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Why Commander Eugene Fluckey sent eight submariners ashore to blow up a Japanese train during WW2 — and they became the only US troops to conduct ground combat on Japanese home islands. This World War 2 story reveals how a submarine commander rewrote the rules of submarine warfare.
July twenty-second, nineteen forty-five. Commander Eugene Fluckey, captain of USS Barb, watched Japanese supply trains running along the Karafuto coastline from his periscope. Every submarine doctrine said submarines attacked ships, not trains. High Command would call this an unauthorized risk.
They were all wrong.
What Fluckey discovered that night wasn't about following doctrine. It was about adapting submarine capabilities in ways that contradicted everything the Navy taught. By the end of July twenty-third — the night eight sailors paddled ashore with fifty-five pounds of explosives — the US had conducted its only ground combat operation on Japanese sovereign territory during the entire Pacific War.
This mission proved submarines could project power beyond anti-shipping warfare. Fluckey also pioneered submarine-launched rockets, firing seventy-two at Japanese coastal targets. The principles disco
July twenty-second, nineteen forty-five. Commander Eugene Fluckey, captain of USS Barb, watched Japanese supply trains running along the Karafuto coastline from his periscope. Every submarine doctrine said submarines attacked ships, not trains. High Command would call this an unauthorized risk.
They were all wrong.
What Fluckey discovered that night wasn't about following doctrine. It was about adapting submarine capabilities in ways that contradicted everything the Navy taught. By the end of July twenty-third — the night eight sailors paddled ashore with fifty-five pounds of explosives — the US had conducted its only ground combat operation on Japanese sovereign territory during the entire Pacific War.
This mission proved submarines could project power beyond anti-shipping warfare. Fluckey also pioneered submarine-launched rockets, firing seventy-two at Japanese coastal targets. The principles disco
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00:00At 0700 on July 19, 1945, Commander Eugene Fluckey pressed his eye against a periscope of USS Barb,
00:09watching a Japanese supply train snake along the Karafuto coastline,
00:13carrying troops and ammunition that would kill American soldiers if he didn't stop it.
00:1931 years old, five war patrols as Barb's commander, 17 enemy ships already at the bottom.
00:25The Japanese were running six trains per day along that coastal railroad,
00:31each carrying between 40 and 60 soldiers plus ammunition and supplies for the garrison at Kashiho.
00:37Fluckey had been hunting in the Sea of Okhotsk for three weeks.
00:41The Gato-class submarine USS Barb displaced 2,400 tons submerged and carried a crew of 80 men.
00:49She was one of the most decorated submarines in the Pacific Fleet.
00:52Four presidential unit citations, eight battle stars, a Navy unit commendation.
00:58But what made Barb truly dangerous wasn't her awards.
01:02It was her captain.
01:04Three months earlier, Fluckey had received the Medal of Honor.
01:07The citation described his attack on Namquan Harbor off the coast of China in January 1945.
01:14He had taken Barb into water so shallow the submarine couldn't dive.
01:18Minefields on both sides, Japanese destroyers patrolling the entrance.
01:24Thirty merchant ships anchored inside, protected by what the Japanese believed was an impenetrable defensive position.
01:31Fluckey attacked anyway.
01:33Six torpedoes into the convoy, then four more.
01:36Then a high-speed surface run through uncharted waters while depth charges exploded around them.
01:42Eight ships sunk.
01:44Zero American casualties.
01:46The brass in Pearl Harbor called it the most audacious submarine attack of the war.
01:51But Fluckey wasn't satisfied.
01:54By June 1945, Japanese merchant shipping had nearly vanished from the Pacific.
02:00American submarines were running out of targets.
02:02Before Barb's 12th and final war patrol, Fluckey approached the Navy's research and development staff with an unusual request.
02:10He wanted rockets.
02:11The Mark 51 launcher held 12, 5-inch spin-stabilized rockets, each tipped with 10 pounds of high explosive, maximum
02:19range of three miles.
02:21The Navy was testing the system as an anti-kamikaze weapon for landing ships.
02:26Fluckey convinced them to bolt one onto Barb's forward deck.
02:29It made her the only rocket-launching submarine in the United States Navy.
02:33Barb departed Midway on June 8th, loaded with 72 rockets and orders to raise hell along the Japanese coast.
02:41She reached the waters north of Hokkaido on June 20th.
02:45Two days later, at 0230 on June 22nd, Fluckey surfaced three miles off the town of Shari.
02:51Population, 20,000.
02:54A factory district that produced supplies for the Japanese military.
02:57The submarine turned broadside to the shore.
03:00Fluckey gave the order.
03:02Twelve rockets ripple-fired in five seconds.
03:05They screamed through the darkness and slammed into Shari's industrial center.
03:10Fires erupted across the waterfront.
03:12Barb submerged and disappeared before the Japanese could respond.
03:16It was the first time in history a submarine had launched rockets against a shore target.
03:21Over the next three weeks, Barb fired 60 more rockets at factory towns along the Hokkaido and Karafuto coasts.
03:28Shikuka, Kashiho, Shiritori.
03:32Japan's largest paper mill destroyed.
03:34A leather tanning factory that made pilot uniforms burning.
03:38Small shipyards reduced to wreckage.
03:41Fluckey also used Barb's 4-inch deck gun to shell military installations.
