By DAVID F. WINKLER

A few years ago, the Naval Historical Foundation received a phone call from an indignant individual who could not believe the Navy had honored then-mayor of Washington, D.C., Marion Barry by naming a ship for him and berthing it at the Washington Navy Yard. The caller was quickly informed that the destroyer in question — USS Barry — was actually named for Commodore John Barry, a key figure in the early Continental Navy.

No longer in commission, the “Display Ship” Barry serves in tandem with the U.S. Navy Museum as the service’s goodwill ambassadors in the nation’s capital. This year marks a milestone for the Bath Iron Works-built destroyer — it turns 50 — and the ship will figure more prominently as the museum expands to include a 20,000-square-foot gallery entitled “The U.S. Navy in the Cold War: Korea, Vietnam and the Soviet Confrontation.”

“[Barry] is an excellent representative of many of the events and missions that involved the Navy during this important period of naval history,” said Naval Historical Center Senior Historian Dr. Edward J. Marolda.

The third ship of the Forrest Sherman-class, and the third ship to be christened Barry, the destroyer joined the fleet Sept. 7, 1956, with Cmdr. Isaac C. Kidd Jr. in command. Barry frequently deployed with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. On its second “Med” deployment in 1958, Barry was on hand when U.S. Marines were landed at the request of the Lebanese government to ensure stability in the eastern Mediterranean.

Returning from Lebanon, Barry entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for an important modification: it was the first destroyer to be fitted with a large bulbous sonar dome containing an AN/SQS-23 sonar array.

“With the submarine emerging as the capital warship of the Soviet Navy, the introduction of the SQS-23 was an important technological leap for the U.S. Navy,” Marolda said.

With a transducer more than 20 feet in diameter, the AN/SQS-23 could detect submarines at ranges greater than 10,000 yards. An ideal opportunity for testing Barry’s new sonar occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis when it operated on the quarantine line locating and tracking Soviet Foxtrot-class submarines.

Barry also played a role in the space race. In 1965, the destroyer served as an assistant recovery ship for the Gemini IV mission.

With a large section of the new Cold War Gallery to be dedicated to the Navy’s role in the Vietnam War, Barry’s nearby presence is complementary. Steaming in company with the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, the destroyer arrived off South Vietnam in December 1965 and performed many missions, including screening of the carrier, gunfire support for American and South Vietnamese forces ashore, reconnaissance and special operations.

Returning to the states, Barry became the test platform for the new Mk86 fire-control system developed by Lockheed Electronics Co. — a system that would be deployed extensively on combatant ships over the next few decades.

Placed out of commission for 15 months beginning in January 1967, the destroyer received significant modifications to meet the growing Soviet submarine threat. The Boston Naval Shipyard replaced one of its gun mounts with an ASROC (antisubmarine rocket) launcher, added a variable-depth sonar array on the stern and installed a new Combat Information Center.

The reconfigured Barry subsequently represented American interests in the Mediterranean. Homeported in Athens, Greece, until 1975, Barry was on-scene to monitor the Soviet naval build-up prior to the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War. For the remainder of the decade, it served as a unit of the Atlantic Fleet, participating in numerous NATO exercises.

With the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979, the embassy hostage crisis and the subsequent Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the situation in the Middle East entered a new phase. Barry deployed twice through the Suez Canal to represent American interests in that region. After its final Middle East tour, Barry was decommissioned as new Aegis ships made it obsolete.

Towed to the Washington Navy Yard in 1984, Barry has been a Washington, D.C., landmark ever since. When the U.S. Navy Museum’s Cold War Gallery opens to the public, this historical icon will have even greater significance.

Sources: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships located online at www.history.navy.mil. For information about the Cold War Gallery Project visit www.navyhistory.org.

Dr. David F. Winkler is a historian with the Naval Historical Foundation.