uss barry tour

We Were Blown Away By What We Saw Aboard US Navy Destroyer Barry

Like so much of America, the Navy’s Arleigh Burke destroyers are at retirement age but still facing another couple decades of hard work and making do.

The responsibility for doubling the life expectancy of these saltwater steel ships from 20 to 40 years, while achieving every mission, falls to many people. But in the end — it falls to the crew.

See the photos >

When I got the call to join the USS Barry for a ride off the Atlantic seaboard last week, I expected to meet a staff burdened by duty and unhappy with how the country is dumping money into new technology on trouble-ridden ships.

Instead I met a crew of sailors who worked 12 to 16 hour days without complaint.

I've never seen a group of people work so hard to make the most of what they had. The Barry seemed to belong to them and come what may, they would not fail her.

I'm an Army veteran, not a sailor, but I'll be damned if by the time we pulled back into port, I didn't have a lot more respect for the Navy.

The Navy picked me up at 5:00 a.m. from a Norfolk motel and delivered us to a water taxi bound for the USS Barry by 7:00

After an hour of heaving seas and whipping saltwater spray, the Barry came into sight idling off the Virginia seaboard

It was here that some visiting physicists and I realized how we'd be getting aboard

The climb was not difficult, but it required upper body strength

Once aboard, sleeping assignments were provided — the top right bunk was mine. Dozens of enlisted sailors sleep down here, and the nights were filled with cellphone alarms.

We'd arrived far too late for breakfast in the mess hall. This is the only space on the ship where hats must be removed because during conflict it serves as a medical ward with bodies laid on the tables. Removing caps shows respect for the dead.

The first sailor I talked to works in the sonar control room listening for submarines. I asked him if he hears whales like in "The Hunt For Red October" and he laughed, saying yes, "But I can't tell you anything about them aside from their size."

From the sonar room I head to see the ship's Engineering Officer who oversees the Barry's full array of power systems. Until just this year that panel of monitors to his right was a bank of dials, knobs, and buttons — one of the many system upgrades as the vessel's life is extended.

In Engineering I meet Chief Francis who is transferring from the enlisted ranks to Warrant Officer. He joined the Navy 18 years ago at 17 and says the only thing he doesn't love about serving is being away from his family.

Chief Francis says he'll miss the camaraderie and fraternal environment of the Chief's Mess where senior NCOs share meals, advice, and determination

After leaving the Chief's Mess I met Petty Officer 1st Class Carr who's in the middle of an intense six week program leading up to the promotion of Chief. She enlisted in the Navy at 16 with her father's permission. The wooden box is a "Vessel" carried by all potential Chiefs.

Time for lunch, I stop by the Officer's Mess and find the white cards are the menu and officers circle what they want to eat, hand it to a steward and have it delivered

The Captain here in his chair on the bridge doesn't often make it to meals — doesn't often make it to bed either — catching maybe four or five hours of sleep a night

The Captain is waiting for the anchor test to conclude. At several thousand pounds the anchor is attached to the ship by a chain with links weighing almost 40 pounds apiece and here it is being snapped from a free-fall into hundreds of feet of water.

Once the anchor is back in the hold, the crew tests the CIWS Gatling gun — the last line of defense against incoming threats — the CIWS can shoot 4,500 rounds per minute

It's so loud and piercing that despite the fact I'm expecting each burst, I flinch every time it fires and have to draw the camera back to the barrel

These are the 20mm rounds from the CIWS coming down in the water

Once the CIWS quiets down, the weapons officer prepares the 20mm cannon for testing — first it is fired remotely with a joystick and camera here on the bridge

Then one of the weapons crew grabs a helmet and a flak jacket before firing it off manually down on deck — even behind him I had to wear a vest as well

After returning the flak jacket to the weapons Chief — I wait outside the bridge for the 5-inch gun test and notice small signs of wear on the 20-year-old ship

The Arleigh Burke destroyers were meant to see 20 years of service, but their commitment will likely double and maintenance is becoming a larger part of shipboard service

When the 5-inch gun finally lets loose, the explosion is impressive and the tracking system lays down rounds on both sides of the vessel

With several different types of rounds, the 5-inch is as versatile as it is effective — here are the timed rounds detonating in the distance

With so many complex systems working together the 5-inch can be temperamental — below deck I see the Barry's crew has named their 5-inch, Lucille

While the 5-inch packs quite a punch — what makes it so lethal lies behind this door in the Combat Information Center (CIC)— I was allowed in but not permitted to take pictures