03:45The submarine operated with impunity.
03:48By mid-July, Japanese reconnaissance aircraft were hunting for her.
03:52But Fluckey kept moving.
03:54Kept striking.
03:55Kept the enemy off balance.
03:57Then, on July 19th, while patrolling off southern Karafuto, Fluckey noticed something through the periscope.
04:03A railroad ran within 400 yards of the coastline.
04:07Trains moving north and south throughout the day and night.
04:10Locomotives pulling freight cars filled with troops and military cargo.
04:14The trains represented a supply line, feeding Japanese forces, preparing to resist an American invasion.
04:21Fluckey watched the trains for three days.
04:23He counted schedules.
04:24He studied the terrain.
04:26The beach was accessible.
04:28The tracks were vulnerable.
04:30And an idea began forming.
04:32The problem was obvious.
04:34Barb could surface and shell the railroad with her deck gun.
04:37But that would only damage the tracks.
04:40The Japanese would repair them within hours.
04:42What Fluckey wanted was to destroy a moving train.
04:46Maximum damage.
04:47Maximum disruption.
04:49Maximum psychological impact.
04:51But submarines didn't carry weapons designed for land targets.
04:55Torpedoes were useless.
04:57The rockets lacked the precision for a moving target.
05:00The deck gun couldn't track a train through coastal terrain.
05:03Fluckey needed a different solution.
05:06Something the Japanese wouldn't expect.
05:08Something no submarine had ever attempted.
05:10If you want to see how Fluckey solved this impossible problem, please hit that like button.
05:16It helps us share more forgotten stories from World War II.
05:19Subscribe if you haven't already.
05:22Back to Fluckey.
05:23On the evening of July 22nd, Chief Gunner's mate Paul Saunders and Electrician's mate 3rd Class Billy Hatfield
05:30sat in Barb's cramped forward torpedo room with a problem.
05:34Fluckey had asked them to devise a way to blow up a train without risking a shore party during the
05:39explosion.
05:39Hadfield stared at the 55-pound scuttling charge.
05:43The device was designed to destroy Barb if the crew had to abandon her to prevent capture.
05:48Hadfield had an idea.
05:50He remembered a childhood trick.
05:52Placing walnuts on railroad tracks so the weight of passing trains would crack them open.
05:57What if they could rig the scuttling charge the same way?
06:00A micro-switch buried under the rails.
06:03The weight of a locomotive closing the circuit.
06:05The train would destroy itself.
06:08Quote.
06:09Fluckey examined the device Hatfield and Saunders had constructed.
06:12A simple pressure switch salvaged from submarine components.
06:16Three dry-cell batteries wired in series.
06:19The 55-pound scuttling charge packed with enough explosive to vaporize a locomotive.
06:24The entire assembly fit inside an empty pickle jar for waterproofing.
06:28When a train's weight depressed the rails even a quarter inch, the micro-switch would complete
06:33the electrical circuit.
06:34Detonation would occur directly beneath the locomotive's boiler.
06:38Hatfield estimated the explosion would destroy at least the first three cars and derail everything
06:43behind them.
06:44The engineering was sound, but the mission itself presented enormous risks.
06:50Barb would need to surface within a thousand yards of the Japanese coastline.
06:53A shore party would paddle inflatable rafts to the beach, cross 400 yards of enemy territory,
07:00plant the explosive, and return before dawn.
07:02If Japanese patrols discovered them, the men would be trapped on hostile soil with no support
07:08and no escape route.
07:09If the submarine was spotted while surfaced in shallow water, she couldn't dive quickly
07:14enough to evade attack.
07:16Flukie calculated they would have roughly 90 minutes from the moment the rafts launched
07:20until Barb had to submerge.
07:22Every man aboard Barb volunteered for the mission.
07:26Eighty sailors raised their hands when Flukie asked for volunteers.
07:29The commander established strict criteria.
07:32First, unmarried men only.
07:34He refused to create widows.
07:36Second, physical fitness and swimming ability.
07:40The men would be paddling through surf and might need to swim if the rafts capsized.
07:45Third, preferably former Boy Scouts.
07:48Flukie had been a scout himself and believed their training in navigation and emergency procedures
07:53would prove invaluable if the party got separated or lost.
07:57Fourth, a mix of skills.
07:59He needed an electrician to wire the device, strong men to dig, and experienced sailors who
08:05could handle the rafts in darkness.
08:06Flukie selected eight men.
08:08Chief Gunner's mate Paul Saunders would lead the shore party.
08:11Twenty-six years old.
08:13He had served aboard Barb since her commissioning in 1942.
08:16Every single war patrol, Atlantic and Pacific.
08:20Electricians mate third class Billy Hatfield would handle the explosive device.
08:25He had worked for the railroad before the war and understood track construction.
08:29Signalman's second class Francis Sever.
08:32Ships cook first class Lawrence Newland.
08:34Torpedo man's mate third class Edward Klinglesmith.
08:37Motor machinist mate second class James Richard.
08:40Motor machinist mate first class John Markison.
08:43And Lieutenant William Walker would serve as the officer in charge.
08:47The crew began preparations.
08:49Barb's engineers cut steel plates from the engine room lower flats,
08:52then bent and welded them into improvised picks and shovels for digging.
