In the period that the channel covers, at what range does hitting a target with a torpedo go from "probable" to "throw enough at a wall and some of it will stick"? Tides and water temperature would only be some of the variables that I can imagine would become more pronounced over a distance
Would you do a video if you haven't on the USS Boston, From the spanish american war. From what little information I can find about her, She took the most damage and hits. And still kept right on fighting and floating😊
If you squint and ignore all that clacking noise, I mean a train just looks like a fast moving articulated ship speeding across land.......It's fair game.
USS Barb: 1.) Got a double kill on an escort carrier and tanker, 2.) Provided bombardment with rockets, 3.) Sank a train of all things, and 4.) In the process of 3, landed troops in an offensive action against the Japanese home islands, the only case I know of this occurring.
Rear Admiral Fluckey's book "Thunder Below!" Is beyond a good read. USS Barb's exploits with Fluckey in command are beyond unbelievable, even for those already familiar with the matter.
I imagine the decision was made basically as soon as he saw there was a ship with that name on the roster. "USS Barb? Yep, that's my flagship; I will take no objections to this."
No sailor who ever served with Fluckey as their CO was ever awarded a Purple Heart. (source: Drach’s occasional collaborators, The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War). It’s said that they were going to make a movie about him, but he was just too damned good. No drama, no redemption arc, no costly mistake to atone for, no emotional loss to avenge. He just went out, and won.
You'd have to change up the story a bit, have Fluck be more of a sort of Ahab "man versus nature" character, except instead of a supernatural whale monster he's fighting the limited internal stores of a submarine. I think the story of sending people onshore to start fires and blow things up would be a pretty good story. I'm having a hard time getting my head around ramming another ship _with your submarine_. That seems more than a little insane; it's a _submarine_, it _wants_ to sink, for God's sakes don't _help_ it.
Sounds like Chuck Norris. Fluckey didn't destroy a Japanese train. Rather, the train committed Seppuku when hearing the sound of Barb's propeller, and IJA had to invent a surprise attack story to save their face.
The bit about the train reminds me of a great scene in an old movie where a mishap on board a submarine cause a torpedo to fire prematurely. The torpedo missed the ship they were targeting, hit a beach, travelled up the beach and blew up a truck driving by. The look of sheer disbelief and despair on the captain’s face when he informed the bridge crew “they sunk a truck” is priceless.
Operation Petticoat with Cary Grant. Awesome movie. (If anybody here hasn't heard of it, and wants to find some clips, make sure you're not watching the 1977-79 television series - that version is... not as good). EDIT - Found the clip: th-cam.com/video/ro7HL-2Oln4/w-d-xo.html
Cary Grant and Tony Curtis were great co-stars, they played off each other so well. Thankfully I picked up a copy on dvd a number of years ago I watch it every now and then.
Drach your telling of the Barb and Admiral Flucky years ago prompted me to buy Thunder Below on audio book. One of the best books written by a WWII veteran. Thanks for the work you do.
Dick O'Kane of the USS Tang was proud of the soft serve ice cream machine he was able to get installed on her. Fluckey was proud of the number of cases of beer he could smuggle aboard and keep in one of the reefers, rewarding each crew member with a nice cold beer after a successful attack. Of which there were many. (US Navy was officially dry)
Dad served on 596, saw the launch of her in Pascagoula myself, ate a few family dinners on the Barb when in Honolulu, looked through the periscope and saw the plaques showing all these kills, great to hear the stories again of the Barb linage.
Was your Dad on board in 1964? I still have my "Honorary Submariner" card signed by the C.O. Cdr. R.W. Bulmer on 13 August, 1964 after Sea Trials following the nine month Post Shakedown Availability at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
@@BDCF100 yes he was, we were living in Napa at the time while this was going on, then on to Peal Harbor, he left the Barb around late 1965 . Fun times for you I'm sure.
Should have teamed up with the USS Wisconsin during the Korean Peace Action / Conflict * ... ...CINCPAC would have had his hands full with them both! * [The Gloucestershire Regiment has entered the chat.] "Bloody hell! It was a war, no matter what the politicians said!"
Wait wait wait. Hold on a sec. THE ENTIRE CONVOY GOT SUNK?? This deserves it's own video! Heck it deserves it's own movie. From the Japanese perspective. Like trying to fight Godzilla or a Predator.
The book Thunder Below is definitely worth reading, no number of videos could ever cover it properly (unless you just uploaded the audiobook to TH-cam)
Of course it depends on how many ships were in the convoy. One convoy mentioned in the video consisted of 4 merchant ships and 4 escorts. Not a large convoy.