However, I found some online, and this is precisely how one wall of the CIC looked on the USS Barry

And this is pretty much how the sonar anti-submarine stations looked

When weapons firing concluded, the ship's flag was changed and the crew settled in for an unusual ride

It's tough to convey speed in a still photo, but this is the wake behind the Barry for the majority of the trip

But as part of the sea trials, the destroyer was driven to her top speed of almost 38 mph and this is what the wake looked like then

And when the top speed was reached the Captain called for "hard rudder" — first one way

Then another

For a still day the chop brought about by the ship was immense — and this blast caught me far above the waterline outside the bridge

And the final test of the day threw the ship in reverse — this is the front of the ship trailing a wake as it worked its way backward

Once the onboard tests concluded for the day, crew got busy cleaning the weapons — the red jacketed rounds are live but had not been fired

For an idea of size I pulled this 20mm casing and placed it beside a quarter

The belts of rounds are separated off and placed in ammunition cans

And promptly "Deep-Sixed" — tossed into the ocean

After watching the weapons team remove the barrel to the 20mm gun, I took a walk around deck

And find the racks that hold missiles during deployment

They're right next to the missile launching system here, that delivered 55 Tomahawk missiles into Libya last year

With the day wearing on I head back inside the ship and am reminded of what the crew knows at all times: this vessel is designed to go to war. In a chemical/biological/radiological (CBR) environment, not even the toilet can be used.

Even in this main passageway a bright yellow sticker reminds crew that the ship could go down at any point

But none of the Barry's sailors need to be reminded; almost all of them pull watch, looking for contact on the horizon and for fellow sailors who have fallen into the water

There are not many places to go to wind down, but out here during a break in routine sailors meet to grab a smoke

After sundown enlisted crew did get the chance to come together here in the mess for an "ice-cream social." "The Avengers" was playing on a couple of small TVs to the right.

After some ice-cream, I head back on deck to wait for a sono-buoy/anti-sub exercise. But after three hours of waiting, I nodded off and realized it was time for bed.

Back inside the air lock, I see that many lights are red now for security and to preserve night vision

So before heading back into the sleeping quarters I grab the flashlight I brought for just such an occasion

The USS Barry is big but it does not have a flight deck like this

Check out the coolest sights from the flight deck of the USS Wasp during Fleet Week >

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USS Barry (DDG 52)      

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Current personnel:, content online:, featured video, what is barry.

YOKOSUKA, Japan (July 27, 2021) Sailors aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) explain what the Barry means to them. Barry supports Commander, Task Force (CTF) 71/Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy's largest forward-deployed DESRON and U.S. 7th Fleet's principal surface force. (U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Justin A. Stack)

Taken: 07.27.2021 | Video by Seaman Justin Stack

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USS BARRY: Take A Tour Of The US Destroyer Poised To Attack Off The Coast Of Syria

The navy invited business insider for a weekend of tests off the atlantic in late 2012 onboard the uss barry. the navy arrived at 5 a.m. to put us on this water taxi by 7:00..

After an hour of heaving seas and whipping saltwater spray, the 505-foot Arleigh Burke-class destroyer came into sight idling off the Virginia seaboard.

At this point some visiting physicists realized how we'd be getting aboard.

The climb was more difficult than it appeared with a pack, but it was manageable.

Once aboard, sleeping assignments were provided. Dozens of enlisted sailors sleep down here, and the nights were filled with cellphone alarms.

We'd arrived far too late for breakfast in the mess hall. This is the only space on the ship where hats must be removed because during conflict it serves as a medical ward with bodies laid on the tables. Removing caps shows respect for the dead.

With a bit of time to roam about the Barry, we met this sailor listening for submarines. We asked if he hears whales, like in 'The Hunt For Red October' and he laughed. 'Yes, but I can't tell you anything about them aside from their size,' he said.

From the sonar room we head to meet the ship's Engineering Officer who oversees the Barry's entire power system. Until 2012, the panel of monitors to his right was a bank of dials, knobs, and buttons — no more sending sailors below to see if a problem was actually fixed from here.

Chief Francis is transferring from the enlisted ranks to Warrant Officer and receiving a new ship assignment. He's 36, has been in the Navy 19 years, and is the one sailor here probably not on the Barry off Syria's coast.

A Navy Chief is part of an elite group of very smart sailors. Chief Francis says he'll miss the camaraderie and fraternal environment of the Chief's Mess where the ship's Chiefs share meals, advice, and determination.

