Webmaster's Note:  without the resources of Captain Moloney, Hassayampa's recorded legacy would be nowhere where it currently is. His contributions to this website are greatly appreciated, to say the least!

01/13/2003 - E-mail just received -

"Hi Terry, Pat Moloney here....  I was the one who sent the Sept 02 e-mail on the Vietnamese rescue from the BARBEL. I was Cargo Mate at the time. We were enroute to the North Arabian Sea and got vectored in to relieve the BARBEL of her deck load. I have a good photo of the sub with the crowd on deck before we started the evacuation. Later that same day as we headed to Singapore to offload, we came across another boatload. We stopped and put cargo nets over the side. Seventh Fleet Oporders specified that refugees were not to be taken aboard unless the craft was in danger of sinking. The Capt. assigned me to go aboard and inspect the boat (about 35 feet). I had one of the rig captain's pass me a fire ax and I "tested" a few planks. Sumbitch!!! The sucker was taking water. We picked up that batch too. There were a number of babies onboard. The mothers couldn't climb the net and hold the kid so I had a mail bag tied to a heaving line and lowered. We would pop a baby into the bag and haul it up with mom scrambling up the net after it. In April 84, I took over as Master in Singapore. The HASS was outbound from the I.O. I clued the bridge watch team in for refugee watch as we transited the South China Sea and sure enough, we spotted a boat with a sheet with SOS printed on it. We swung in and put the nets over the side. I had an armed party standing by since piracy had been increasing, but these were real boat-people. I had my cargo mate inspect the boat and "test" some planks with the same result I caused back in 1981. We took the refugees aboard and continued on to Subic where they went into a holding camp. Some of them came to the US and one was an MD in San Jose in 1990, another was an MD in Paris. I haven't heard from them now in over a decade. I have photos of the BARBEL rescue and some blurred shots of our second rescue. It was at twilight so the quality is lousy. I've also got good shots of the rescue in 1984. I'll try scanning some of the better ones and send them on. I think the total between the three rescues was 211 souls. Best regards, Pat Moloney, Cargo Mate/Chief Mate 80/81, Master 84-88"

01/102003 - Began creating History Page for USS Barbel (SS-580) as a result of this recent e-mail.

01/08/2003 - E-mail just received -

Subj: Vietnamese Refugees 
Date: 1/8/2003 10:05:24 AM Eastern Standard Time 
From: (e-mail address omitted)
To: contovi@aol.com - USS Hassayampa (AO-145) webmaster
Sent from the Internet

Greetings,

I was just surfing the web under USS Barbel and came across your inquiry about the sub which picked up the refugees.

It was indeed the USS Barbel SS-580. I was serving on board her that night. We were running on the surface, charging batteries (we were a diesel boat). It was about 10-11 pm. We spotted a light of a boat and it started to head toward us. Once we identified the boat and people on board we sent 2 men on their craft to see what help they needed. Our crewmen reported their boat was taking on water and was slowly sinking. There were 87 men, women, and children on board, their boat was barely 30 ft long.

We began taking them on board (topside only). We furnished them with blankets, food, milk, and cigarettes. We also made shelters from blankets topside for them. They were dehydrated and hungry. Our hospital corpsman looked after their small children (we had no doctor on board).

We were notified that the Hassayampa would meet with us the next morning to take the refugees to Singapore. I personally stayed topside with them all night to ensure their safety. We made them as comfortable as we could considering they were all on the topside of a small submarine.

It was quite a sight when the sun came up to see all these makeshift shelters and people crowded on the back of a US submarine! The Hassayampa showed up and we began shuttling the refugees to the Hassayampa in their whaleboat. Once all the refugees were aboard the Hassayampa and she sailed away, we sank the boat since it was a navigational hazard.

I do remember one man who served in the South Vietnamese Army that was with them. He had been an officer and he was one of the only ones who spoke any English.

I have many photos I took that night and day. We did receive a Humanitarian Service Medal. It was a very moving ordeal to see all these people risk their lives to escape communism and search for a "better" place. I still think back on that night to this day when I hear people complain how bad they have it or how bad the US is, they just don't know......

I hope some of this info helps. It did happen approx. 22 years ago but I do remember it pretty good. Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

Best,
Gary Nielson
USS Barbel (SS-580) 1980-1983

[webmaster's note:  am in contact with author of e-mail and have requested photos. Informed HASSAYAMPA board of current events.]

09/18/2002 - E-mail just received -

"In response to the question of the rescue from the sub:  I have photos of the sub with pax onboard. I have photos of our xfer to the Hass using Hass whaleboat. The sub was the Barbel. ( I'm pretty sure, but there were three boats in that class [the B-Girls]; it was one of them. Last Diesel boats in the USN. Check her record. She would have got a Humanitarian Svc Awd out of it. We picked up another boat that day. Total Boat people for the day (and I regret I don't have the breakdown) was 211 Vietnamese rescued that day. A good day's work!   Sea Story ... I was Cargo Mate, #3 in the chain of command...there isn't anything like it that fits comfortably in the Navy chain so work with me here. 7th Fleet Oporders were to give directions and provisions to boat people. Nothing more. I was a Viet Nam Vet and anyone who tried to get out of there was going to get a fair deal by me. I went down to the boat with a fire ax and tested a few planks for soundness. Sumbitch!!! That boat was taking water. She was unseaworthy as I radioed to our Capt. We had to take those refugees aboard.   I stayed in touch for a while. Of our 26 refugees on that two wound up as MD's one in San Jose, another in Paris. Best Regards, M/"

[webmaster's note:  See entry dated 04/02/2002 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. E-mail address of "M/" was misplaced. Internet search for submarine BARBELL came up with nothing definitive; placed additional notice on HASSAYAMPA board]

04/02/2002 - E-mail just received seeking information regarding the following -

"The USNS Hassayampa picked up an overloaded boat of Vietnamese escaping the communist country and (my friend) was on it. This was in 1982 (I think). The story goes, first a U.S. submarine surfaced in the Pacific near the boat of refugees and created a temporary tent city on top of the sub for them to stay. Later the Hassayampa picked them up and took them to Singapore. (My friend) would like to know the name of the submarine that rescued him before the Hassayampa came along and took them to Singapore. Do you know of a way to find out what the submarine's name was? Would the USNS Hassayampa have a ship's log somewhere?"

