the journey to Casablanca

Casablanca

Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...

, French Morocco

French Morocco

French Protectorate of Morocco was a French protectorate in Morocco, established by the Treaty of Fez. French Morocco did not include the north of the country, which was a Spanish protectorate...

. relieved Eugene E. Elmore; and the Dutch tug, Antic took over and finally towed Barr into port six days later.

Barr stayed in drydock at Casablanca until 2 July while the wreckage of her damaged stern was burned off, spaces cleared of oil and debris, and stern plates welded on for the trip home. On 3 July, Cherokee ATF-66|3 began the long voyage to Boston with Barr in tow. After a brief stop in Bermuda to avoid a major tropical storm, the ships arrived at the Boston Navy Yard

Boston Navy Yard

The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...

 on 25 July.

The destroyer escort spent the next three months in drydock being refurbished and converted to a high speed transport

High speed transport

High Speed Transports were converted destroyers and destroyer escorts used to support amphibious operations in World War II and afterward. They received the US Hull classification symbol APD; "AP" for transport and "D" for destroyer....

. Redesignated APD-39 on 23 October, Barr sailed for Norfolk on 3 November for boat training, and departed that port on the 15th as escort for . After transiting the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

 and stopping in San Francisco to load more cargo, she and sailed westward and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 9 December.

Pacific fleet, 1945

In Hawaii, Barr shuttled between Pearl Harbor and Maui, where she trained with Underwater Demolition Team

Underwater Demolition Team

The Underwater Demolition Teams were an elite special-purpose force established by the United States Navy during World War II. They also served during the Korean War and the Vietnam War...

s (UDTs) for night and day demolitions and shore bombardment. On 10 January 1945, Barr set sail for Ulithi

Ulithi

Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...

, the main staging area for the invasion of Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...

. From late January to early February, the fast transport loaded supplies, made repairs, and took part in demolition and reconnaissance training on reefs east of Ulithi. On 10 February, Barr and the other APDs stood out of the lagoon at Ulithi with the Iwo Jima invasion force. The transports rehearsed D-Day movements at Tinian

Tinian

Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....

 on the 12th and 13th. Then, the advance group headed for Iwo Jima on the 14th. Barr arrived off the southern end of the island on 16 February; and, that afternoon, her embarked UDT 13 successfully completed its first mission. The team placed a navigational light on the hazardous Higashi Rocks despite coming under enemy fire. Barr, however, solved the problem, silencing that gunfire with some of her own.

The next morning, following intense shelling by fire support ships and aircraft, the fast transports approached the eastern beaches for reconnaissance by the UDTs. During the afternoon, they made a reconnaissance of the western beaches in the same manner. On 18 February, Barr received orders to land her UDT on the Higashi Rocks again to reposition the light before retiring for the night. As she and pulled away from the island, a Japanese bomber flew over Barr, crashed Blessman, and caused many casualties.

Barr spent D-Day, 19 February, in transport areas about 6000 yards (5,486.4 m) off the eastern beaches. Her boats, manned by UDT frogmen, assisted in guiding marines to the landing beaches. Then, until 3 March, the high speed transport took screening station at night and anchored during the day while UDTs worked with the beachmasters to remove underwater obstacles. On 4 March, Barr departed Iwo Jima and steamed via Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

 and Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

 to Ulithi where she anchored on 12 March.

For the next week, the fast transport prepared for the invasion of Okinawa

Battle of Okinawa

The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...

. On the 21st, she stood out of Ulithi as part of the Gun Fire and Covering Force under Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

 Morton L. Deyo. The warships arrived off Okinawa on 25 March and approached Kerama Retto

Kerama Retto

The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....

 to reconnoiter the southwestern tip of Tokashiki

Tokashiki, Okinawa

is a village located in the Kerama Islands in Okinawa, Japan. It includes the islands of Tokashiki and Maejima, as well as several uninhabited islands. The village is part of Shimajiri District.Tokashiki is known worldwide for its corals, sea, beach and sun...

. During the next four days, Barr put UDT 13 ashore on Keise Shima, a group of small sand and coral islands between Kerama Retto and Okinawa, to gather information and blast passages through the reef for the LSTs.

The Japanese maintained an almost constant aerial onslaught in the early days of the invasion. Barr did not close Okinawa on D-Day, 1 April, but remained in the transport area as a part of the anti-submarine screen. She transferred UDT 13 to on 6 and 7 April and continued screening until 9 April, when she sailed to Saipan for a week of repairs.

Barr got underway again on 23 April to escort a convoy of LSTs and LSMs back to Okinawa. The fast transport remained off the Hagushi anchorage providing anti-air and anti-submarine defense until 27 May, when she headed for Saipan as a convoy

Convoy

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

 escort. Leaving the convoy at Saipan, Barr continued on to the Philippines, visiting Leyte and Manila before joining the screen of an Okinawa-bound convoy at Lingayen Gulf. The fast transport resumed screening duties at Okinawa after her return late in June.

Post-war activities

After Japan capitulated

Surrender of Japan

The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...

 on 15 August, Barr rendezvoused with and east of Tokyo, embarked Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 from the two British warships and landed them at Yokosuka. After this mission, she proceeded to the north end of the bay to evacuate Allied prisoners of war from central Honshū. During several trips, the fast transport received on board 1,135 former POWs. After the evacuation was completed, Barr made one mail run to Iwo Jima between 24 and 28 September and then remained in port at Tokyo until 12 October, when she was ordered to Nagasaki for duty with the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey

Strategic bombing survey

The United States Strategic Bombing Survey was a board tasked with examination and analysis of the United States' involvement in the World War II. Its primary purpose was to determine the effectiveness of Allied, and more specifically American, strategic bombing campaigns in Europe and in Asia...

. She served there as a base of operations and as a barracks ship until 1 December when she began the voyage to the United States.

Decommissioned and in reserve

The transport arrived at San Diego on 19 December and, after voyage repairs, continued on to the east coast where she was placed out of commission, in reserve, at Green Cove Springs, Florida

Green Cove Springs, Florida

Green Cove Springs is a city in Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,908. It is the county seat of Clay County....

, on 12 July 1946. Barr remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until the early 1960s. Her name was struck from the Navy List

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

 on 1 June 1960, and she was sunk as a target off Vieques Island

Vieques, Puerto Rico

Vieques , in full Isla de Vieques, is an island–municipality of Puerto Rico in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands...

on 26 March 1963.