08:56The shore party would need to bury the explosive and batteries
08:59at least six inches beneath the railroad ties
09:01to ensure the microswitch functioned properly.
09:04The men packed survival gear in case they had to flee towards Soviet territory
09:08on the northern half of Sakhalin Island,
09:11130 miles through mountain ranges.
09:13They also packed raw stakes.
09:16Intelligence reports indicated Japanese patrols used guard dogs along the coastal railroad.
09:20The stakes might buy them a few precious seconds if they encountered animals.
09:24Weather became the critical factor.
09:26Flucky needed cloud cover to hide the three-quarter moon.
09:29Clear skies would illuminate the submarine in the rafts,
09:32making them visible to Japanese sentries.
09:34For four days, Barb patrolled off Karafuto while the crew watched the sky.
09:40Clear. Clear. Clear again.
09:43Flucky grew increasingly frustrated.
09:45Only five days remained in their patrol schedule.
09:48After that, Barb would need to return to Midway.
09:51The window was closing.
09:52On the afternoon of July 22nd, cirrus clouds appeared on the horizon.
09:57By evening, white stratus clouds were capping the mountain peaks along the Karafuto coast.
10:02A cloud cover was building from the west.
10:05Flucky made the decision.
10:06They would execute the mission that night.
10:09Final preparations accelerated.
10:11The shore party checked their equipment.
10:14Waterproof flashlights.
10:16Pistols.
10:16The pickle jar containing batteries and explosives.
10:19Digging tools.
10:21Mae West life vests in case they had to swim.
10:24The two rubber rafts were readied on deck.
10:26At 2300 hours on July 22nd, Barb began her approach to the Karafuto coastline.
10:33Flucky kept the submarine on the surface, running slowly on electric motors to reduce noise.
10:39The sky cooperated.
10:41Cloud cover obscured the moon.
10:43Darkness blanketed the water.
10:45Through the periscope, Flucky could see the railroad running parallel to the shoreline.
10:50No lights visible on the beach.
10:52No signs of patrol activity.
10:54The conditions were as favorable as they would ever be.
10:57Barb crept to within 950 yards of the shore.
11:01The depth gauge showed only 36 feet of water.
11:04If Japanese patrol boats appeared, the submarine would have perhaps 90 seconds to crash dive.
11:10Even then, she might hit bottom before fully submerging.
11:14Flucky was betting everything on surprise and darkness.
11:17The eight men assembled on deck wearing dark clothing.
11:21Saunders checked his watch.
11:22Midnight was approaching.
11:25Flucky gave the order.
11:26The rafts went over the side.
11:29The rafts hit the water at 005 on July 23rd.
11:34Saunders and Walker took the lead raft, with Hatfield and Sever.
11:37The second raft carried Newland, Klinglesmith, Richard, and Markison.
11:42The men pushed off from Barb's hull and began paddling toward the invisible shoreline.
11:47No lights.
11:48No sound except the dip of paddles and the whisper of water against rubber.
11:52The cloud cover held.
11:54Darkness remained absolute.
11:57Behind them, USS Barb sat low in the water, a darker shadow against the black ocean.
12:03Twenty-five minutes to reach the beach.
12:05The men paddled steadily, maintaining formation.
12:09The surf was light.
12:10No breakers to contend with.
12:12The rafts grounded on sand at 0030.
12:14All eight men dragged the boats above the high tide line and secured them behind rocks and driftwood.
12:21Newland and Richard stayed with the rafts as guards.
12:23Their job was to ensure the escape route remained open and to signal Barb if Japanese patrols approached.
12:29The other six men moved inland.
12:31They were the first American combat troops to set foot on one of Japan's four main home islands.
12:38Karafuto was part of the Japanese prefecture system, administered from Tokyo, populated by Japanese civilians and defended by Japanese military
12:46forces.
12:47Every step they took was on enemy sovereign territory.
12:51Getting caught meant execution.
12:53The Geneva Convention didn't protect saboteurs operating behind enemy lines in civilian clothes.
12:59The terrain was rougher than expected.
13:01High grass concealed uneven ground.
13:04Sever nearly twisted his ankle in a depression hidden by vegetation.
13:08They moved slowly, testing each step before committing their weight.
13:12Fifty yards inland, they encountered a drainage ditch, three feet deep, water at the bottom.
13:18The men lowered themselves into the ditch, crossed the muddy bottom, and climbed the opposite bank.
13:24Their clothing was now wet and heavy.
13:27One hundred yards from the beach, they reached a packed earth road, vehicle tracks visible in the dirt.
13:32The road ran parallel to the railroad, connecting coastal villages.
13:36Saunders signaled a halt.
13:38The men crouched in the grass beside the road and listened.
13:41No engine sounds.
13:43No voices.
13:45No movement.
13:46They crossed quickly, one at a time, then continued toward the railroad embankment, visible as a dark ridge against the
13:53slightly lighter sky.
13:55At 0050, they reached the base of the railroad embankment.
13:59Walker and Saunders climbed to the tracks and examined the area.
14:03The rails ran north-south on a raised bed of gravel and crushed rock.
14:07Wooden ties spaced evenly beneath the steel rails.
14:11The position offered good visibility in both directions.
14:14Too good.
14:15If a patrol came along the tracks, the shore party would be completely exposed.
