So, I wanted to do something special for post # 580.
This is a photo of the USS Barbel (SS 580) and her crew on the day she was decommissioned, Dec. 4th, 1989.
The picture was taken at SUBASE Pearl Harbor, where the Barbel had spent many years, but her final years
had been spent home ported in Sasebo, Japan with the USS Darter.
At the very top of the sail (in the CO's playpen) is CDR. Will Bundy, the Barbel's last skipper and also a Mustang (formerly enlisted).
The enlisted guy standing on the STBD side of the bridge is (then) QM2 Charlie Grandin. Charlie and I kinda "made our bones" on a maneuvering
watch coming into Hong Kong one foggy day. What's a shame is that you can't see the STBD side of the sail. Charlie had taken it upon himself
to mask and paint all of the E's, C's, M's and hash marks on the sail that the ship had earned (kinda like the ones on the wing of a destroyer).
It made the old girl look "BA" when she was tied up in port. Charlie (much to a lot of people's amazement) would later become the Command Master Chief
for ALL of San Diego and retire after 30-some years (you had to know Charlie back in the day to understand why it became amazing).
Its also worth noting all of the folks standing on the brow. If you notice, most of them are wearing Chief's hats.
The enlisted crew of the Barbel was VERY "top heavy". In that picture are FIVE Master Chiefs and two Senior Chiefs. This was at a time when
the COB of a normal SSN was, at best, a Senior Chief. It should be noted that the Chiefs are standing on the brow to signify that they are "the first to
get off the boat".
It might look like she's standing tall at the bow, and she was. This photo was taken after a lot of her hardware
had already been removed, including all of the torpedos. BTW, the guy standing at the front of the bow was our only
Nuke, EM1(SS) Tony Rivera. Tony was my in-port duty section leader and a good friend. Standing at the end of that line
(just in front of the sail) is none other than ET3SN, this was about three weeks before I was promoted to ET2.
There were only three ships in the Barbel class (Barbel, Bonefish, and Blueback). All of them were unique at the time
because they were based on the basic hull shape of the USS Albacore (which was built for speed under water). That hull shape
would only become standard for submarines on the later Skipjack class and beyond. In our case, that hull shape was eventually
deemed by the Navy as "hydro-dynamically UNstable" because the Barbel class had a nasty habit of doing a snap roll when turning
at speeds greater than 15 knots.
All three ships were powered by three large DC generators coupled to three "standard" diesel engines (ND38 1/8) which could power
two large DC electric motors for propulsion plus all of the other electrical loads and generators. Most of the time, only one motor
was used or the two motors were run in parallel but we could also wire the motors to run in a series configuration (AKA: Ahead Flank- Insanity)
which could move the ship at 25 knots. At least two of the ships in the class were equipped with "Prairie/Masker" bubble emitters on the screw
and on a band around the hull, but Barbel was the only ship of the three that kept its P/M system intact. Most of the time at sea, we ran at 10-12 knots
on the snorkel.
My job on the Barbel was split between maintaining and operating the ESM and Radar gear. This is the only time I can talk about ESM in general.
The Barbel ran the original WLR-1(G) ESM reciever and tuners. I can talk about this because the WLR-1(G) was also used on the USS Pueblo which was
captured by North Korea. Rumor has it her WLR-1 is on display somewhere in Moscow. The WLR-1(G) was a great system because it was 100% analogue and
very sensitive. The only computer in the WLR-1(G) was between the operator's ears, so you had to know your job.
The Radar was a "BPS-14 Mutt". The main part of the system was the BPS-14 receiver and display but we also had bits and pieces that dated back to
the original BPS-1 from WWII. What you can't see in the photo is how tall the radar mast was. Imagine the mast is almost as tall as the sail from the deck
to the top and you get the idea. That gave the radar a lot more range than normal for a sub. That mast was also important because of another unique piece
of equipment on the Barbel class, all three boats carried an IFF transponder. The radar/IFF combo was used to intercept and guide Regulus and Snark guided
missiles that were launched from the early SSG and SSGN "pre-boomers" in the 1950's.
So, what else is notable? The small silver panel on the bow is one of the ship's Salvage Air connections. There was another located above the engine room.
One of the things you can't see is the mahogany/teak decking on the main deck topside. We replaced a lot it during an overhaul in the Philippines.
If you look at the pennant pole just behind the sail, you'll (kinda) spot a small red flag. Its actual shape is a red triangle with a black "meatball" in
its center. Its a Presidential Unit Citation (PUC) pennant and they are still more rare than chicken teeth. One of the unique things about the PUC is that
the crew doesn't earn it, the pennant belongs to the actual hull of the ship and it stays with the ship until it decommissions. The Barbel earned its PUC in the
Tonkin Gulf during the mid 1960's. There was also a story about the Barbel colliding with (and sinking) a Russian cargo ship during the same period, but to this
day I don't know if this is why the Barbel got its PUC. We just didn't talk about it.