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USS Flier (SS-250)
History
USS Flier
(SS-250), the only ship in the U.S. Navy to hold this name, was named
after the round sunfish widely known in the United States.
Specifications: Displacement,
Surfaced: 1,526 t., Submerged: 2,424 t.; Length 311' 9"; Beam 27' 3";
Draft 15' 3"; Speed, Surfaced 20.25 knots, Submerged 8.75 knots;
Complement 6 Officers 54 Enlisted; Operating Depth, 300 ft; Submerged
Endurance, 48 hrs at 2 knots; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Cruising Range,
11,000 miles surfaced at 10 knots; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six
forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 3"/50 deck gun [Note:
Configuration as shown in photos on this site has the boat with a 4"/50
deck gun], two .50 cal.
machine guns, two .30 cal. machine guns; Propulsion, diesel electric
reduction gear with four General Motors main generator engines, 5,400HP,
Fuel Capacity, 97,140 gal., four General Electric main motors, 2,740HP,
two 126-cell main storage batteries, twin screws. Gato Class.
 Flier
(SS-250) was
launched 11 July 1943 by
Electric Boat Co.,
Groton, Conn.; sponsored by Mrs.
A. S. Pierce; and
commissioned 18 October 1943,
Lieutenant
Commander J. W. Crowley in command (photo on right).
Flier
reached Pearl
Harbor from New London,
on 20
December 1943.
After working up, she departed for her first war patrol on 12 January
1944. However, while entering the harbor at Midway Island during a storm
on 16 January, she went aground and was seriously damaged. The submarine
rescue vessel Macaw (ASR-11), which attempted to pull Flier
free, also went aground and ultimately sank.
The damaged submarine was towed back to Pearl Harbor by USS
Florikan (ASR-9), again with difficulties caused by weather, and
finally reached the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, where she was
repaired. Flier made another start on her first war patrol on 21
May 1944, heading from Pearl Harbor to the waters off Luzon.
She made her first
contact on 4 June, attacking a
well-escorted
convoy for five merchantmen. Firing
three torpedoes at
each of two ships, she sent a large
transport to the
bottom (Hakusan Maru) and scored a hit on another
ship, before
clearing the area to evade counter-measures.
On 13 June 1944,
Flier attacked a convoy of 11 ships,
cargo carriers
and tankers, guarded by at least six
escorts. The
alert behavior of the escorts resulted in
severe attack on
Flier before she could observe what
damage she had
done to the convoy. On 22 June, she began a long chase after another
large convoy, scoring
four hits for six
torpedoes fired at two cargo ships
that day, and
three hits for four torpedoes launched
against another
cargo ship of the same convoy the
next day.
Flier
put in to
Fremantle, Australia, to refit between
5 July 1944 and 2
August, then sailed on her second
war patrol, bound
for the coast of Indochina. On the
evening of 13
August, as she transited Balabac Strait on the surface, she was rocked
by a great explosion.
She sank in 1
minute after striking the mine, but 13
officers and men
got out of her. Eight of them reached
the beach of
Mantangula Island after 15 hours in the
water. Friendly
natives guided them to a coast-watcher,
who arranged for them to be picked up by
submarine, and on
the night of 30-31 August, they
were taken on
board by Redfin (SS-272) (photo below).
USS Redfin
Flier Survivors Aboard USS Redfin
(top, l to r) LT James W. Liddle, CDR John Daniel Crowley, ENS Alvin E. Jacobson
(bottom, l to r) James Dello Russo, QM3; Wesley Bruce Miller, MoMM3;
Earl R. Baumgart, MoMM3;
Arthur Gibson Howell, CRT(AA). Not pictured:
Donald Paul Tremaine, FC2
Photo courtesy of Mary Jacobson.
Flier
received one
battle star for World War II
service on her
single complete war patrol, designated "Successful."
She is credited with having sunk 10,380 tons
of Japanese
shipping.
* * *
Most information on this page is from Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Information on the ship that Flier sank can be found here:
Hakusan Maru.
See also:
USS Flier Report of War Patrol Number One, including the
Narrative of her Second War Patrol, and the official
Investigation into Loss of USS Robalo and USS Flier.
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