There's an old story about some people trying to get the Emperor Napoleon to promote a young officer. They told Napoleon he was brilliant, courageous and loved by all his troops. Napoleon supposedly replied, "Yes, but is he lucky?"
@silverjohn6037 yeah napoleon was a walking warcrime factory (by today's standards at least) but the man was not dumb about war. Edit he may have over valued loyalty at times. People can do a good job for a paycheck without full commitment to a cuase. An example doesn't immediately come to mind. But I recall having the impression this was one of his great failures. I'll do some research later.
My favorite part is that Barb rammed the last trawler on the 12th patrol to ensure it's sinking so that Fluckey could win a bet with an admiral and win a quart of whiskey.
Damn shame the crew found out too late the Barb was being sold for scrap. They would've gladly bought & brought it back to become a museum. Of the many US subs that had made names for themselves...THIS one would be right at the top.
At our local library I read a book by Admiral Flukey and it was edited by him and signed copy!. Very interesting read, especially the details of the train raid, They used the scuttle chargers of the boat and a homemade pressure switch
Studied Barb's Luckey actions for years! SUCH A LEGEND! Trailblazer! Solid crews, fearless, and unconventional. her crew's cakes for victory tradition was outstanding.
I was lucky enough to serve on 596 during the Cold War. Two different commanding officers where I got to see both poor and excellent captains. Having Fluckey’s battle flag in the crew’s mess was awesome inspiring.
Fluckey: So. What do we have left? You telling me we fired "everything" ? Chief: Sir. All we have left are the scuttling charges and I don't suspect there's anything we can do with those unless we train a dolphin... Fluckey: Did you say 'train'? 🤔 💭💭💭 💥 🚂🚃🚃🚃 😃👍
You're correct...the Barb's scuttling charge (or one of them) was used in concert with a homemade pressure plate detonator as an IED to blow the train hundreds of feet into the air and then into the ocean. Between the fact that the men from the Barb's crew who planted the charge were the only members of the US military to successfully invade the Japanese home islands in WW2, and the fact that the Barb is the only sub with a train kill on its battle flag...the subs story deserves its own movie.
Bill and Seth from 'The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War' did a 2 hr special on USS Barb, with some personal anekdotes from Bill because he met Fluckey when he was wrapping up his submariner training. I can also highly recommend Captain (Bill) Toti's special episodes on touring Pearl Harbour: his previous office which was used by Admiral Nimitz early 1942 (and adm. Kimmel during 7 Dec. 1941), a personal tour on USS Bowfin and the Lockwood Hall deep into submariners R&R legend.
My boss at a defense contractor was on CLAMAGORE but had been at ONI. CLAMAGORE had served with the Turkish Navy (TDK) as the Ismet Inonu but was returned to the USN and was a museum ship until recently. My boss had great stories about his time on the CLAMAGORE.
I saw a glimpse of my father's 1st boat in his Naval Submarine service with the "Guppy sail" installed. It was the USS Flying Fish, ss-229. That was cool.
USS Barb was a busy girl for sure. Active in all three major theaters of WWII (Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific,) hers was a service life worthy of books and movies. As books go, let me recommend "Thunder Below" by Admiral Eugene Fluckey which, even though it's a history of USS Barb's service under his command reads very much like an adventure novel. This book spent a lot of time in the hospital with me as I recovered from one of three abdominal (cancer) surgeries. I wish I had had a chance to meet him.
Good thing for the Axis the USS Barb wasn't deployed in european waters later in the war. ^^ I can imagine Flucky and his crew raiding a V2 launch site, and strap the missile on the deck to increase their firepower.
I can just picture Flucky picking through Axis docks for new toys. "They have this battleship just idling in the fjords. How do we strap a battleship to a sub? Will duct tape do the trick?"
I believe that was Tang. Her COB, CPO William Ballinger nicked the gedunk stand from the wardroom aboard USS Tennessee in San Francisco, got it back to Mare Island, and somehow got it down the hatch of Tang. He later was awarded a Silver Star. Probably just got an “attaboy!” from Tang’s CO, Dick O’Kane.
Every time Barb sank something, the cooks would bake a special cake with the sinking vessel sculpted in frosting. Captain Flucky also would sneak beer aboard so everyone could celebrate after a successful attack. It became considered bad luck to start an attack without a few cases chilling in the cooler.