14:20They needed to work fast.
14:22But before they could begin digging, Sever grabbed Saunders' arm and pointed north.
14:27A faint vibration in the rails.
14:29Then, a distant sound.
14:32A train was coming.
14:33The men dropped flat in the grass beside the embankment.
14:37Hatfield pulled the pickle jar containing the explosive device tight against his chest.
14:41The vibration grew stronger.
14:44The sound became a rhythmic chugging.
14:46A locomotive pulling freight cars through the darkness.
14:49The train appeared from the north at approximately 0055.
14:53No headlight.
14:55Complete blackout conditions.
14:57The locomotive passed within 15 feet of where the Americans lay hidden.
15:01Steam hissing.
15:03Wheels clacking over rail joints.
15:05The men could feel the ground shaking.
15:08Freight cars followed.
15:091, 2, 5, 10.
15:14The shore party counted silently.
15:1715 freight cars.
15:19Then the train was passed, continuing south toward Cashiho.
15:23The sound faded into the distance.
15:26Saunders waited two full minutes after the train disappeared before giving the signal to move.
15:31The men climbed onto the embankment and took positions.
15:34Klinglesmith, Sever, and Walker spread out as sentries.
15:38Klinglesmith moved north along the tracks 50 yards.
15:42Sever went south the same distance.
15:44Walker positioned himself where he could see both directions and watch the road they had crossed.
15:49That left Saunders, Hatfield, and Markison to dig and plant the device.
15:55Hatfield selected the location.
15:57A straight section of track where an approaching train would be traveling at maximum speed.
16:02No curves to slow it down.
16:04No grade to reduce momentum.
16:06The rails here ran level across flat ground for at least half a mile in both directions.
16:13Perfect.
16:14Hatfield knelt between the rails and examined the ties.
16:17He needed to bury the explosive directly beneath the rail where the locomotive's weight would depress it enough to trigger
16:24the micro switch.
16:25Saunders and Markison began digging with the improvised tools.
16:28The gravel came away easily at first, but six inches down, they hit compacted earth mixed with larger rocks.
16:36The digging became harder.
16:38Slower.
16:39The steel shovel scraped against stones.
16:41Each sound seemed impossibly loud in the darkness.
16:45Hatfield kept checking his watch.
16:47They had been on shore for 30 minutes.
16:49Flucky would wait 90 minutes maximum before Barb had to dive.
16:53The clock was running.
16:55At 01.15, Sever whistled softly from his position south along the tracks.
17:01Another train was coming.
17:04The shore party dropped flat again.
17:06This train was approaching from the south, moving north, the opposite direction from the first one.
17:12Hatfield lay beside the partially excavated hole, still clutching the pickle jar.
17:17The digging tools were scattered across the gravel between the rails.
17:21If the locomotive's headlight was on, the engineer would see everything.
17:25The mission would be compromised.
17:27Japanese troops would flood the area within minutes.
17:30But, like the first train, this one ran in complete darkness.
17:35No headlight.
17:36The blackout protocols the Japanese were enforcing along the coastal railroad were protecting the American saboteurs.
17:43The locomotive thundered past at 01.17.
17:47Another freight train.
17:49Fourteen cars this time.
17:51Hatfield counted them as they clattered overhead.
17:53The shore party remained motionless until the sound faded completely to the north.
17:58Two trains in 22 minutes.
18:00The railroad was more active at night than Fluckey's observations had suggested.
18:06Saunders motioned the men back to work.
18:08They had less than an hour before Barb would need to submerge.
18:12Markison attacked the hole with renewed urgency.
18:14The shovel bit into the compacted earth.
18:17Rocks scraped free.
18:19Saunders used the pick to break up the harder sections.
18:22Within 15 minutes, they had excavated a space roughly 12 inches square
18:26and 8 inches deep directly beneath the western rail.
18:30Large enough to accommodate the scuttling charge, the batteries, and the microswitch assembly.
18:36Hatfield removed the components from the pickle jar.
18:39The 55-pound scuttling charge was a cylindrical metal canister packed with high explosive.
18:45Enough power to blow a 3-foot hole in a submarine's pressure hull.
18:49Against a locomotive traveling at 40 miles per hour, the effect would be catastrophic.
18:55Hatfield positioned the charge at the bottom of the hole and packed dirt around it to hold it steady.
19:00Then, he carefully placed the three dry cell batteries beside the charge and began wiring the circuit.
19:07The microswitch was the critical component.
19:10Hatfield had designed it to close when the rail above it depressed under the locomotive's weight.
19:15Japanese locomotives typically weighed between 60 and 80 tons.
19:19That weight distributed across the wheels would push the rail downward approximately one-quarter to one-half inch.
19:28The microswitch needed to be positioned precisely.
19:31Too deep, and the rail wouldn't depress enough to trigger it.
19:35Too shallow, and vibrations from normal track expansion might cause a premature detonation.
19:42Hatfield worked by touch more than sight.
19:44His waterproof flashlight provided minimal illumination, directed downward into the hole, to prevent the beam from being visible at a
19:52distance.
19:53He connected the positive terminal from the batteries to one side of the microswitch.
19:58The negative terminal ran to the scuttling charge detonator.
20:02The final connection from the detonator back to the microswitch would complete the circuit.
