Eugene Bennett Fluckey

Few submarine commanders in history took risks as audacious as Eugene Bennett Fluckey. He drove USS Barb into shallow, mined enemy waters, attacked Japanese shipping at point-blank range, pioneered submarine-launched rocket attacks, and sent a landing party ashore to destroy a train. By the end of World War II, Fluckey had earned the Medal of Honor and four Navy Crosses, making him one of the most highly decorated American submariners of the war.

Eugene Bennett Fluckey was born on October 5, 1913, in Washington, D.C. He entered the United States Naval Academy in 1931 and graduated as an ensign in 1935. After early assignments aboard USS Nevada and USS McCormick, he attended Submarine School at New London, Connecticut. He later served aboard USS S-42 and USS Bonita, completing five war patrols in Bonita before returning to Annapolis for graduate study in naval engineering.

His career changed dramatically when he joined USS Barb (SS-220) in the Pacific. After serving as prospective commanding officer during her seventh war patrol, Fluckey assumed command on April 27, 1944. What followed was a sequence of five patrols that established Barb as one of the most aggressive submarines of the Pacific War.

Fluckey received his first Navy Cross for Barb's eighth war patrol, from May 21 to July 9, 1944. His citation praised his extraordinary heroism, determination, initiative and aggressiveness despite fog, ice and severe weather. Under his command, Barb carried out five successful torpedo attacks that sank three enemy freighters and two transports, followed by gun actions among the icebergs that destroyed two enemy trawlers.

His second Navy Cross came for the ninth patrol, from August 4 to October 3, 1944. Fluckey directed attacks that sank a large tanker, two freighters and an auxiliary aircraft carrier while damaging another tanker. The patrol also became notable for the rescue of 14 British and Australian prisoners of war who had survived the sinking of a Japanese transport. Despite enemy counterattacks and damage to Barb, Fluckey successfully brought the submarine and the rescued prisoners back to safety.

During Barb's tenth patrol, Fluckey pushed his submarine into extremely shallow waters and through powerful Japanese escort screens. The resulting attacks sank five enemy ships totaling more than 28,900 tons and damaged three additional vessels, including a large aircraft carrier. His citation emphasized the courage required to continue attacking while facing severe enemy countermeasures. For this patrol he received a third Navy Cross.

Then came the patrol that earned Eugene Fluckey the Medal of Honor.

During Barb's eleventh war patrol along the coast of China, from December 19, 1944, to February 15, 1945, Fluckey located a concentration of more than 30 enemy ships inside the dangerous waters of Namkwan Harbor. He understood that escape would require a high-speed run through uncharted waters obstructed by mines and rocks, but he chose to attack. Barb penetrated the enemy screen in water barely deep enough for the submarine, fired her forward and stern torpedoes, and scored eight direct hits against six major targets. Fluckey then drove the submarine out of the harbor at high speed and brought his crew safely back to open water. His Medal of Honor citation described his actions as “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”

Fluckey later made clear that he regarded the Medal of Honor as belonging to the entire crew of Barb. He described himself as the “caretaker” of an honor earned through the extraordinary courage of the officers and sailors who followed him into danger.

His final combat patrol was no less remarkable. During Barb's twelfth war patrol, from June 8 to August 2, 1945, Fluckey introduced rocket and sabotage tactics into submarine warfare. His fourth Navy Cross citation credited him with taking Barb into extremely shallow waters to launch torpedo, rocket and gun attacks, sinking approximately 11,000 tons of enemy shipping and striking seven Japanese coastal towns. In one of the most unusual submarine operations of the war, he sent a landing party ashore in rubber boats, where the men successfully destroyed a Japanese train.

The extraordinary record of USS Barb was also recognized through the Presidential Unit Citation and Navy Unit Commendation, both of which Fluckey was entitled to wear as a member of the submarine's wartime crew.

Fluckey's service did not end with World War II. After the war he worked in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy and was selected by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz as his personal aide. He later returned to submarine commands and served as U.S. Naval Attaché and Naval Attaché for Air in Lisbon from 1950 to 1953. For his distinguished service in Portugal, the Portuguese government awarded him the Medal of Military Merit, Second Class, an unusual foreign recognition of his contribution to naval relations.

Rising to rear admiral, Fluckey became Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet in 1964. His first Legion of Merit citation praised his exceptionally meritorious leadership, judgment and foresight during a period when American submarine operations across the Pacific were expanding significantly. The citation credited him with directing submarine, anti-submarine warfare and missile forces while improving the effectiveness of the commands under his responsibility.

From 1966 to 1968 he served as Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Intelligence and Commander Naval Intelligence Command. For this work he received a second Legion of Merit. Its citation emphasized his ceaseless energy and his direct contribution to improvements across the Office of Naval Intelligence's major programs, noting that his influence reached both national and international affairs.

Fluckey's final major assignment brought him back to Portugal as Commander Iberian Atlantic Command and Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group. For his service from 1968 until 1972, he received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. His citation credited him with planning, implementing and supervising U.S. security assistance to Portugal and coordinating American and Portuguese efforts to develop better-equipped and more combat-ready armed forces.

Rear Admiral Eugene Bennett Fluckey retired from the United States Navy on August 1, 1972, after a career stretching from battleship service before World War II to submarine warfare, naval intelligence and senior NATO-era command. He died on June 28, 2007, in Annapolis, Maryland, at the age of 93.

Fluckey's legacy is not simply one of ships sunk or decorations earned. It is the story of a commander who repeatedly found ways to attack where the enemy believed attack was impossible. From penetrating a mined harbor to launching rockets from a submarine and putting sailors ashore to destroy a train, Eugene Fluckey transformed USS Barb into a symbol of ingenuity, aggression and fearless submarine warfare. His Medal of Honor and four Navy Crosses preserve only part of that story. The deeper legacy belongs to the crew he trusted, led and repeatedly brought home.