If you haven't yet read it, I highly recommend "Thunder Below" by Eugene "Lucky" Fluckey. It's an enrapturing account of his war patrols in the USS Barb.
A fighting crew, and a fighting skipper on patrol in a fighting boat. Fluckey's book Thunder Below, is one of the best reads of WW2 history you will ever find.
I believe there was at least one instance on either Barb’s 11th or 12th war patrol where some of her men boarded a sinking ship to recover intel. I need to re-read “Thunder Below!” to verify that.
Ah yes. As The Fat Electrician put it; Flucky was no longer content with just spawn camping the convoys. He was going to crush them in the loading screen.
Talk about efficiency!! Using every torpedo, rocket, shell and bullet and then remembering that the sub herself can be used as a torpedo. Forget the nukes, I’m now convinced Imperial Japan surrendered to get a reprieve from USS Barb. Pretty sure if they hadn’t, she’d have attempted to capture a port and stage a landing of her own!
There were multiple times where the Barb made a shore attack, and then later they would pick up Japanese radio transmissions reporting how the attack had been carried out by multiple battleships, or a large-scale bombing raid. No one could believe that one sub could do that much damage.
I met Admiral Fluckey in 1991 while standing watch at the BOQ ( bachelor officer quarters ) at Subase Groton while I was in Advanced Enlisted Submarine School. He came up to me and asked if i knew what time the documentary "Submarine, Steel Boats and Iron Men" came on tv and that he was interviewed on that the show. I did not know what time it was on. He was very polite and came off as a sweet gentle old man. I did not know who he was until I saw his picture in the newspaper the next day.
The U.S. Navy finally woke up and started naming new submarines after legacy boats. PCU (pre-commissioning unit) BARB SSN 804 has been authorized. Not sure if she's been laid down as yet.
I have Adm. Fluckey's book "Thunder Below" on Audible & it's one of my favorites to listen to at work. It tells the Barb's story through his command in great detail. "Put four cases of beer in the cooler!"
Not taking anything away from an amazing record, although Barb was very lucky to have been sent to the Pacific *after* the early disfunction around leadership, strategy, and torpedos was more or less ironed out. And is that 'Smilin' Ernie King' on the far left at 6:00? 😄
I'm actually surprised the Barb decided to return to port after expending all ammunition except for the small arms ammo. Fluckey seems like the kind of man to form boarding parties to capture and sink more trollers.
I can see some adjutant at COMSUBPAC having to get a ruling on that from the Pentagon. "How much does a Japanese locomotive weigh?" Long pause. "Why does the Navy want to know?"
They did? I got to watch that. Bill will have been so happy about that, and he seems like a great guy and a good commander to serve under, so when he is happy, it is good.
Fluckey: So. What do we have left? You telling me we fired "everything" ? Chief: Sir. All we have left are the scuttling charges and I don't suspect there's anything we can do with those unless we train a dolphin... Fluckey: Did you say 'train'? 🤔 💭💭💭 💥 🚂🚃🚃🚃 😃👍
"Alright men, raise periscope! ..... Lower periscope!" "Is there a problem, sir?" "Yes; all I can see is bird butt! ......... Okay, that should have taken care of it, raise it again." ..... "Boys, you're not going to believe this..." I can just imagine the sea bird hanging onto the periscope for dear life every time they tried to shake it off. Birds can be real stubborn like that sometimes, as anyone who's had food too close to a seagull can attest to.
As much as I admire the "Wolfpack" tactics, I've always thought raiders should consider everything a target and have a lot of free range. Fell in love with US sub skipper books, after Shinano (Archerfish).
I love these videos that you do!! Do you take requests?? USS Batfish: she is a museum ship, (boat?), in Oklahoma. I told her up the Arkansas River.... USS Razorback: she apparently served with I believe the Turkish navy for a while, ended up in Little Rock Arkansas I think....
Pinned post for Q&A :)
Not related to the video at hand.
But could you look into the strength of the naval squadron that supported the attempt to take Buenos Aires?
In the period that the channel covers, at what range does hitting a target with a torpedo go from "probable" to "throw enough at a wall and some of it will stick"? Tides and water temperature would only be some of the variables that I can imagine would become more pronounced over a distance
Would you do a video if you haven't on the USS Boston, From the spanish american war. From what little information I can find about her, She took the most damage and hits. And still kept right on fighting and floating😊
@UNSCForwardontodawn
I’d have to say I-19’s double kill.
Has there ever been a ship built that ended up being able to steam faster than her hull could physically handle?
USN: "Commander, you are ordered to disrupt and destroy enemy shipping operations."