20:08But Hatfield left that wire disconnected.
20:10He would make the final connection last, just before they departed.
20:14Until then, the device was safe.
20:17At 0135, Hatfield had the wiring completed except for the final connection.
20:23He looked at Saunders and nodded.
20:26Saunders signaled Walker.
20:27The sentries began pulling back to the work site.
20:31Klingelsmith returned from the north.
20:34Sever from the south.
20:35Walker came up from his observation position near the road.
20:39The six men gathered at the tracks.
20:41Hatfield made the final connection.
20:43The circuit was now live.
20:46Any significant downward pressure on the rail above the microswitch would trigger the explosion.
20:51He covered the device carefully with dirt and gravel, smoothing it to match the surrounding ballast.
20:57No visible disturbance.
21:00A track inspector walking this section in daylight might notice the slightly disturbed gravel.
21:05But a locomotive engineer traveling at speed in darkness would see nothing unusual.
21:11The shore party moved off the railroad embankment and began working their way back toward the beach.
21:16Same route in reverse.
21:18Across the road.
21:20Through the drainage ditch.
21:22Through the high grass.
21:23They moved faster now.
21:25The mission was complete.
21:26The explosive was armed.
21:28Every minute they remained on Japanese soil increased the risk of discovery.
21:33At 0145, they reached the beach where Newland and Richard were waiting with the rafts.
21:39All eight men dragged the rafts to the waterline and climbed aboard.
21:44Saunders checked the luminous dial on his watch.
21:46They had been ashore for exactly one hour and 40 minutes.
21:50Barb would be preparing to dive.
21:52The rafts pushed off from the beach and the men began paddling toward the position where the submarine waited.
21:58The distance back to Barb was 950 yards.
22:02In calm water with experienced paddlers, that meant roughly 15 minutes.
22:06They were halfway to the submarine when Flucky's voice cut through the darkness.
22:11He was shouting through a megaphone from Barb's conning tower, telling them to paddle faster.
22:16Another train was coming down the tracks.
22:20The men in the rafts could hear it now.
22:23The distant sound of a locomotive building speed.
22:27Flucky had spotted the train through Barb's periscope while tracking the shore party's return.
22:32The headlight was off, but the locomotive's exhaust plume was visible against the mountain silhouette.
22:37The train was approaching from the north, heading directly toward the section of track where Hatfield had buried the explosive
22:45device.
22:46The timing was going to be catastrophically close.
22:50Saunders and his men drove their paddles into the water with desperate rhythm.
22:54The rafts were still 400 yards from Barb.
22:57The submarine sat impossibly low in the water, her hull barely visible even at close range.
23:03Flucky had moved her to within 600 yards of the shore, decreasing the distance the rafts needed to travel,
23:10but putting Barb in water so shallow she would scrape bottom if she attempted a crash dive.
23:15Every man aboard the submarine who wasn't essential to operations was on deck, watching the shore and the approaching train.
23:23The rafts closed the distance.
23:26300 yards.
23:28200.
23:29The sound of the train grew louder.
23:31Through the darkness, the men paddling could now see the locomotive's silhouette.
23:36It was traveling fast, probably 40 or 45 miles per hour.
23:41The engineer was making up time, pushing hard through the coastal section where the tracks ran straight and level.
23:49The locomotive was perhaps a mile north of the buried explosive, maybe 90 seconds away.
23:55Flucky had a decision to make.
23:57If he waited for the rafts to reach Barb before diving, the submarine might be caught on the surface when
24:04Japanese response forces arrived after the explosion.
24:08Coastal artillery could open fire.
24:10Patrol boats could converge on their position.
24:13But if he submerged now, the eight men in the rafts would be stranded on the surface with no way
24:19to escape.
24:20Flucky made his choice.
24:22He ordered Barb to turn and prepare for emergency dive.
24:26But he would wait.
24:27The shore party had earned that much.
24:30The rafts reached Barb at 0146.
24:33The men scrambled up the submarine's hull and through the deck hatches.
24:37Saunders was the last man off the rafts.
24:40The rubber boats were cut loose and abandoned.
24:43They would drift and eventually sink.
24:45No time to retrieve them.
24:47Flucky ordered the deck crew below and sealed the hatches.
24:51Barb's diesel engines rumbled to life.
24:54The submarine began turning away from shore, accelerating toward deeper water.
24:59At 0147 on July 23, 1945, the northbound train reached the section of track where the microswitch waited.
25:08The locomotive's lead wheels passed over the device.
25:1268 tons of steel and steam pressing down on the rails.
25:17The western rail depressed.
25:19The microswitch closed.
25:21The electrical circuit completed.
25:2355 pounds of high explosive detonated directly beneath the locomotive's boiler.
25:29The explosion was visible from Barb, even though the submarine was now 700 yards offshore and accelerating.
25:36A massive fireball erupted along the railroad embankment.
25:40The locomotive's boiler ruptured instantly, adding superheated steam to the explosion.
25:46Metal fragments shot upward in a fountain of burning debris.
25:50Pieces of the engine flew 200 feet into the air, tumbling end over end before crashing back to earth.
25:58The locomotive itself disintegrated.
26:01The boiler split into three sections.
26:03The drive wheels separated from the chassis.
26:07The smokestack and cab section were hurled forward, cartwheeling down the embankment toward the beach.
