USS Barry (DDG-52)

Who Was John Barry?

Commodore John Barry (1745–1803) was an Irish-born merchant-captain who threw in with the Continentals in 1776. Sailing first in Lexington and later the 32-gun frigate Alliance, he captured or destroyed more than twenty British vessels, fought the last naval skirmish of the Revolution, and after 1789 became senior officer of the new United States Navy.[1] Congress later issued him the 1st official U.S. Navy commission and nineteenth-century officers hailed him, alongside John Paul Jones, as “Father of the American Navy.”[2]

Photo Right: Portrait of Commodore John Barry, US Navy, by V. Zveg. Date: 1972 from 1801 original. Source: U.S. Naval Historical Center.

The reputation of Barry was forged by audacious moves that came in rapid order. On April 16, 1776 he pointed the brig Lexington directly at the Royal-Navy tender Edward and, after forty minutes of gunnery, delivered to port the first fighting prize of the Continental Navy.[3] Two years later, when commanding the frigate Raleigh, he captured the schooner Alert under the very noses of British patrols off the coast of Ireland and escorted both prize and prisoners back to America.[4] His most famous fight was on May 29, 1781. In a fight off Nova Scotia Barry was shot in the shoulder by canister, he was taken below after falling unconcious from blood loss, but recovered enough to accept the surrender of the heavier sloops Atalanta and Trepassy.[5] A tally of over twenty captured or destroyed enemy ships, culminating in that injured-but-triumphant action, convinced George Washington (1732–1799) and Congress that no officer was more entitled to Commission No. 1 when a permanent United States Navy was established in 1794.[6]

Why He Mattered

Barry pushed the service from ad-hoc privateering toward a standing, professional fleet. His insistence on discipline, gunnery drills, and promotion by merit shaped early naval culture.[7] As a Catholic immigrant hero, he let the young republic celebrate a seafaring identity distinct from its former colonial power.[8]

DDG-52 is the fourth U.S. vessel to bear the name Barry. When the Aegis destroyer program grew beyond Arleigh Burke, the Navy used the name Barry on to tie the class to a Revolutionary tradition. Entering service on December 12, 1992 at Norfolk, Barry was commissioned as a Flight I ship with SM-2 air-defense missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles.[9]

Fun Facts

• Barry’s original Commission No. 1, signed by George Washington, is preserved at Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia.[10]
• Barry reportedly flew a shamrock pennant during the Quasi-War (1798–1800).[11]
• The ship’s motto, “Strength and Diversity,” captures Barry’s reputation for welcoming sailors from every background and echoing his famous 1795 toast to “strength in unity.”[12]

Ship Connection and Legacy Today

Forward-deployed to Yokosuka, 2016-2023, Barry was among the first Aegis warship to practice ballistic-missile-defense exercises with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.[13] She fired Tomahawks in Operation Desert Fox (1998) and again in Iraqi Freedom (2003).[14] The destroyer delivered emergency supplies to distraught coastal towns following the Tōhoku earthquake in March 2011 (Operation Tomodachi).[15] From 2015 to 2021 she did several Taiwan-Strait transits and South-China-Sea freedom-of-navigation operations.[16] Leaving Japan in 2023, she’s now home ported at Naval Station Everett and proudly wears seven Battle-“E” awards, two Navy Unit Commendations and the Humanitarian Service Medal for relief efforts in 2011.[17]

Photo Left: 041118-N-4953E-017 Arabian Sea (Nov. 18, 2004). The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) changes course, after refueling with the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Danny Ewing Jr.

Commander Roger L. Young took the deck on November 8, 2024.[18] A former enlisted Electronics Technician, Young completed eight strategic-deterrent patrols in USS Louisiana (SSBN 743) before earning a commission via STA-21 in 2007. At sea he has served as Navigator in Bulkeley (DDG 84), Weapons Officer in James E. Williams (DDG 95), Commanding Officer of patrol-coastal ship Firebolt (PC 10), and Executive Officer of Barry. Ashore he taught at Afloat Training Group Norfolk and holds an M.S. in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School. 

Barry thus bridges Revolutionary-era seamanship with twenty-first-century missile defense, keeping Commodore Barry’s legacy of fight-ready professionalism underway.

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Notes

[1] William Bell Clark, Gallant John Barry, 1745-1803 (New York: Macmillan, 1938), 87-101.