Fluckey: "Hmm. Trains are used for shipping...."
“I GOT AN IDEA!”
"hold my beer"
-Fluckey
If you squint and ignore all that clacking noise, I mean a train just looks like a fast moving articulated ship speeding across land.......It's fair game.
Barb's CO, "They don't pay me to bring back ammunition."
You get the feeling his biggest disappointment was running out of ammo.
@@bigblue6917 Nah, because when he ran out of ammo he just started ramming things.
@@bigblue6917 It "SEEMS LIKE" his biggest disappointment was Peace breaking out.. But, as he says in his book; they were Glad to go home
The sub was well named. I dated a girl named Barb and she sunk a lot of hearts.
It was actually because of a bet Fluckey made with Tom King, the duty officer, that they'd sink 15 vessels of any type.
USS Barb: 1.) Got a double kill on an escort carrier and tanker,
2.) Provided bombardment with rockets,
3.) Sank a train of all things,
and 4.) In the process of 3, landed troops in an offensive action against the Japanese home islands, the only case I know of this occurring.
This was hero ship , they were doing challenge run/campaing
"Sank a train" hahahaha
@@Piotr-u1z I kind of want a new silent hunter / sub sim game series with not just U-boats but all the other major navies as campaigns.
@@Nihilist_SaintCold Waters is pretty decent sub game, but mostly has an Cold War (1984) campaign.
A 1960’s and a 2006 campaign are secondary
@@JABN97 Yeah I know about Cold Waters, but it's just not the same as with wired torpedoes.
Rear Admiral Fluckey's book "Thunder Below!" Is beyond a good read. USS Barb's exploits with Fluckey in command are beyond unbelievable, even for those already familiar with the matter.
Love that book!
fantastic book
Great audio book!
I was going to make a comment recommending Thunder Below! Myself, looks like you beat me to it! :)
added to my list
"i'm a Barb sub, in a Barb world. Life in the Pacific is terrific".
Rockets in the air, torpedoes everywhere...
Life's fantastic, not in the Atlantic.
"Come on Barb sub, let's go hunting"
Come on barb lets go party.
I'm just Kennelly
Oh Skipper!
The fact that Fluckey used the next Barb, the Permit class nuclear submarine one, as his flagship when he became flag Admiral
is awesome!
😊
Wasn’t just an admiral at that point. I think he was COMSUBPAC.
I imagine the decision was made basically as soon as he saw there was a ship with that name on the roster. "USS Barb? Yep, that's my flagship; I will take no objections to this."
He was also present for the sub’s launching, and his wife had the honors of smashing the champagne bottle.
No sailor who ever served with Fluckey as their CO was ever awarded a Purple Heart. (source: Drach’s occasional collaborators, The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War).
It’s said that they were going to make a movie about him, but he was just too damned good. No drama, no redemption arc, no costly mistake to atone for, no emotional loss to avenge. He just went out, and won.
B ...............I'll still want the movie ..............all Action !!!!!!!!!!
Make it a comedy. A la McHale’s Navy but with some good ass action set pieces.
"We're here to shoot rockets and launch torpedoes. And we're all out of torpedoes."
You'd have to change up the story a bit, have Fluck be more of a sort of Ahab "man versus nature" character, except instead of a supernatural whale monster he's fighting the limited internal stores of a submarine. I think the story of sending people onshore to start fires and blow things up would be a pretty good story.
I'm having a hard time getting my head around ramming another ship _with your submarine_. That seems more than a little insane; it's a _submarine_, it _wants_ to sink, for God's sakes don't _help_ it.
Sounds like Chuck Norris. Fluckey didn't destroy a Japanese train. Rather, the train committed Seppuku when hearing the sound of Barb's propeller, and IJA had to invent a surprise attack story to save their face.
The bit about the train reminds me of a great scene in an old movie where a mishap on board a submarine cause a torpedo to fire prematurely. The torpedo missed the ship they were targeting, hit a beach, travelled up the beach and blew up a truck driving by.
The look of sheer disbelief and despair on the captain’s face when he informed the bridge crew “they sunk a truck” is priceless.
Operation Petticoat with Cary Grant. Awesome movie. (If anybody here hasn't heard of it, and wants to find some clips, make sure you're not watching the 1977-79 television series - that version is... not as good).
EDIT - Found the clip:
th-cam.com/video/ro7HL-2Oln4/w-d-xo.html
The only pink sub in any navy.
Operation Petticoat us such a fantastic movie. Highly recommended for anyone that hasn't seen it.