26:13The freight cars following the locomotive had no time to brake.
26:17The first car slammed into the wreckage at full speed and accordioned.
26:22The second car climbed up and over the first, its wooden frame splintering.
26:27The third car jackknifed sideways and rolled off the embankment.
26:31Cars 4 through 16 piled into the growing mass of twisted metal and shattered wood.
26:37The sound reached Barb as a rolling thunder that echoed off the coastal mountains.
26:42Fires ignited across the wreckage.
26:45Ammunition in several cars began cooking off, adding secondary explosions to the chaos.
26:50Flucky ordered all non-essential personnel topside to witness what they had accomplished.
26:55Dozens of submariners crowded onto Barb's deck and conning tower.
27:00They watched the fires burning along the Karafuto coastline.
27:04Japanese propaganda would later claim the train was carrying civilian passengers.
27:09American intelligence indicated otherwise.
27:11Trains running at night on coastal military railroads were transporting troops and war material.
27:17The men aboard that train were soldiers headed south to reinforce defensive positions against the expected American invasion.
27:25Barb continued accelerating toward deeper water.
27:29Within ten minutes, the submarine would be in water deep enough to dive safely.
27:33Flucky allowed himself a moment to consider what his crew had just achieved.
27:37They had destroyed a Japanese military train using a submarine.
27:41The first and only time in naval history such an operation had been executed successfully.
27:46But more importantly, they had conducted the only allied ground combat operation on Japanese home island soil during the entire
27:54Pacific War.
27:56The celebration was premature.
27:58Japanese searchlights were sweeping the water from coastal positions,
28:02looking for the submarine that had just declared war on their railroad.
28:07The searchlights originated from at least three different coastal positions.
28:12Japanese military installations responding to the explosion.
28:16The beams swept across the water in coordinated patterns,
28:19searching for the submarine they knew must be responsible.
28:23Barb was still on the surface, running at maximum speed toward deeper water.
28:27Her dark gray paint helped her blend into the black ocean,
28:30but if one of those searchlight beams caught her,
28:32coastal artillery would open fire within seconds.
28:36Flucky ordered a course change, angling northeast away from the search pattern.
28:41Barb's diesel engines were running at 150% overload,
28:45the same emergency power setting Flucky had used during the escape from Namquan Harbor.
28:49The submarine was making 23 knots on the surface,
28:53leaving a phosphorescent wake that would be visible if the searchlights got close enough.
28:57The depth gauge showed 48 feet.
28:59Still too shallow for a safe dive,
29:02but better than the 36 feet they had been operating in near shore.
29:06At 0200, Barb crossed into water 60 feet deep.
29:10Flucky gave the order to dive.
29:12The submarine's bow tilted downward as ballast tanks flooded.
29:15The deck crew had already secured all topside equipment.
29:19Within 90 seconds, Barb was completely submerged and leveling off at periscope depth.
29:24The searchlights continued sweeping the surface above them,
29:27but the submarine was invisible now.
29:30Flucky maintained slow speed on electric motors to minimize noise signature.
29:34Japanese patrol boats would be launching soon if they hadn't already.
29:38The submarine stayed submerged for six hours,
29:41moving slowly away from Karafuto while Japanese forces searched the coastal waters.
29:46At 0800 on July 23rd, Flucky risked raising the periscope.
29:50No patrol boats visible.
29:52The searchlights had been extinguished with dawn.
29:55Smoke still rose from the railroad embankment where the train had exploded.
29:59Barb surfaced in deeper water and resumed patrol.
30:02But the mission wasn't complete.
30:04Flucky had four days remaining before Barb needed to return to Midway.
30:08He intended to use every hour.
30:10Over the next 72 hours, Barb continued attacking Japanese coastal targets.
30:15On July 24th, the submarine surfaced off Chiri and used her 4-inch deck gun to shell a military radio
30:22station.
30:23Direct hits destroyed the antenna array and set the building on fire.
30:27On July 25th, Barb attacked a small shipyard at Shiratoko,
30:32destroying two wooden coastal freighters under construction.
30:35On July 26th, the submarine fired her final 12 rockets at a military garrison on Kaihio Island,
30:42then withdrew toward open ocean.
30:44Japanese aircraft had been searching for Barb throughout the final patrol days.
30:49Reconnaissance planes crisscrossed the Sea of Okhotsk,
30:52trying to locate the submarine that was terrorizing their coastal infrastructure.
30:56Flucky evaded them through constant movement and by diving whenever aircraft were spotted.
31:01On July 27th, Barb set course for Midway Island.
31:05The 12th and final war patrol was complete.
31:08USS Barb arrived at Midway on August 2nd, 1945.
31:13The crew assembled on deck in dress uniforms, holding the submarine's battle flag.
31:18The flag was unlike any other in the United States Navy.
31:2217 patches representing ships sunk.
31:25Symbols for the Presidential Unit Citation and Navy Unit Commendation.
31:29Rocket and gun symbols denoting shore bombardments.
31:32Six Navy crosses earned by crew members.
31:3523 silver stars.
31:3723 bronze stars.
31:38A Medal of Honor ribbon at the top, representing Flucky's award from the previous patrol.
31:43And at the bottom center of the flag, a new symbol.
31:46A Japanese locomotive.
