USS Barbel (SS-316)

Barbel was a Balao class submarine completed by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, CT in April of 1944.

Barbel departed from Fremantle, Australia for her fourth war patrol on 5 January 1945. Her assigned area was in the South China Sea. On 3 February, she reported having been attacked three times by Japanese aircraft on 31 January and 1 February. Barbel indicated that more details would follow the next day. Nothing was heard from Barbel after that. Efforts by the USS Tuna (SS-203) to contact Barbel failed.

Japanese aviators reported sinking a submarine on 4 February southwest of Palawan. The report claimed that one bomb had landed near the bridge of the boat.

Barbel began her first war patrol at Pearl Harbor on 15 July 1944. She stopped for fuel at Midway on 19 July, on her way to the Bonin Islands. On 5 August, she sank a small freighter. On 7 August, she claimed four hits on a large tanker, but this was not confirmed. Two days later she attacked a convoy and was credited with sinking two more freighters. This patrol ended on 21 August 1944 at Majuro.

Her second patrol began on 13 September proceeding to the Nansei Shoto, also known as the Ryukyu Islands which included Okinawa. On 25 September, she sank a freighter and damaged another. Barbel also claimed sinking a destroyer escort but this was not confirmed. On 13 October, she damaged a destroyer and a tanker. On 18 October, she rendezvoused with USS Salmon (SS-182) to transfer a critically ill officer from that boat and take him to Saipan. The patrol ended there on 24 October.

Barbel’s third patrol began on 30 October after a very short refit. This patrol was in the area around the Philippines. On 14 November, she found a convoy and sank two medium cargo ships. After a Japanese destroyer managed to evade a spread of six torpedoes, Barbel cleared the area and ended the patrol on 7 December 1944 at Fremantle , Australia. This refit included a change of command.

Barbel was lost on her fourth war patrol. JANAC credited her with six sinkings for 15,263 tons total for her WW2 service.