Cary Grant and Tony Curtis were great co-stars, they played off each other so well. Thankfully I picked up a copy on dvd a number of years ago I watch it every now and then.
@@kevdupuis another movie that was out around the same time was The Wackiest Ship in the Army, about a schooner that would sail into Japanese waters.
Drach your telling of the Barb and Admiral Flucky years ago prompted me to buy Thunder Below on audio book. One of the best books written by a WWII veteran. Thanks for the work you do.
The crew of Barb was having so much fun, i listened to this twice
Dick O'Kane of the USS Tang was proud of the soft serve ice cream machine he was able to get installed on her.
Fluckey was proud of the number of cases of beer he could smuggle aboard and keep in one of the reefers, rewarding each crew member with a nice cold beer after a successful attack. Of which there were many.
(US Navy was officially dry)
Imperial Japan: "This train brakes for nobody!"
USS Barb: "You're gonna wish you had some dive brakes in a minute."
Dad served on 596, saw the launch of her in Pascagoula myself, ate a few family dinners on the Barb when in Honolulu, looked through the periscope and saw the plaques showing all these kills, great to hear the stories again of the Barb linage.
Was your Dad on board in 1964? I still have my "Honorary Submariner" card signed by the C.O. Cdr. R.W. Bulmer on 13 August, 1964 after Sea Trials following the nine month Post Shakedown Availability at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
@@BDCF100 yes he was, we were living in Napa at the time while this was going on, then on to Peal Harbor, he left the Barb around late 1965 . Fun times for you I'm sure.
Amazing what a crew of highly motivated submariners and their properly functioning weapons can do.
Properly functioning weapons...ouch.
Ah, the sub that sank a train.
A litoral Trainwreck😂
I’ve heard of destroyers doing this, but never a sub.
Should have teamed up with the USS Wisconsin during the Korean Peace Action / Conflict * ...
...CINCPAC would have had his hands full with them both!
* [The Gloucestershire Regiment has entered the chat.] "Bloody hell! It was a war, no matter what the politicians said!"
@@comentedonakeyboardthat was beautiful
One of the subs that sank a train - HMS E11 pulled a similar stunt a few decades earlier.
Wait wait wait. Hold on a sec. THE ENTIRE CONVOY GOT SUNK?? This deserves it's own video!
Heck it deserves it's own movie. From the Japanese perspective. Like trying to fight Godzilla or a Predator.
Greyhound u-boat screeching intensifies
but now gatos and balaos rise to the surface instead
@@d.olivergutierrez8690And you know, ACTUALLY successfully blockade their target island nation
The book Thunder Below is definitely worth reading, no number of videos could ever cover it properly (unless you just uploaded the audiobook to TH-cam)
Of course it depends on how many ships were in the convoy. One convoy mentioned in the video consisted of 4 merchant ships and 4 escorts. Not a large convoy.
@@d.olivergutierrez8690uboats wish they were that good
Sounds like Fluckey was that perfect combination of aggressive, competent, and fortunate.
There's an old story about some people trying to get the Emperor Napoleon to promote a young officer. They told Napoleon he was brilliant, courageous and loved by all his troops. Napoleon supposedly replied, "Yes, but is he lucky?"
with the right enemy/target.
They nicknamed him "Lucky Flucky."
@silverjohn6037 yeah napoleon was a walking warcrime factory (by today's standards at least) but the man was not dumb about war.
Edit he may have over valued loyalty at times. People can do a good job for a paycheck without full commitment to a cuase. An example doesn't immediately come to mind. But I recall having the impression this was one of his great failures. I'll do some research later.
@@elcastorgrande A very "Luckey Flucker"! 😅
My favorite part is that Barb rammed the last trawler on the 12th patrol to ensure it's sinking so that Fluckey could win a bet with an admiral and win a quart of whiskey.
As I recall, that bet was made with Admiral Lockwood himself.
Damn shame the crew found out too late the Barb was being sold for scrap. They would've gladly bought & brought it back to become a museum. Of the many US subs that had made names for themselves...THIS one would be right at the top.
A landing party blew up a train. This is the stuff of legends.
"We do a little trolling around here." - Uss Barb
We partake in a mild bit of tomfoolery
@@ethanmcfarland8240 "We practice shenanigans in these parts." - Cap'n Lucky Flucky
At our local library I read a book by Admiral Flukey and it was edited by him and signed copy!. Very interesting read, especially the details of the train raid, They used the scuttle chargers of the boat and a homemade pressure switch
Currently rereading Thunder Below! Love it Drach, thank you!
