USS Barracuda SS 163
The USS Barracuda SS 163 was a Barracuda-class submarine that was originally launched on July 17th, 1944 from the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine and was sponsored by a Mrs. Cornelia Wolcott Snyder who was the wife of Captain Snyder. The sub was officially commissioned on October 1st, 1924 under the command of Lieutenant Commander S. Picking. After a brief shakedown training off the east coast of the U. S. she was finally assigned to the Submarine Division 20 and then setting out on her maiden voyage on January 14th, 1925 cruising throughout the Caribbean Sea and returning in May. She continued cruising along the Atlantic coast line under patrol order until November of 1927.
Submarine Division 20 left the her training waters of New Hampshire on November 8th, 1927 and headed south where she transited the Panama Canal and directed herself west towards the Pacific Ocean and finally reached her destination of San Diego Bay, California on December 3rd. Between December of 1927 and May of 1932 the Barracuda participated in countless operational exercises around the Hawaiian Islands and carried out routine patrols throughout the Pacific. She was known as the V-1 until her name was officially changed to the USS Barracuda on March 9th, 1931 and her hull classification number was designated SS 163 on July 1st, 1931. In May of the following year of 1932 she joined up with the Submarine Division 15 and began Rotating Reserve with them at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
In January of 1933, the Barracuda was appointed as a unit of the Submarine Division 12 with whom she operated with until October 28th, 1936 when she took part in the Gravimetric Survey Expedition in the Caribbean Sea. Then on January 8th, 1937 she sailed north along the U. S. east coast until reaching her final resting place at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and the USS Barracuda SS 163 was placed out of commissioned on May 14th, 1937. She was re-commissioned in late 1940 and assigned to Submarine Division 31 where between December 15th, 1941 and September 7th, 1942 she completed six successful war patrols in the Pacific with no enemy contacts. In February of 1945 she operated on training problems with destroyers, other subs and aircraft in Block Island Sound. She was officially decommissioned for the last time on March 3rd, 1945.
While crewmen aboard the USS Barracuda SS 163 were confident in their submarine, they may have been endangered by a hazard onboard their own vessel that few could recognize at the time. Asbestos was used in nearly all areas of submarine construction. The Barracuda was no different. Asbestos was everywhere, particularly in insulation components and pipes or ducts within the Barracuda. Those who worked in or around these areas, either in a sub crew or sub repair areas should be extremely careful of a possible exposure to asbestos material, which has been linked to a deadly cancer known as mesothelioma (also referred to as asbestos cancer) as well as other types of respiratory diseases.
Last modified: December 28, 2010.