After leaving the Chief's Mess we met Petty Officer 1st Class Carr who was in the middle of an intense six week program leading up to the promotion of Chief. She enlisted in the Navy at 16 with her father's permission. The wooden box is a "Vessel" carried by all potential Chiefs and non-Chiefs have no idea what's in it.

Time for lunch, we find our way to the Officer's Mess. The white cards are menus. Officers circle what they want to eat, hand it to a steward and it's delivered.

While time savers like quick meals save officers valuable time, the Captain here in his chair on the bridge, doesn't often make it to eat — doesn't often make it to bed either — catching maybe four or five hours of sleep a night.

The Captain is waiting for the anchor test to conclude. At several-thousand-pounds, the anchor is attached to the ship by links weighing almost 40 pounds apiece. Here it is being snapped from a free-fall into hundreds of feet of water.

Once the anchor is back in the hold, the crew tests the CIWS Gatling gun. If the Barry is attacked while sending Tomahawk missiles into Syria— this last line of defense will shoot 4,500 rounds per minute creating virtually a solid stream of large, lead bullets.

The CIWS sounds like a thick piece of cloth being violently ripped in half over a loudspeaker. It's an incredibly sharp sound even far aft of the firing.

These are the 20mm rounds from the CIWS coming down in the water.

Once the CIWS quiets down, the weapons officer prepares the 20mm cannon for testing — first it is fired remotely with a joystick and camera here on the bridge.

Then one of the weapons crew grabs a helmet and a flak jacket before firing manually down on deck — the cannon would be used against small craft attempting to reach the Barry under combat conditions off Syria.

Following the cannon firing, we wait outside the bridge for the 5-inch gun test noticing small signs of wear on the 20-year-old ship.

Details like this were addressed long before the Barry and her crew's deployment to the Mediterranean so they can focus all their attention on missions — like a potential Syria strike.

When the 5-inch gun finally lets loose, the explosion is impressive and the tracking system lays down rounds on both sides of the vessel.

With several different types of rounds, the 5-inch is as versatile as it is effective — here are the timed rounds detonating in the distance.

With so many complex systems working together to target, track and fire, the 5-inch can be temperamental. Below deck we see the Barry's weapons crew named their big gun, Lucille.

While the 5-inch packs quite a punch — what makes the weapon so lethal is behind this door in the Combat Information Center (CIC). This room is buzzing like a hive right now on the Barry.

Since we were not allowed photographs, we found stock photos. This is largely what the CIC looks on the USS Barry as it scans the area for potential threats.

Underwater threats are monitored from the CIC's anti-submarine station, while about 10 sophisticated electronic systems do everything from guide Tomahawks to launch defensive buoys, if the ship's attacked.

During a Syrian mission these racks will hold missiles.

They're right next to the missile launching system that delivered 55 Tomahawk missiles into Libya in 2011.

When weapons firing concluded, the ship's flag was changed and the crew settled in for an unusual ride.

It's impossible to know what the ship will be required to do during combat and the final test of the day involved steering. This is the wake behind the Barry for the majority of the trip.

As part of the sea trials, though, the Barry was driven to her top speed of almost 38 mph causing this wake.

When top speed was reached the Captain called for 'hard rudder' — first one way ...

... Then another.

For what had become a still day, the chop brought about by the ship was immense. This blast caught us far above the waterline outside the bridge.

The final test of the day threw the ship in reverse. Here's the front of the ship trailing a wake as it travels in reverse.

Tests concluded, the crew cleaned weapons just like they do anytime they're fired. The red jacketed rounds are live, but un-fired.

This 20mm casing placed beside a quarter offers an idea of how large the 20mm rounds are.

The used belts are separated off and placed in ammunition cans.

And promptly 'Deep-Sixed' — tossed into the ocean.

After the weapons team removes the barrel to the 20mm gun, we took a last walk around Barry.

In the male head, or restroom, is a reminder of what the crew knows at all times: the Barry is designed for war. In a chemical/biological/radiological (CBR) environment, not even the toilet can be used.

Even in this main passageway a bright yellow sticker reminds crew that the ship could go down at any point.

But none of the Barry's sailors need to be reminded; almost all of them pull watch, looking for contact on the horizon and for fellow sailors who have fallen into the water. Just like they're doing on deployment now.

Getting ready for inspection is stressful and so is a combat deployment. Without many places to wind down but out here, sailors meet to grab a smoke at the rear of the ship.