Same here. Drach's folk read alike.
"There is a touch of the pirate about every man who wears the dolphins badge."
Commander Jeff Tall RN
That is true in any navy that operates submarines.
@@jony663 indeed!
Fantastic record. Thanks Drach. The apprehension when the subject is a submarine, anticipating it's loss or disappearance was happily, wasted effort.
Too early today. Bard was the Warspite of the sub world. Great vid.
Naw. More like Barb is the kind of boat that ships, even Warspite, long to be.
Look up SM-35. They list of ships sunk takes a while to scroll through.
Studied Barb's Luckey actions for years! SUCH A LEGEND! Trailblazer! Solid crews, fearless, and unconventional. her crew's cakes for victory tradition was outstanding.
I was lucky enough to serve on 596 during the Cold War. Two different commanding officers where I got to see both poor and excellent captains. Having Fluckey’s battle flag in the crew’s mess was awesome inspiring.
When your boat is named after grizzled tough-as- nails waitresses, you know it's going to be great.
It was actually named for a species of fish. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barb_(fish)
@sadams12345678 No no, the Unites States Navy absolutely named a submarine after a stereotype.
4:04
"And still more of them were hit...and damaged."
We ALL grimaced knowing the reason why that last clarification was essential.
If memory serves Flucky used the boat’s scuttling charge to blow the bridge when the train came.
Fluckey: So. What do we have left? You telling me we fired "everything" ?
Chief: Sir. All we have left are the scuttling charges and I don't suspect there's anything we can do with those unless we train a dolphin...
Fluckey: Did you say 'train'? 🤔 💭💭💭 💥 🚂🚃🚃🚃 😃👍
You're correct...the Barb's scuttling charge (or one of them) was used in concert with a homemade pressure plate detonator as an IED to blow the train hundreds of feet into the air and then into the ocean.
Between the fact that the men from the Barb's crew who planted the charge were the only members of the US military to successfully invade the Japanese home islands in WW2, and the fact that the Barb is the only sub with a train kill on its battle flag...the subs story deserves its own movie.
I quite enjoy now having the choice to enjoy Drach and The Fat Electrician's takes on "Lucky" Fluckey and the _Barb._
😁
the history guy also did a video on uss barb
Bill and Seth from 'The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War' did a 2 hr special on USS Barb, with some personal anekdotes from Bill because he met Fluckey when he was wrapping up his submariner training.
I can also highly recommend Captain (Bill) Toti's special episodes on touring Pearl Harbour: his previous office which was used by Admiral Nimitz early 1942 (and adm. Kimmel during 7 Dec. 1941), a personal tour on USS Bowfin and the Lockwood Hall deep into submariners R&R legend.
One of my favorite video games, when I was much younger, was Silent Service. Love sub hunters.
Come on Drach, give a shout-out to Bill and Seth's 2 hr episode on 'Lucky Fluckey and his Barb-arians. The Legend of USS Barb'
Eugene B 'Lucky' Fluckey. The galloping ghost of the China coast. Later Director of Naval Intelligence for the USN.
My boss at a defense contractor was on CLAMAGORE but had been at ONI. CLAMAGORE had served with the Turkish Navy (TDK) as the Ismet Inonu but was returned to the USN and was a museum ship until recently. My boss had great stories about his time on the CLAMAGORE.
Would recommend reading up on some of his cold war shenanigans if you get the chance. A good start is the book "Blind Man's bluff"
I saw a glimpse of my father's 1st boat in his Naval Submarine service with the "Guppy sail" installed. It was the USS Flying Fish, ss-229. That was cool.
USS Barb was a busy girl for sure. Active in all three major theaters of WWII (Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific,) hers was a service life worthy of books and movies.
As books go, let me recommend "Thunder Below" by Admiral Eugene Fluckey which, even though it's a history of USS Barb's service under his command reads very much like an adventure novel. This book spent a lot of time in the hospital with me as I recovered from one of three abdominal (cancer) surgeries. I wish I had had a chance to meet him.
I simply love the opening, damn right it gets worse for the enemy.
Fluckey: Let's blow this popsicle stand
Barb: Kaboom?
Fluckey: Yes barb, kaboom.
(train blows up)
outcome: train go boom
Good thing for the Axis the USS Barb wasn't deployed in european waters later in the war. ^^
I can imagine Flucky and his crew raiding a V2 launch site, and strap the missile on the deck to increase their firepower.
