The Story of the USS Barr, by Andrew Soucy
My grandfather, Andrew Soucy, wrote an article about the time he spent on the USS Barr during World War II. His story was featured in a newsletter called *Chips Off The Old Block*,” published by U.S.S. Block Island Association.
For those unfamiliar, the USS Barr was a Buckley-class destroyer escort that was attacked in the South Atlantic in 1944. Via Wikipedia:
> Following shakedown off Bermuda and escort training at Casco Bay, Maine, the destroyer escort reported to Norfolk for antisubmarine duty in the Atlantic off the Cape Verde Islands. She operated as part of a hunter-killer group built around 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 her too. The explosion wrecked the ship aft of the No. 2 engine room, killing four of her crew, injuring 14, and leaving 12 missing
I’ve scanned the article, which tells the story of the Barr from my grandfather’s perspective, in the hopes that anyone doing research on World War II might find this useful/interesting. Here’s the article:
For more information on the USS Barr and Block Island, see the following:
If you are interested in getting involved or interviewing veterans, I suggest you contact the USS Block Island Association.
0 Comments
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post.