- Joined
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USS Barb (SS-220), Launched, 2 April 1942 and decommissioned, 12 Feb 1947.
The Barb would carry out 12 patrols during the WW2 to devastating effect on the enemy. On her 11th patrol alone, she sank four Japanese commercial ships and a number of other small vessels and executed a harrowing torpedo launch off the coa st of China, maneuvering back to safety through mined and rocky waters.
The sub's crew would earn the Presidential Unit Citation and her commander, Eugene Fluckey (1913/2008) would earn the Medal of Honor.
On Sept. 17, 1944, the Barb sank the Japanese carrier Un'yÅ, just a day after rescuing 14 British and Australian prisoners of war from the Japanese cargo ship RakuyÅ Maru.
In July 1945, the Barb would claim its final conquest: not a ship at all, but a railroad train. Fluckey sent eight men from the surfaced sub under cover of darkness to go ashore on Karafuto, Japan. They embedded a nearby train track with explosives and raced back to the Barb as the bombs detonated, shooting train car pieces and debris 200 feet in the air. The Barb's battle flag featured a train in honor of this exploit.
In addition to Fluckey's Medal of Honor, Barb crew members earned six Navy Crosses, 23 Silver Stars and 23 Bronze Stars, among other awards.
The Barb would carry out 12 patrols during the WW2 to devastating effect on the enemy. On her 11th patrol alone, she sank four Japanese commercial ships and a number of other small vessels and executed a harrowing torpedo launch off the coa st of China, maneuvering back to safety through mined and rocky waters.
The sub's crew would earn the Presidential Unit Citation and her commander, Eugene Fluckey (1913/2008) would earn the Medal of Honor.
On Sept. 17, 1944, the Barb sank the Japanese carrier Un'yÅ, just a day after rescuing 14 British and Australian prisoners of war from the Japanese cargo ship RakuyÅ Maru.
In July 1945, the Barb would claim its final conquest: not a ship at all, but a railroad train. Fluckey sent eight men from the surfaced sub under cover of darkness to go ashore on Karafuto, Japan. They embedded a nearby train track with explosives and raced back to the Barb as the bombs detonated, shooting train car pieces and debris 200 feet in the air. The Barb's battle flag featured a train in honor of this exploit.
In addition to Fluckey's Medal of Honor, Barb crew members earned six Navy Crosses, 23 Silver Stars and 23 Bronze Stars, among other awards.
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