I can just picture Flucky picking through Axis docks for new toys. "They have this battleship just idling in the fjords. How do we strap a battleship to a sub? Will duct tape do the trick?"
@baconpwn for better plot armour, the Prinz Eugen would have been a better choice.
I bet that Barb got her own ice cream machine.
SHE DID! Lucky stole one!
@@liberalsockpuppet4772 No, no, no. They don't _steal,_ they just Strategically Transported the Equipment to an Alternate Location. 😁
I believe that was Tang. Her COB, CPO William Ballinger nicked the gedunk stand from the wardroom aboard USS Tennessee in San Francisco, got it back to Mare Island, and somehow got it down the hatch of Tang. He later was awarded a Silver Star. Probably just got an “attaboy!” from Tang’s CO, Dick O’Kane.
Every time Barb sank something, the cooks would bake a special cake with the sinking vessel sculpted in frosting. Captain Flucky also would sneak beer aboard so everyone could celebrate after a successful attack. It became considered bad luck to start an attack without a few cases chilling in the cooler.
If you haven't yet read it, I highly recommend "Thunder Below" by Eugene "Lucky" Fluckey. It's an enrapturing account of his war patrols in the USS Barb.
A fighting crew, and a fighting skipper on patrol in a fighting boat. Fluckey's book Thunder Below, is one of the best reads of WW2 history you will ever find.
Surprised that after they were reduced to only small arms they didn’t start boarding enemy ships and scuttling them.
They would have been looking for booty and using words like arrrrrr mateys.
I believe there was at least one instance on either Barb’s 11th or 12th war patrol where some of her men boarded a sinking ship to recover intel. I need to re-read “Thunder Below!” to verify that.
Can you _imagine_ the grin on the sailor painting a train on the conning tower beside the carrier and transport ships.😁
Ah yes. As The Fat Electrician put it; Flucky was no longer content with just spawn camping the convoys. He was going to crush them in the loading screen.
Talk about efficiency!! Using every torpedo, rocket, shell and bullet and then remembering that the sub herself can be used as a torpedo. Forget the nukes, I’m now convinced Imperial Japan surrendered to get a reprieve from USS Barb. Pretty sure if they hadn’t, she’d have attempted to capture a port and stage a landing of her own!
Imagine if Barb joined up with Warspite and Enterprise.
There were multiple times where the Barb made a shore attack, and then later they would pick up Japanese radio transmissions reporting how the attack had been carried out by multiple battleships, or a large-scale bombing raid. No one could believe that one sub could do that much damage.
@@SynchronizorVideos I can imagine the conversation aboard Bard; “hear that boys, we’re not a sub, we’re multiple battleships…”
I met Admiral Fluckey in 1991 while standing watch at the BOQ ( bachelor officer quarters ) at Subase Groton while I was in Advanced Enlisted Submarine School. He came up to me and asked if i knew what time the documentary "Submarine, Steel Boats and Iron Men" came on tv and that he was interviewed on that the show. I did not know what time it was on. He was very polite and came off as a sweet gentle old man. I did not know who he was until I saw his picture in the newspaper the next day.
Having that prestigious of a name on a block V Virginia class sub has all the potential.
One of the most storied submarines in the US fleet!
Lucky Flucky! The Barb was one amazing boat!
A shame Fluckey couldn’t save her to be a museum boat - none more deserving of that honour.
No one releases as steady a stream of top rate content as Drach.
Thanks Drach I know have the Benny Hill music in the head as well as a sub running full speed to catch some ladies 🤣
In the Barb, they didn’t have problems, just innovative solutions
I read a book on BARB as a youngster. Cheers.
Barb, the fish: lively, hardy, and colorful fish
Barb, the submarine: *[The Only Thing They Fear is You starts playing]*
Barb the Kelpie: manic AND stealthy
Becuna, incidentally, is on display in Philadelphia next to the Olympia! :)
The U.S. Navy finally woke up and started naming new submarines after legacy boats. PCU (pre-commissioning unit) BARB SSN 804 has been authorized. Not sure if she's been laid down as yet.
The fightingest Sub in this man's navy.
Commander Flucky once said he could never convince his daughter Barbara that his sub wasn't named after her.
I have Adm. Fluckey's book "Thunder Below" on Audible & it's one of my favorites to listen to at work.
It tells the Barb's story through his command in great detail.
"Put four cases of beer in the cooler!"
I saw an interview on the Galveston Naval Musuem channel with a guy named Alex. Man, he looks just like you, Drach.