Any info regarding this incident would be greatly appreciated. Please e-mail any information you may have to webmaster, terrykuehn@hotmail.com.

[webmaster's note:  Internet search came up with nothing definitive; placed notice on HASSAYAMPA board in search of additional information]

Barbel Class Submarine: Laid down, 18 May 1956, at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, NH.; Launched, 19 July 1958; Sponsored by Mrs. Bernard L. Austin; Commissioned, USS Barbel (SS-580), 17 January 1959 with LCdr Ord Kimzey, Jr., in command; Decommissioned, 4 December 1989; Struck from the Naval Register, 17 January 1990; Final Disposition, sunk as a target, 30 January 2001, at 032° 19' 08.0" North, 121° 36' 16.0" West, depth: 1972 fathoms.

Specifications: Displacement, Surface 2,140 t., Submerged: 2,639 t.; Length 218' 1" ; Beam 29'; Draft 29' 3"; Speed, Surfaced 15 kts, Submerged (snorkel) 12 kts, (battery) 21 kts; Maximum Operating Depth, 712 ft.; Complement 8 Officers 75 Enlisted; Armament, six 21" torpedo tubes (bow), 18 torpedo capacity including 6 loaded Sensors 2 periscopes, active sonar, passive sonar, radar, ECM; Propulsion, Surface Propulsion 3 Fairbanks-Morse 38d(8 1/8)x10 diesel engines Designed SHP continuous: 3150 Designed RPM: 1 propeller; Fuel capacity: 112,000 gallons Cruising Distance: 19,000 miles without refueling Submerged Propulsion (Snorkel) Designed SHP: 2400 Designed RPM: 52 Submerged Propulsion (Battery) 2 General Electric motors Designed SHP: 4800 Designed RPM: 198 Maximum safe astern RPM: 110 Endurance at full speed: 0.5 hours Endurance at 3 knots: 102.0 hours

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Barbel (SS-580) was laid by Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 18 May 1956. She was launched on 19 July 1958, sponsored by Mrs. Bernard L. Austin, and commissioned on 17 January 1959 with Lieutenant Commander Ord Kimzey, Jr. in command.

Barbel was the lead ship of her class, which was the first class built with a teardrop shape. These three submarines were also milestones in that they were the last diesel electric propelled submarines built by the US Navy. This class was also the first to incorporate a centralized arrangement of controls, or "attack center".

As the first ship of her class and design, Barbel conducted builder's trials, special tests, and a post shake-down overhaul prior to joining Submarine Division 62 in Norfolk, Virginia in the summer of 1960. In January 1962, Barbel transited the Panama Canal to San Diego, California, where she joined the U.S. Pacific Fleet, operating as a unit of Submarine Division 33 for six months.

Barbel moved in July 1962 to Pearl Harbor as a flagship for the newly formed Submarine Division 133, operating in the Mid-Pacific and deploying to the Western Pacific for operations with Seventh Fleet. In April 1964, Barbel departed for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for overhaul. Upon completion of the overhaul and extensive testing, she returned to Pearl Harbor as the first submarine to incorporate the enhanced reliability of the "SUBSAFE" modifications. 

Over the next eleven years (1965-1976), Barbel conducted seven extended deployments to the Western Pacific. During those deployments, Barbel visited ports in Australia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong, and operated, with units of the U.S. SEVENTH Fleet and allied navies. During the same interval, the ship also underwent three overhauls - two at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and a third at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. In November, 1976, at the conclusion of the third overhaul, Barbel visited Victoria and Vancouver, Canada, and Seattle, Washington before returning to Pearl Harbor.

Barbel conducted another four extended Western Pacific and two Eastern Pacific deployments before beginning her next overhaul at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in September 1982. Following that overhaul and operations in the Hawaiian area, Barbel deployed to the Western Pacific for the twelfth time in September 1984, returning to Pearl Harbor in March 1985. Barbel conducted local operations and refits until September 1985. Barbel was then forward deployed in Sasebo, Japan in October 1985 under U.S. SEVENTH Fleet and Commander Task Force 74/Submarine Group Seven.

On 1 May 1989 Barbel experienced a flooding casualty taking the lives of two shipmates. The damage to the submarine was extensive and the decision was made to decommission her. She was decommissioned 4 December 1989 and struck from the navy list on 4 March 1992. On 30 January 2001, Barbel was sunk as a target (at 032° 19' 08.0" North, 121° 36' 16.0" West ) off the coast of San Pedro California in 11,800 feet of water.

Barbel (SS-580) won four battle stars for her Vietnam service.

USS Barbel (SS-580), Guam c.1987
Photo by Dave Johnston
USS Barbel as she approaches the pier at Polaris Point, Guam in April, 1987. She is being assisted by the tug
Nogalesen (YTB-777) - navsource.org

First Day Cover

First Day Cover