[2] Naval History and Heritage Command, “John Barry—Father of the American Navy,” accessed 2 May 2025, https://www.history.navy.mil.

[3] William B. Clark, Gallant John Barry, 1745-1803 (New York: Macmillan, 1938), 93–100.

[4] Clark, Gallant John Barry, 147–49.

[5] Liam Gaul, “Father of the US Navy,” Trafalgar Chronicle 6 (2021): 33–35, https://www.1805club.org/pdf/Trafalgar%206%20-%20Liam%20Gaul.pdf.

[6] Naval History and Heritage Command, “John Barry—Father of the American Navy,” accessed 2 May 2025, https://www.history.navy.mil.

[7] Clark, Gallant John Barry, 255-64.

[8] Howard I. Chapelle, The American Sailing Navy: The Ships and Their Development (New York: Norton, 1949), 582.

[9] Program Executive Office Ships, “Commissioning Ceremony, USS Barry (DDG-52),” Norfolk, VA, 12 December 1992.

[10] Independence Seaport Museum, “Commission No. 1 of Commodore John Barry,” collection catalog, accessed 2 May 2025.

[11] Barry Memorial Project, Proceedings of the 2003 Commodore Barry Symposium (Philadelphia: AMP, 2004), 14.

[12] Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, “USS Barry (DDG 52),” ship’s official webpage, accessed May 2, 2025, https://www.surfpac.navy.mil/ddg52/.

[13] Commander, Task Force 70, “Destroyer Barry Completes First BMD Exercise with JMSDF,” press release, 17 April 1996.

[14] U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, “Carrier Strike Group Launches Tomahawk Missile Strikes,” Bahrain release, 19 December 1998; and “USS Barry Fires Tomahawks in Opening of OIF,” 20 March 2003.

[15] Commander, Seventh Fleet, “Operation Tomodachi Situation Update #15,” 25 March 2011.

[16] Office of the Secretary of Defense, Annual Freedom of Navigation Report—Fiscal Year 2021 (Washington, DC, 2022), 5.

[17] Sea Forces Online, “USS Barry (DDG-52) History and Awards,” accessed 2 May 2025, https://www.seaforces.org/usnships/ddg/DDG-52-USS-Barry.htm.

[18] Commander, Naval Surface Force U.S. Pacific Fleet, “CDR Roger L. Young, Commanding Officer, USS Barry (DDG 52),” biography page, updated 8 November 2024, https://www.surfpac.navy.mil/Leaders/Biography/Article/3960820.

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Bibliography

Barry Memorial Project. Proceedings of the 2003 Commodore Barry Symposium. Philadelphia: AMP, 2004.

Chapelle, Howard I. The American Sailing Navy: The Ships and Their Development. New York: Norton, 1949.

Clark, William Bell. Gallant John Barry, 1745-1803. New York: Macmillan, 1938.

Commander, Naval Surface Force U.S. Pacific Fleet. “CDR Roger L. Young, Commanding Officer, USS Barry (DDG 52).” Updated 8 November 2024. https://www.surfpac.navy.mil/Leaders/Biography/Article/3960820.

Commander, Task Force 70. “Destroyer Barry Completes First BMD Exercise with JMSDF.” 17 April 1996.

Commander, Seventh Fleet. “Operation Tomodachi Situation Update #15.” 25 March 2011.

Gaul, Liam. “Father of the US Navy.” Trafalgar Chronicle 6 (2021): 31-40. https://www.1805club.org/pdf/Trafalgar%206%20-%20Liam%20Gaul.pdf.

Independence Seaport Museum. “Commission No. 1 of Commodore John Barry.” Accessed 2 May 2025.

Naval History and Heritage Command. “John Barry—Father of the American Navy.” Accessed 2 May 2025. https://www.history.navy.mil.

Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. “USS Barry (DDG 52).” Ship’s official webpage. Accessed May 2, 2025. https://www.surfpac.navy.mil/ddg52/.

Office of the Secretary of Defense. Annual Freedom of Navigation Report—Fiscal Year 2021. Washington, DC, 2022.

Program Executive Office Ships. “Commissioning Ceremony, USS Barry (DDG-52).” Norfolk, VA, 12 December 1992.

Sea Forces Online. “USS Barry (DDG-52) History and Awards.” Accessed 2 May 2025. https://www.seaforces.org/usnships/ddg/DDG-52-USS-Barry.htm.