31:48The only submarine in history to sink a train now displayed that achievement on her battle colors.
31:54Admiral Chester Nimitz himself came to Midway to greet Barb's crew.
31:57The flag was photographed for Naval Archives.
32:00Eight men posed with the flag.
32:02The same eight who had gone ashore on Karafuto and planted the explosive that destroyed the train.
32:08Saunders, Hatfield, Sever, Newland, Klingelsmith, Richard, Markison, and Walker.
32:15They looked like ordinary sailors.
32:17Young men who might have been working in factories or on farms if not for the war.
32:21But they had accomplished something no military force had managed during the entire Pacific conflict.
32:27They had conducted offensive ground operations on Japanese home island territory.
32:32The train explosion became legendary within the submarine service.
32:36Other boats had attacked shore targets with deck guns.
32:39Some had launched rockets like Barb.
32:41But no other submarine had put men on enemy soil to destroy a target and extracted them successfully.
32:47The mission represented a new capability.
32:51Submarines weren't just commerce raiders or torpedo platforms.
32:54They could project power ashore through sabotage and special operations.
32:58Flucky received his fourth Navy cross for Barb's 12th patrol.
33:02The citation specifically mentioned the train attack and the rocket bombardments.
33:07Combined with his Medal of Honor and three previous Navy crosses,
33:11Flucky became one of the most decorated submarine commanders in American naval history.
33:16But when reporters asked him about his achievements, he consistently deflected credit to his crew.
33:22Six days after Barb reached Midway, the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima.
33:26Nine days later, Japan surrendered.
33:30The war ended before USS Barb could conduct another patrol.
33:35Japan's surrender on August 15th meant the submarine's combat career was over.
33:40Twelve war patrols spanning three years, five in the Atlantic theater during the early war years,
33:47seven in the Pacific, where Barb had compiled one of the most devastating records of any submarine in the American
33:53fleet.
33:54The official tally credited her with sinking 17 enemy vessels, totaling 96,628 tons.
34:02But those numbers didn't capture the full scope of what Barb had accomplished.
34:06The Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee reviewed Flucky's claims after the war.
34:12They confirmed the destruction of the escort carrier Unyo on September 17th, 1944.
34:1822,500 tons.
34:21The carrier had been transporting aircraft and pilots from Japan to the Philippines
34:26when Barb's torpedoes found her in the South China Sea.
34:29The ship sank in 40 minutes, taking most of her crew and cargo to the bottom.
34:35Barb had also destroyed numerous smaller warships, frigates, patrol craft, coastal defense vessels.
34:41The attacks on merchant shipping had strangled supply lines feeding Japanese garrisons across the Pacific.
34:47But the train remained Barb's most famous kill.
34:51Naval historians would spend decades analyzing the mission, the planning, the execution, the risks.
34:57What made the operation remarkable wasn't just its audacity.
35:02It was the proof of concept.
35:04Submarines could conduct operations far beyond traditional anti-shipping warfare.
35:09They could launch missiles.
35:10They could bombard shore installations.
35:12They could insert sabotage teams onto hostile territory and extract them successfully.
35:18The mission on Karafuto demonstrated capabilities that would define submarine warfare for the next 70 years.
35:25Fluckey's innovation with the rocket launcher proved particularly prescient.
35:29In 1945, submarines launching rockets at shore targets seemed like a desperate improvisation, born from lack of merchant shipping to
35:38attack.
35:38But within a decade, submarines armed with guided missiles became the most powerful weapons platforms in naval arsenals.
35:45The Regulus cruise missile program, Polaris ballistic missiles, Trident, Ohio-class submarines carrying enough nuclear firepower to destroy entire nations.
35:57All of them traced their conceptual lineage back to Fluckey bolting a Mark 51 rocket launcher onto Barb's deck and
36:04proving the concept worked.
36:06USS Barb herself had a less glorious post-war fate.
36:10The submarine was decommissioned in May 1947 and placed in reserve, recommissioned in 1951 for training duties, decommissioned again in
36:20February 1954.
36:22That same year, she underwent Guppy conversion, a modernization program that gave World War II submarines improved underwater performance.
36:31In December 1954, Barb was loaned to the Italian Navy under the Mutual Defense Assistance Act.
36:38The Italians renamed her Enrico Tazzoli after an Italian submarine commander from World War I.
36:44The submarine served in the Italian Navy for 18 years.
36:48By 1972, she was obsolete, worn out, no longer economically viable to maintain.
36:55The Italian government sold Enrico Tazzoli for scrap metal.
36:59The final price was approximately $100,000, roughly the cost of a modest house.
37:04When Fluckey learned what had happened, he reportedly said that if the crew had known,
37:09they would have pooled their money to buy Barb and bring her back to the United States as a museum
37:14ship.
37:14But by the time anyone realized, the submarine was already being cut apart in an Italian scrapyard.
37:20Only Barb's battle flag survived.
37:23The Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut, acquired it for their collection.
37:28Visitors can see it today, displayed behind glass, the 17 ship symbols, the train at the bottom, the Medal of
37:36Honor ribbon at the top.
37:38The flag tells the story more eloquently than any historical account.
37:43Eugene Fluckey remained in the Navy after the war.
37:46He served as an aide to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, then to Admiral Chester Nimitz.