To keep up morale, command sponsored an ice-cream social for the enlisted crew in their mess. 'The Avengers' was playing on a couple of small TVs to the right.

After some ice-cream, we head back on deck for an anti-sub exercise that runs hours late and we call it a night.

On all exterior passages and sleeping quarters, red lights provide illumination and security while preserving night vision.

It's dark in sleeping quarters and most crew carry a flashlight. Just one of the many tools the Barry's crew needs when they're deployed.

The USS Barry is big but it does not have a flight deck like this ...

Check out the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp during our 2012 Fleet Week visit>

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Arrival Of USS Barry Brings Ship Count At Naval Station Everett To Eight

March 17, 2023

The newest ship to call Naval Station Everett their homeport arrived this afternoon. Here’s the scoop direct from the base.

USS Barry arrives at Naval Station Everett. Photo Credit: Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Ethan Soto U.S. Navy

The ship was previously forward deployed, serving in Yokosuka, Japan.

USS Barry is the Navy’s oldest destroyer, commissioned in 1992. The crew is led by Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Grant Bryan.

“Barry has maintained the sharp edge on the tip of the spear for over 30 years,” said Bryan. “Commodore Barry set the bar high for our sailors to emulate, he was scrappy in a fight with unwavering dedication to country.”

The ship’s next task will be to undergo scheduled maintenance for approximately nine months. The maintenance will be to conduct ship modernization and ensure it achieves its expected service life. After maintenance is complete, the ship will remain at its new homeport in Everett.

Bryan said, “The crew is proud to keep it shipshape and seaworthy. I could not be more proud of this crew for how well they have executed our forward deployed missions and I am thankful for the families who have supported their sailors during this move.”

The ship’s arrival brings the total number of U.S. Navy ships homeported in Everett to eight including: USS Momsen (DDG 92), USS Gridley (DDG 101), USS Sampson (DDG 102), USS Kidd (DDG 100), USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53), USS John S McCain (DDG 56), and USS McCampbell (DDG 85).

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USS Barry (DD 933) Photo Tour

The photos below were taken by me on November 8, 2008, during a visit to the USS BARRY museum at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, during my visit there was a ceremony aboard the BARRY and not all areas of the ship were accessable. On some photos you can see that the flag on the bow is hoisted incorrectly.

clock This article was published more than  8 years ago

Bidding farewell to the Barry

On Nov. 18. 1983, a bone-chilling wind whipped down the Anacostia River. Wearing a thin raincoat, Master Chief Petty Officer James Mullen shivered on the deck of the Barry as tugboats pulled the decommissioned Navy destroyer through the open gate of the South Capitol Street swing bridge toward its final destination, the Washington Navy Yard.

Mullen had shepherded the ship from Philadelphia without incident until that night, when a gust of wind pushed one of the tugboats into a sandbar. The men on that boat dropped their rope before another boat was ready to take over, leaving the Barry to its own devices for a few nail-biting minutes.

“The wind was blowing hard and cold, and with no rudder and no propellers, the Barry was like a big sail,” Mullen, 76, recalls. “I nearly took out the South Capitol Street Bridge.”

Now, the D.C. government is replacing the bridge, also known as the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, with a fixed-span bridge, trapping the Barry. So, the Navy decided to scrap the ship now, while it could still be towed away in one piece. The Barry’s formal departure ceremony will be Oct. 17, though it won’t be towed away until this winter, says Navy Yard spokesman Brian Sutton.

“We estimated that it was going to cost us around two million dollars if we were going to restore the ship to where it really needs to be,” Sutton says — hard to justify when “we only get about 10,000 visitors a year.”

Few argue with the logic of the decision, but the Barry’s departure is still unfortunate, former crewmembers and fans say. For three decades, the destroyer gave schoolchildren a window into the historic events it participated in, including the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War. The beloved landmark also provided the Navy Yard with its last real link to the sea.

“When she leaves Navy Yard, she’s going to be taking a whole lot of history with her,” says Barry veteran Carl Caivano, 69. “I’ll be sad to see her go.”

The USS Barry was launched in 1955 from Bath, Maine. With two steam turbines propelling her to speeds up to 33 knots (about 38 miles per hour), she was a fast, sleek, multi-purpose ship.

“Thirty-five miles per hour may not seem like a lot in a car, but when you’re on a ship and you are throwing up a pretty good rooster tail behind you, that was a great feeling,” says former Barry sailor Peter Kehrig, 61. “When she turned, the entire ship would heel over to one side. Just like on a motorcycle, you live for the curves.”