Not taking anything away from an amazing record, although Barb was very lucky to have been sent to the Pacific *after* the early disfunction around leadership, strategy, and torpedos was more or less ironed out. And is that 'Smilin' Ernie King' on the far left at 6:00? 😄
I'm actually surprised the Barb decided to return to port after expending all ammunition except for the small arms ammo. Fluckey seems like the kind of man to form boarding parties to capture and sink more trollers.
Glad to hear that the latest “Virginia” class SSN will carry on the name. 😊
The first ever missile sub.
Thanks Drach.
I was so happy to hear that Fluckey became an admiral lol
Question: how many targets can USS Barb attack?
Answer: Yes.
YES! The guide I’ve been waiting to see for a while! Thank you, Drach!
It's crazy that The tonnage she sank is roughly equivalent to one US supercarrier today
The question I have is: Did the train count in Barb's tonnage sunk?
I can see some adjutant at COMSUBPAC having to get a ruling on that from the Pentagon.
"How much does a Japanese locomotive weigh?"
Long pause.
"Why does the Navy want to know?"
I've been waiting for this.
I thank you for this.
The Unauthorized History of the Pacific Theater has a great episode of her exploits.
They did? I got to watch that. Bill will have been so happy about that, and he seems like a great guy and a good commander to serve under, so when he is happy, it is good.
Hopefully they will Invite Drach back !
Train vs submarine... there's something I didn't know I needed in my life.
The Fat Electrician's video about the _Barb_ and the Train is worth the watch.
IJN Combined Fleet HQ: "Nobody can stop a Trane!"
USS Barb: "HAI!"
Train engineer: "...mother!?"
Train: violently disassembled.
Drach, could you possibly do a video on the USS Silversides? She’s got a great museum up in Muskegon, and had one hell of a combat record.
Love the train story .
My father served as a Torpedoman in Barb in the 50s, before and after her GUPPY conversion.
... love his book!
USS Barb: *sees something Japanese and unexploded*
USS Barb: Absolutely not
One-boat wrecking crew. Sends a cutting-out party to blow up a train. Awesome.
When it come to submariners bragging rights having a train on your list of kills will take some beating.
A British sub in the Mediterranean destroyed a couple of Italian railway bridges with its deck gun but I don't think they actually hit any trains.
Fluckey: So. What do we have left? You telling me we fired "everything" ?
Chief: Sir. All we have left are the scuttling charges and I don't suspect there's anything we can do with those unless we train a dolphin...
Fluckey: Did you say 'train'? 🤔 💭💭💭 💥 🚂🚃🚃🚃 😃👍
The channel Historigraph has a great video on the train attack, though I'm sure most people in the comments of a Drach video have already seen it.
Great boat! (That phrase includes all those ballsy crewmembers aboard her.)
Love Your submarine vids
That bit about a sea bird landing repeatedly on the sub's periscope is straight out of a cartoon
"Alright men, raise periscope! ..... Lower periscope!"
"Is there a problem, sir?"
"Yes; all I can see is bird butt! ......... Okay, that should have taken care of it, raise it again."
.....
"Boys, you're not going to believe this..."
I can just imagine the sea bird hanging onto the periscope for dear life every time they tried to shake it off. Birds can be real stubborn like that sometimes, as anyone who's had food too close to a seagull can attest to.
As much as I admire the "Wolfpack" tactics, I've always thought raiders should consider everything a target and have a lot of free range. Fell in love with US sub skipper books, after Shinano (Archerfish).
I realize this comment is quite late, but the new intro is really sweet
The History Guy has a USS Barb piece as well... First time I ever heard about this particular boat.
The Fat Electrician's video of "Lucky" Fluckey and the _Barb's_ battle flag is hilarious
May history never forget the name Enter- - - i mean - - Barb.
I guess no one ever told Fluckey that boarding cutlasses never run out of ammo.
Drach: "Five inch-"
Me: Ah, there's the five!
Drach: "-Rocket launcher"
*shocked Pikachu*
Thanx for Barb.. Fluckey's book "Thunder Below" was Most intertaining.. As was this video
Thunder Below is an excellent book.
Would love to see a video on the USS Scamp (277).
I love these videos that you do!!
Do you take requests??
USS Batfish: she is a museum ship, (boat?), in Oklahoma. I told her up the Arkansas River....
USS Razorback: she apparently served with I believe the Turkish navy for a while, ended up in Little Rock Arkansas I think....
Re-post this in the pinned post at the top where he will more likely see this.
Fantastic boats.