Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On July 22, 1945, crew members from the USS Barb slinked into Japan and became the first submarine crew to take out a train. Two Iowans, Leonard Hill of Waverly and Francis Sever of Sioux City aided in the only ground combat operation taking place in the Japanese home islands during World War II.
A Gato-class submarine named for a ray-finned fish, ‘Barbus,’ the ship first sunk beneath the waves on June 7, 1941. Seeing action during the Allied invasion of North Africa and against the Axis blockade of Europe, five patrols started to distinguish the USS Barb as one of the best submarines in the Navy. Overhauled at New London, Connecticut in 1943, the USS Barb departed for service in the Pacific Theater.
During the seven war patrols she conducted in the Pacific between March 1944 and August 1945, Barb is officially credited with sinking 17 enemy vessels totaling 96,628 tons, including Un'yō, sunk on 17 September 1944. On 15–16 September, Barb rescued 14 Australian and British POW survivors of SS Rakuyō Maru. Overhauled again, the Navy dispensed the USS Barb to Japanese waters in the Sea of Okhotsk. For the first time in U.S. submarine warfare, Barb successfully employed rockets against the towns of Shari, Hokkaido; Shikuka, Kashiho; and Shiritoru on Karafuto.
During the night of 22–23 July 1945, the USS Barb sent men ashore at Karafuto, Japan. The men strategically placed a 55-pound demolition charge. As the crew departed in rubber boats, an incoming train hit the charge sending locomotive wreckage 200 feet in the air. Twelve freight cars, two passenger cars, and one mail car derailed and piled up in a mound of twisted metal. For the remainder of the war patrol, Barb continued to wreak havoc on Japanese shores and enemy vessels. Successfully completing her twelfth patrol, the USS Barb was credited with destroying 96,628 tons of enemy shipping. She received four Presidential Unit Citations, a Navy Unit Commendation, and eight battle stars for her World War II service. #IowaOTD #IowaHistoryDaily #IowaHistoryCalendar
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