USS Barr (APD-39)

History
USS Barr (APD-39) shown after conversion to Auxiliary High Speed Transport

Name:	USS Barr
Namesake:	Woodrow Wilson Barr
Builder:	Bethlehem Hingham Shipyard
Laid down:	4 November 1943
Launched:	28 December 1943
Commissioned:	16 February 1944
Decommissioned:	12 July 1946
Reclassified:	APD-39, 23 October 1944
Struck:	1 June 1960
Honors and awards:	3 battle stars (World War II)
Fate:	Sunk as a target off Puerto Rico, 23 March 1963
General characteristics
Class and type:	Buckley-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	1,400 long tons (1,422 t) standard 1,740 long tons (1,768 t) full load
Length:	306 ft (93 m)
Beam:	37 ft (11 m)
Draft:	9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) standard 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) full load
Propulsion:	2 × boilers General Electric turbo-electric drive 12,000 shp (8.9 MW) 2 × solid manganese-bronze 3,600 lb (1,600 kg) 3-bladed propellers, 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) diameter, 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) pitch 2 × rudders 359 tons fuel oil
Speed:	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Range:	3,700 nmi (6,900 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	15 officers, 198 men
Armament:	3 × 3"/50 caliber guns 1 × quad 1.1"/75 caliber gun 8 × single 20 mm guns 1 × triple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar 8 × K-gun depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Barr (DE-576/APD-39), originally a Buckley-class destroyer escort, and later a Charles Lawrence-class of the United States Navy named for Pvt. Woodrow Wilson Barr of Keyser, West Virginia.

Barr was laid down on 5 November 1943 at Hingham, Massachusetts, by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 28 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Cora Dell Barr, Pfc. Barr's mother; and commissioned on 16 February 1944, Lieutenant Commander Henry H. Love in command.

Following shakedown off Bermuda and escort training at Casco Bay, Maine, the destroyer escort reported to Norfolk for anti-submarine duty in the Atlantic off the Cape Verde Islands. She operated as part of a hunter-killer group built around the escort carrier Block Island (CVE-21) and also composed of Ahrens (DE-575), Eugene E. Elmore (DE-686), and Buckley (DE-51). 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, later identified as U-549, 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 Robert I. Paine (DE-578) 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, French Morocco. Wilhoite (DE-397) relieved Eugene E. Elmore; and the Dutch tug, Antic took over and finally towed Barr into port six days later.

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