Return to Online
Library listing
Return to Online
Library listing
USS Barton, a 1620-ton Benson class destroyer built at Quincy, Massachusetts, was commissioned in late May 1942. She shook down off the U.S. east coast and arrived in the south Pacific in mid-September to join the continuing campaign to hold Guadalcanal. In early October, she was part of a task force, built around the aircraft carrier Hornet, that attempted to raid Japanese shipping in the Shortland Islands, an effort thwarted by bad weather over the target area. On the 26th of October, Barton screened Hornet during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, in which her carrier was disabled and sunk. A few days later, the destroyer rescued seventeen survivors of a crashed transport plane.
On 12 November 1942, Barton helped escort transports into Guadalcanal's Iron Bottom Sound and that night was part of a group of cruisers and destroyers that intercepted a much stronger Japanese force that included two battleships. In this chaotic action, the first surface engagement of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, USS Barton was torpedoed by an enemy destroyer, broke apart and quickly sank, with the loss of most of her crew.
The 1992 Iron Bottom Sound expedition located and examined part of Barton's wreck, in over 2000 feet of water southeast of Savo Island in Iron Bottom Sound. All that was found was the first hundred feet or so of her bow, resting on its port side with both forward five-inch guns still trained to port. The ship's stern section must be nearby, but was not found.
This page features the few views we have of USS Barton (DD-599).
| If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
|
Photo #: NH 97868 USS Barton (DD-599) In Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, 29 May 1942, the day she was commissioned. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 605 pixels |
 |
|
Photo #: NH 97869 USS Barton (DD-599) In Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, on the day she was commissioned, 29 May 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
 |
| If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Return to Naval
Historical Center home page.Page made 13 February 2002