“We controlled the missile submarines operating in the Mediterranean. It was so secret, when we first got there, that we couldn’t wear our dolphins on our uniform.” (Audio recording, 36:16)

Harold Douglas Barker

Harold Barker in uniform [1956] War: Cold War Branch: Navy Unit: USS Cavalier (APA 37); USS Sarda (SS 488); USS Sea Robin (SS 407); USS Entemedor (SS 340); Submarine Squadron 2 Service Location: Long Beach and Monterey, California; Washington, DC; Groton, Connecticut; Naples, Italy; Norfolk, Virginia; Dunoon, Scotland Rank: Commander

The son of an Army officer, Commander Douglas Barker chose to follow in his father’s footsteps and pursue a military career, but he opted to spend it at sea rather than on land. After attending the Naval Academy at Annapolis, he decided to apply for submarine school, and eventually earned his “dolphins” (the submariner’s equivalent of a pilot’s wings). In his oral history, he recounts his day-to-day life aboard a missile submarine during the Cold War: “You’re standing your watches, you’re doing your job, and you’re always wondering if there is somebody out there, following you.”