37:51In 1960, President Eisenhower approved his promotion to Rear Admiral.
37:57Fluckey commanded the Amphibious Group 4, served as president of the Naval Board of Inspection and Survey,
38:03commanded the entire Pacific Submarine Force from 1964 to 66, and finished his career as Director of Naval Intelligence.
38:11He retired in 1972 after 37 years of service.
38:16Retirement didn't mean inactivity.
38:18Fluckey and his wife Marjorie moved to Portugal and opened an orphanage in 1974.
38:24They ran it for eight years, providing homes for children who had lost families.
38:29Marjorie died in 1979.
38:31Fluckey remarried in 1980 and continued the orphanage work until it closed in 1982.
38:37In 1992, he published Thunder Below, his memoir of commanding USS Barb.
38:44The book became required reading at the Naval Academy.
38:47Fluckey died on June 28, 2007.
38:51He was 93 years old.
38:52He was buried at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis.
38:57But there was one statistic Fluckey valued more than all the tonnage sunk, all the medals earned, all the recognition
39:03received.
39:04Zero.
39:05Zero Purple Hearts awarded to anyone who served under his command during five war patrols.
39:13Zero Casualties.
39:15That statistic defined Eugene Fluckey's command philosophy more than any tactical innovation or daring raid.
39:22He took calculated risks, but never reckless ones.
39:25He pushed his crew to the absolute limits of submarine capability, but never beyond the point where training and skill
39:32could compensate for danger.
39:34Five war patrols.
39:36Hundreds of depth charge attacks.
39:38Thousands of miles through minefields and shallow water.
39:42Countless hours surfaced in enemy-controlled seas.
39:44And every single man who served under Fluckey came home alive.
39:49The crew members of USS Barb went on to live ordinary post-war lives.
39:54Saunders returned to civilian work.
39:56Hatfield went back to the railroad industry.
39:58The others married, raised families, worked regular jobs.
40:02They rarely spoke about what they had done on Carafuto.
40:05The mission remained classified for years.
40:08Even after declassification, the men didn't seek publicity.
40:12They had been doing their jobs, following orders, trying to end the war and get home.
40:18The fact that their job involved paddling ashore on enemy territory to blow up a train was simply what the
40:24situation required.
40:25But history remembers what they accomplished.
40:27The eight men who went ashore that night in July 1945 conducted the only allied ground combat operation on Japanese
40:35home islands during the entire Pacific War.
40:39No marines landed on Honshu.
40:41No army troops fought on Hokkaido.
40:43No paratroopers dropped on Kyushu.
40:45The only American combatants to engage enemy forces on Japanese sovereign home island territory were eight submariners from USS Barb
40:54armed with shovels, a pickle jar full of batteries, and 55 pounds of high explosive.
40:59The mission's impact extended beyond the immediate destruction.
41:03The train explosion forced Japanese military planners to divert resources to coastal railroad defense.
41:10Guards were increased.
41:11Patrols were expanded.
41:13Engineering units were assigned to inspect tracks daily.
41:16Those resources came from somewhere else.
41:19Troops who might have reinforced defensive positions.
41:21Equipment that might have been used against American invasion forces.
41:25The psychological effect was equally significant.
41:28If American submarines could strike inland targets with impunity, nowhere was safe.
41:33The rocket attacks Flucky pioneered had similar effects.
41:36Coastal factories and military installations were no longer protected by distance from the ocean.
41:41A submarine could surface three miles offshore and destroy targets that previously required air raids.
41:47The 72 rockets Barb fired during her 12th patrol demonstrated a capability that would revolutionize naval warfare within a generation.
41:56The numbers tell part of the story.
41:5917 ships sunk.
42:0096,000 tons of enemy shipping destroyed.
42:03Four navy crosses and a medal of honor for the commander.
42:07Eight battle stars for the submarine.
42:09The first rocket attack from a submarine.
42:11The first and only submarine to sink a train.
42:14But the most important number was zero.
42:17Zero casualties among the crew during five combat patrols.
42:21Flucky brought every man home.
42:23That was his greatest achievement.
42:25Not the tonnage.
42:26Not the medals.
42:27Not the tactical innovations that changed submarine warfare forever.
42:31He brought his men home alive.
42:34USS Barb's battle flag hangs in a museum in Connecticut.
42:37The locomotive symbol at the bottom still draws questions from visitors who don't know the story.
42:42When they learn what happened on July 23, 1945, they understand.
42:47They understand that submarine warfare wasn't just about torpedoes and periscopes.
42:52It was about innovation, adaptation, courage, and commanders who valued their crew's lives above personal glory.
43:00Eugene Flucky, Paul Saunders, Billy Hatfield, and the 72 other men who served aboard USS Barb during those five patrols
43:09proved what submarines could accomplish when led by brilliant commanders
43:13and crewed by sailors willing to paddle ashore on enemy territory with explosives and shovels.
43:19They sank ships.
43:20They fired the first submarine-launched missiles.
43:22They destroyed coastal targets.
43:25And they blew up a train.
43:26The only submarine in history that can make that claim.
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43:45Stories about submariners who changed naval warfare with rockets and courage.
43:50Real people.
43:50Real heroism.
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44:20These men deserve to be remembered.
44:22And you're helping make that happen.
44:23They're not the same.
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