Fate
On 25 May, she was attacked by two kamikazes while on patrol 35 miles northwest of Okinawa. One was shot down, but the other broke through the barrage and struck Barry below her bridge. Twenty-eight of her crew were wounded by shrapnel. The explosion of the plane's gasoline tanks and bomb ignited fuel oil escaping from Barry's ruptured tanks. The fire threatened the forward magazine which could not be reached to flood. At 1340, 40 minutes after the plane struck, the commanding officer gave the order to abandon ship. Barry's boats were lowered and all hands safely cleared the side.
At 1500, the water had risen until the forward magazine was covered, minimizing the danger of explosion. A skeleton crew, together with parties from Sims and Roper then reboarded Barry and the last fires were extinguished at 0630 the next day.
Barry was towed to the anchorage at Kerama Retto 28 May, and was found too extensively damaged to warrant repair or salvage. Stripped of useful gear, she was decommissioned 21 June 1945. Later in the day, she was towed from the harbor of Kerama Retto to be used as a decoy for the kamikazes. While under tow, she was attacked again and sunk along with her escort, LSM-59.
Read more about this topic: USS Barry (DD-248)
Famous quotes containing the word fate:
“Professor Fate: My apologies. There’s a polar bear in our car.”
—Arthur Ross. Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon)
“It is the fate of heroines to be laughed at.”
—Jane O’Reilly, U.S. feminist and humorist. The Girl I Left Behind, ch. 7 (1980)
“Ev’n thou who mourn’st the Daisy’s fate,
That fate is thine—no distant date;
Stern Ruin’s ploughshare drives , elate,
Full on thy bloom,
Till crush’d beneath the furrow’s weight,
Shall be thy doom.”
—Robert Burns (1759–1796)