USS Barr ( DE - 576 ) USS " Barr " ( DE - 576 / APD - 39 ) , originally a , and later a " Charles Lawrence " - class of the United States Navy named for Pvt . Woodrow Wilson Barr of Keyser , West Virginia . " Barr " was laid down on 5 November 1943 at Hingham , Massachusetts , by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co . ; launched on 28 December 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . Cora Dell Barr , Pfc . Barr ' s mother ; and commissioned on 16 February 1944 , Lieutenant Commander Henry H . Love in command . Service history . Atlantic , 1944 . Following shakedown off Bermuda and escort training at Casco Bay , Maine , the destroyer escort reported to Norfolk for anti - submarine duty in the Atlantic off the Cape Verde Islands . She operated as part of a hunter - killer group built around the escort carrier and also composed of , , and . Throughout May , this task group followed up submarine reports , chasing down sonar contacts that usually proved to be fish or debris . On 6 May , " Buckley " rammed and sank an enemy submarine , verifying that the waters of the South Atlantic did hide enemy submarines . On 29 May , while closing a reported submarine , " Block Island " suffered a torpedo hit . " Barr " pursued the U - boat , later identified as , until around 2030 when a torpedo struck " Barr " as well . The explosion wrecked the ship aft of the No . 2 engine room , killing four of her crew , injuring 14 , and leaving 12 missing . Throughout the night , " Barr " stayed dead in the water while patrolled around her . " Eugene E . Elmore " took " Barr " ' s injured and about half of her crew on board , hooked up a towline to the damaged escort and began the journey to Casablanca , French Morocco . relieved " Eugene E . Elmore " ; and the Dutch tug , " Antic " took over and finally towed " Barr " into port six days later . " Barr " stayed in drydock at Casablanca until 2 July while the wreckage of her damaged stern was burned off , spaces cleared of oil and debris , and stern plates welded on for the trip home . On 3 July , " Cherokee " ATF - 66 | 3 began the long voyage to Boston with " Barr " in tow . After a brief stop in Bermuda to avoid a major tropical storm , the ships arrived at the Boston Navy Yard on 25 July . The destroyer escort spent the next three months in drydock being refurbished and converted to a high speed transport . Redesignated APD - 39 on 23 October , " Barr " sailed for Norfolk on 3 November for boat training , and departed that port on the 15th as escort for . After transiting the Panama Canal and stopping in San Francisco to load more cargo , she and sailed westward and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 9 December . Pacific fleet , 1945 . In Hawaii , " Barr " shuttled between Pearl Harbor and Maui , where she trained with Underwater Demolition Team s ( UDTs ) for night and day demolitions and shore bombardment . On 10 January 1945 , " Barr " set sail for Ulithi , the main staging area for the invasion of Iwo Jima . From late January to early February , the fast transport loaded supplies , made repairs , and took part in demolition and reconnaissance training on reefs east of Ulithi . On 10 February , " Barr " and the other APDs stood out of the lagoon at Ulithi with the Iwo Jima invasion force . The transports rehearsed D - Day movements at Tinian on the 12th and 13th . Then , the advance group headed for Iwo Jima on the 14th . " Barr " arrived off the southern end of the island on 16 February ; and , that afternoon , her embarked UDT 13 successfully completed its first mission . The team placed a navigational light on the hazardous Higashi Rocks despite coming under enemy fire . " Barr " , however , solved the problem , silencing that gunfire with some of her own . The next morning , following intense shelling by fire support ships and aircraft , the fast transports approached the eastern beaches for reconnaissance by the UDTs . During the afternoon , they made a reconnaissance of the western beaches in the same manner . On 18 February , " Barr " received orders to land her UDT on the Higashi Rocks again to reposition the light before retiring for the night . As she and pulled away from the island , a Japanese bomber flew over " Barr " , crashed " Blessman " , and caused many casualties . " Barr " spent D - Day , 19 February , in transport areas about off the eastern beaches . Her boats , manned by UDT frogmen , assisted in guiding marines to the landing beaches . Then , until 3 March , the high speed transport took screening station at night and anchored during the day while UDTs worked with the beachmasters to remove underwater obstacles . On 4 March , " Barr " departed Iwo Jima and steamed via Saipan and Guam to Ulithi where she anchored on 12 March . For the next week , the fast transport prepared for the invasion of Okinawa . On the 21st , she stood out of Ulithi as part of the Gun Fire and Covering Force under Rear Admiral Morton L . Deyo . The warships arrived off Okinawa on 25 March and approached Kerama Retto to reconnoiter the southwestern tip of Tokashiki . During the next four days , " Barr " put UDT 13 ashore on Keise Shima , a group of small sand and coral islands between Kerama Retto and Okinawa , to gather information and blast passages through the reef for the LST s . The Japanese maintained an almost constant aerial onslaught in the early days of the invasion . Barr did not close Okinawa on D - Day , 1 April , but remained in the transport area as a part of the anti - submarine screen . She transferred UDT 13 to on 6 and 7 April and continued screening until 9 April , when she sailed to Saipan for a week of repairs . " Barr " got underway again on 23 April to escort a convoy of LSTs and LSM s back to Okinawa . The fast transport remained off the Hagushi anchorage providing anti - air and anti - submarine defense until 27 May , when she headed for Saipan as a convoy escort . Leaving the convoy at Saipan , " Barr " continued on to the Philippines , visiting Leyte and Manila before joining the screen of an Okinawa - bound convoy at Lingayen Gulf . The fast transport resumed screening duties at Okinawa after her return late in June . Post - war activities . After Japan capitulated on 15 August , " Barr " rendezvoused with and east of Tokyo , embarked Royal Marines from the two British warships and landed them at Yokosuka . After this mission , she proceeded to the north end of the bay to evacuate Allied prisoners of war from central Honshū . During several trips , the fast transport received on board 1 , 135 former POW s . After the evacuation was completed , " Barr " made one mail run to Iwo Jima between 24 and 28 September and then remained in port at Tokyo until 12 October , when she was ordered to Nagasaki for duty with the U . S . Strategic Bombing Survey . She served there as a base of operations and as a barracks ship until 1 December when she began the voyage to the United States . Decommissioned and in reserve . The transport arrived at San Diego on 19 December and , after voyage repairs , continued on to the east coast where she was placed out of commission , in reserve , at Green Cove Springs , Florida , on 12 July 1946 . " Barr " remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until the early 1960s . Her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 June 1960 , and she was sunk as a target off Vieques Island on 26 March 1963 . Awards . " Barr " received three battle star s for her World War II service .