| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 25 March 1943 |
| Launched: | 12 December 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 29 April 1944 |
| Fate: | sunk as a target |
| Struck: | 1 July 1964 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1526 tons surfaced, 2391 tons submerged |
| Length: | 311.7 feet |
| Beam: | 27.2 feet |
| Draft: | 16.8 feet |
| Speed: | 20.3 knots surfaced, 8.8 knots submerged |
| Test Depth: | 400 feet |
| Complement: | six officers, 60 men |
| Armament: | one five-inch/25 gun or Regulus missile; six 21-inch torpedo tubes forward, four 21-inch torpedo tubes aft |
USS Barbero (SS/A/G-317) was a Balao-class submarine of the United States Navy, named for a family of fishes commonly called surgeon fish . Her keel was laid by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut on 25 March 1943. She was launched 12 December 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Katherine R. Keating, and commissioned 29 April 1944, with Lieutenant Commander Irvin S. Hartman in command.
Barbero's war operations span the period from 9 August 1944, until 2 January 1945, during which time she completed two war patrols. She is credited with sinking three Japanese merchant ships totaling 9126 tons while patrolling in the Java and South China Seas.
On 27 December 1944, enroute to Fremantle, Australia, Barbero, while at periscope depth, received an aerial bomb close aboard aft. This near miss damaged the port reduction gear and put her out of action for the remainder of the war.
In September 1945 she was ordered to Mare Island Naval Shipyard where she underwent pre-inactivation overhaul and was placed in commission in reserve 25 April 1946.
Barbero received two battle stars for her World War II service.
Following conversion to a cargo submarine at Mare Island, Barbero was recommissioned, her hull classification symbol changed to SSA-317, and assigned to the Pacific Fleet on 31 March 1948. Between October 1948 and 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 30 June 1955.
On 1 February 1955, Barbero entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard for her second conversion, equipping her to launch Regulus nuclear cruise missiles. Her hull classification symbol was accordingly changed to SSG-317 and she was recommissioned on 28 October 1955. She operated off the coast of California until April 1956 when she transited the Panama Canal and joined the Atlantic Fleet.
Barbero conducted nuclear strategic deterrance patrols in the Atlantic for the next eight years, through the Cuban Missile Crisis and other heightening tensions of the Cold War.