John Barry (ship)

Liberty freighter Carlos Carrillo

The John Barry was an American Liberty freighter in World War II .

The John Barry was launched in 1942 at the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation in Portland , Oregon . The owner was the United States Maritime Commission. The John Barry was therefore one of the first Liberty freighters. It was named after one of the fathers of the US Navy, Captain John Barry (1745-1803). The John Barry was 126.8 meters long, had a displacement of 14,100 tons at 7,176 gross tons and could reach a top speed of 12 knots .

The John Barry was torpedoed and sunk on August 28, 1944 by the German submarine U 859 off the coast of Oman . She set out from Norfolk on July 24, 1944, initially in a convoy for the Mediterranean. She passed the Suez Canal on August 19 and 20 and arrived in Aden ( Yemen ) on August 26, 1944 . From there she drove on without escort to Ras Tanurah on the Persian Gulf until she was sunk off Oman. The cargo consisted among other things of three million Saudi inputs Rial coins of silver that in the United States dominated by the United States Mint had been made.

The coins minted in the USA were intended on the one hand to pay oil workers in Saudi Arabia. This workforce, consisting mostly of Sunni Muslims, was unwilling to be paid in US dollars . On the other hand, King Ibn Saud was supposed to be paid for the American access to the oil wells. Furthermore, 1,500 tons of silver bars are said to have been on board. These were supposed to be transported to the Soviet Union via Saudi Arabia .

During a search run by the research submarine Cyana in 1992, the wreck was clearly identified at a depth of 2600 meters. The silver coins were recovered in November 1994 by the " John Barry Group " founded by Brian Shoemaker and Jay Fiondella to salvage the silver treasure of John Barry . The silver bars could not be found, but the ship was not completely searched.

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15.1 55.18Coordinates: 15 ° 6 ′ 0 ″ N , 55 ° 10 ′ 48 ″ E