Changes

Following a month in the yard, the submarine returned to Pearl Harbor on 15 February 1944 and conducted training exercises until early March. After loaded supplies, she embarked on her seventh war patrol which took her to the Guam Truk Saipan shipping lanes west of the Marianas and east of Formosa. Patrolling the area thoroughly, she made only one contact worthy of torpedoes, Fukusei Maru, which the submarine observed on 28 March, while that Japanese cargo ship conducted an antisubmarine patrol off Rasa Island Okino Daito Shima. Following a four hour approach complicated by the target's erratic speed and course changes, Barb fired three torpedoes which broke the freighter in half and sank her within a minute. Barb believed her victim to be a Q ship, an innocent looking ship used to lure submarines into traps. In this case, Barb suspected the ship of trying to draw her into range of shore batteries. Later in the patrol, Barb joined Steelhead (SS 280) in a successful bombardment of a congested industrial area on Rasa Island. She scored a direct hit on the main installation of a secondary phosphate plant and made other hits which set off munitions and chemical explosions. The submarine moored at Midway on 25 April.

Following a month in the yard, the submarine returned to Pearl Harbor on 15 February 1944 and conducted training exercises until early March. After loaded supplies, she embarked on her seventh war patrol which took her to the Guam Truk Saipan shipping lanes west of the Marianas and east of Formosa. Patrolling the area thoroughly, she made only one contact worthy of torpedoes, Fu<!-- spam filter -->kusei Maru, which the submarine observed on 28 March, while that Japanese cargo ship conducted an antisubmarine patrol off Rasa Island Okino Daito Shima. Following a four hour approach complicated by the target's erratic speed and course changes, Barb fired three torpedoes which broke the freighter in half and sank her within a minute. Barb believed her victim to be a Q ship, an innocent looking ship used to lure submarines into traps. In this case, Barb suspected the ship of trying to draw her into range of shore batteries. Later in the patrol, Barb joined Steelhead (SS 280) in a successful bombardment of a congested industrial area on Rasa Island. She scored a direct hit on the main installation of a secondary phosphate plant and made other hits which set off munitions and chemical explosions. The submarine moored at Midway on 25 April.

The submarine again approached the convoy, but a destroyer turned in her direction. With her bow tubes empty, the opportunity for a perfect "down-the-throat" shot eluded her, and Barb submerged while Queenfish and Picuda continued the fight. A bit later, Barb managed to mount her second and third attacks against this convoy, firing six torpedoes at a large passenger cargo ship. Fluckey observed three hits followed by a spectacular explosion, which he noted "far surpassed Hollywood..." as Anyo Maru disintegrated in pyrotechnic display resembling a gigantic phosphorous bomb. The concussion hurled shrapnel as far as 4,000 yards ahead of the submarine as it sucked much of the air from her hull.

The submarine again approached the convoy, but a destroyer turned in her direction. With her bow tubes empty, the opportunity for a perfect "down-the-throat" shot eluded her, and Barb submerged while Queenfish and Picuda continued the fight. A bit later, Barb managed to mount her second and third attacks against this convoy, firing six torpedoes at a large passenger cargo ship. Fluckey observed three hits followed by a spectacular explosion, which he noted "far surpassed Hollywood..." as Anyo Maru disintegrated in pyrotechnic display resembling a gigantic phosphorus bomb. The concussion hurled shrapnel as far as 4,000 yards ahead of the submarine as it sucked much of the air from her hull.