USS Barton (DD-599)

(Casualty List)

Navy USN

Type:

 Destroyer

Class:

 Benson

Pennant:

 DD 599

Built by:

 Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass
Laid Down: 20 May 1941

Crew;

 232

Launched:

 31 January 1942

Commissioned:

 29 May 1942
Decommissioned 13 November 1942

End service:

 13 November 1942

History:

 Last hours of the USS Barton had just fired a full spread of torpedoes at the HIJMS Hiei when the Light Cruiser USS Helena appeared suddenly out of the darkness and cut directly across the bow of the Barton. Making an emergency stop to avoid colliding with the USS Helena, the Barton found herself at a dead stop as her engineering crew tried to get her engines back into gear to get her moving again. However, before she could get underway two 'Long Lance' torpedoes fired by the HIJMS Amatsukaze slammed into the mid-ships of the USS Barton; one in her boiler room and one in her engine room. The massive explosions broke the Barton in two and both sections sank within minutes of the first torpedo striking, carrying with her 164 men: 13 officers and 151 of her crew. Forty-two survivors were rescued by USS Portland and twenty-six by Higgins boats from Guadalcanal.