The USS Barry (DD 933), launched on 1 October 1955, has made her final journey to the Port of Brownsville, Texas where she will be recycled by International Shipbreaking Limited, LLC.
Built in Bath, Maine in 1955 and commissioned as the third Forrest Sherman Class Destroyer, USS Barry (DD 933) in 1956; she was one of eight destroyers of her class to be chosen to receive anti-submarine warfare capability.
The USS Barry has taken part in many operations in service to her country including the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and the Vietnam War in 1965 and 1966. After she was commissioned in July 1956, she first operated as part of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, returning in 1958 during the Lebanon Crisis. In 1959, she was fitted with a large SQS-23 sonar which led to her spending the next three years carrying out sonar tests and anti-submarine warfare demonstrations in the Atlantic and Northern European seas. In 1968, the newly recommissioned USS Barry set sail for the Mediterranean Sea where she spent most of the 1970s, most notably being present during the 1973 Middle Eastern War and the 1974 Cyprus Crisis. She was decommissioned in November 1982 after 26 year's service.
Since being decommissioned, USS Barry (DD 933) spent 32 years on display in the nation's capital docked along the Potomac River at the Washington Navy yard. After departing for her final journey from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where she has been moored since 2016, the destroyer arrived at the Port of Brownsville on October 15, 2020.
Chris Green, Senior Manager at International Shipbreaking Ltd LLC, said: "We have developed a world class ship recycling operation here at the Port of Brownsville. My team of experienced professionals, the infrastructure, procedures and equipment we have in place enable us to recycle vintage vessels, like the USS Barry, safely, responsibly and respectfully."
International Shipbreaking Limited, LLC is part of world leading metal recycler, EMR and has three specialist ship and oil rig/platform recycling facilities located along the US Gulf Coast. International Shipbreaking located in Brownsville, Texas has previously towed, stripped and recycled the USS Constellation (CV 64), USS Ranger (CV-61) and USS Independence (CV 62). The USS Cape Florida (AK 5071), USS Charles F Adams (DDG 2) and USS Ticonderoga (CG 47) are currently being recycled.
This project will take a total of 6 months with a completion date set for 2nd Quarter 2021.
