The project, a single-ship evaluation of the new Mk 86 fire control system, involved the installation of an optical pulse-compression radar and an experimental gun platform on the destroyer. While in drydock, shipyard personnel also completed long-delayed engineering repairs and installed a new SQS-23 sonar transducer. Departing Boston on 6 September, "Barry" spent two months operating out of Newport while Lockheed engineers conducted post-installation tests on the new fire control system. Operational evaluation followed in mid-November when the destroyer sailed to Culebra Island in the Caribbean for the shore bombardment phase of the Mk 86 evaluation. On 5 December, "Barry" departed for Naval Station Mayport, Florida, and the surface firing evaluation in the Jacksonville Operating Area. Despite bad weather, and typical "teething" problems, the tedious process was successfully finished on 15 December.