Qualla: USS Barbel (SS-316)

USS Barbel (SS-316): Introduction

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On 3 February 1945, USS Barbel sent a radio message from somewhere in the South China Sea. She had been attacked three times by enemy aircraft dropping depth charges, the message reported, and she would transmit further information the following night. That transmission never came. Barbel was never heard from again. Japanese aviators later reported attacking a submarine off southwest Palawan on 4 February. Two bombs were dropped; one struck near the bridge. The submarine plunged beneath the surface under a cloud of fire and spray. She was officially reported lost on 16 February 1945, taking her entire crew to the bottom of the Balabac Strait.

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USS Barbel (SS-316): Built for War

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Barbel was a Balao-class submarine, the workhorse of America's undersea campaign in the Pacific. Her keel was laid down at the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut -- the same yard that builds nuclear submarines today. She was launched on 14 November 1943, sponsored by Mr...

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USS Barbel (SS-316): Four Patrols

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Between 15 July 1944 and 4 February 1945, Barbel carried out four war patrols, completing three of them before being lost on her fourth. She sank ten Japanese ships totaling 55,200 tons across those three completed patrols. These numbers, precise in their accounting, represent th...

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USS Barbel (SS-316): The Wolfpack

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Barbel departed Fremantle submarine base in Western Australia on 5 January 1945 for her fourth and final patrol. Her orders took her to the South China Sea, where late in January she was directed to form a wolfpack -- a coordinated hunting group -- with two other submarines. Thei...

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USS Barbel (SS-316): On Eternal Patrol

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The phrase 'on eternal patrol' is the U.S. submarine service's way of describing boats lost in action. It carries a particular weight because submarines, unlike surface ships, rarely leave wreckage or survivors. They simply disappear. Barbel's final position is believed to be som...

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