In addition to being fast, the Barry was heavily armed with guns, torpedoes and anti-submarine missiles. She rarely had occasion to fire them, though her speed did come came in handy during the Cuban missile crisis.

Throughout the 13-day standoff, the Barry crew kept tabs on Russian submarines, pinging them with active sonar as if to say, “I see you,” Navy historian Curtis Utz says. The crew’s tensest moment came later, after most people thought the crisis was over. The Russians were removing their nuclear missiles from Cuba, and had agreed to let the U.S. Navy count the missiles on their way out.

When a Russian ship tried to sneak by without being counted, the Barry caught up with it, Barry veteran Eugene Cody, 70, recalls. Reluctantly, the ship came to a stop, and U.S. military personnel boarded the vessel and inspected its cargo.

“We were sitting side-by-side, 1,000 yards between us. They were under a cover, but you could tell there were long-range nuclear missiles on the deck,” Cody says. “I was looking at those missiles and thinking if anything happened, it would have obliterated the whole upper northwest quadrant of the Caribbean.”

Three years later, Barry was dispatched to Vietnam, where it shelled Viet Cong encampments on the Saigon River.

The destroyer didn’t see much action after Vietnam, but it was still an exciting place to be, recalls Kehrig, who served on the ship in 1982.

“On a destroyer, you think of yourself being the pointy end of the spear,” he says. “You’re the fastest and have the longest legs — meaning you can go far without refueling.”

Nicknamed “tin cans” because of their lack of armor and tendency to get tossed around in heavy seas, destroyers required crews with strong stomachs.

“Being on a destroyer at sea is living in constant motion. Walking down a ladder is an experience of feeling 200 pounds on one step and 80 pounds two steps later,” recalls Caivano, who served on the Barry in 1969. “At night, during storms, shoes left out by the bunks moved back and forth along the floor in the red light, like some kind of ghost soft-shoe routine.”

Caivano developed chronic seasickness and ended up being honorably discharged. Still, he remembers his time on the Barry fondly.

“Standing watch on a moonless, overcast night when we were totally surrounded by dark — it felt like traveling into a black void. When the sun started to rise again, it was almost like a religious experience,” he says.

In 1982, Barry’s crew got word that the ship was being decommissioned.

“We were disappointed, but we knew times were changing. Steamships like Barry were being replaced by gas turbine ships,” Kehrig says. “All of us, but especially the guys down in engineering, knew we were going to go on to do something way less fun.”

Barry might have been scrapped then if it hadn’t been for Admiral Arleigh Burke, who had overseen fleets of destroyers during World War II and served as Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C. After Burke retired, he decided that Navy Yard needed a display ship, and recruited Mullen.

“He called me up and said, ‘The Marines have the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Army has Fort McNair. I’m tired of the Navy not having anything here, and sailors retiring out the back doors of buildings,’” Mullen recalls.

After docking the ship in Navy Yard, Mullen, a crew of 30 sailors and many volunteers spent months scrubbing rust off of the hull, giving it a fresh coat of paint and installing displays.

When Display Ship Barry opened to the public in 1984, it was an instant hit. In 1990, 500,000 people visited the ship. It became a regular stop for tour buses and groups, and many Navy officers retired on her stern.

As a third grader, Andrew Battaile, 43, visited the ship the year it opened.

“It was larger than life. It just seemed enormous,” he says. “You could walk on the deck and see all the guns and imagine eating in the mess hall, and it just all seemed so cool.”

But after Master Chief Mullen retired in 1990, the ship slowly lost its luster. During its final years, visitors could wander for hours without encountering another soul, unless you count the creepy, 1970s-era mannequins manning the ship’s radar.

Still, the decommissioned destroyer was one of Battaile’s favorite places to take visitors from out of town. “It was one of those secret spots in D.C.,” he says.

Prince George’s County resident Marcus Collier, 41, was sad to hear he’d never get a chance to see the ship from the inside.

“I always wondered why it was there, and now I know, it’s going away,” he says.

Sometime this winter, the Barry will leave the Navy Yard for good. Engineers surveyed the Barry’s hull and found it to be sound — but as Master Chief Mullen’s adventure 32 years ago shows, anything can happen when you tow a warship down a shallow, shifting river.

“I can just imagine how awful it would be to have the ship listing to the side in the Anacostia,” says Sutton, the Navy Yard spokesman. “I think I might have a heart attack.”

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