USS Flasher (SS-249)

History
Builder	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down	30 September 1942
Launched	20 June 1943
Commissioned	25 September 1943
Decommissioned	16 March 1946
Stricken	1 June 1959
Fate	Sold for scrap 8 June 1963, conning tower is a memorial at Groton, Connecticut
General characteristics
Class and type	Gato-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement	1,525 tons (1,549 t) surfaced 2,424 tons (2,460 t) submerged
Length	311 ft 9 in (95.0 m)
Beam	27 ft 3 in (8.3 m)
Draft	17 ft (5.2 m) maximum
Propulsion	4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 Diesel engines driving electric generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears two propellers 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed	20.25 knots (37 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots () submerged
Range	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots ()
Endurance	48 hours at 2 knots () submerged 75 days on patrol
Test depth	300 ft (90 m)
Complement	10 officers, 70–71 enlisted
Armament	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Flasher (SS-249) was a Gato-class submarine which served in the Pacific during World War II. She received three Presidential Unit Citations and six battle stars, and sank 21 ships for a record total of 100,231 tons of Japanese shipping, the only U.S. submarine to exceed the 100,000 ton mark and the USN's top scorer of the Pacific War.

'She was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the flasher. Flasher (was launched 20 June 1943 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.; sponsored by Mrs. W. A. Saunders; and commissioned 25 September 1943, Lieutenant Commander Reuben T. Whitaker in command.

First and second war patrols, January – May 1944

Flasher arrived at Pearl Harbor from New London 15 December 1943 to prepare for her first war patrol, for which she sailed 6 January 1944. Bound for her patrol area off Mindoro, she sank her first target 18 January, sending a 2,900-ton former gunboat to the bottom. Adding to what would be the greatest total of enemy tonnage credited to an American submarine in World War II, she sank a freighter off Manila 5 February, and sank two cargo ships of the same convoy on 14 February. Flasher arrived at Fremantle, Australia 29 February to refit. The 2 vessels sunk February 14, 1944 were the Minryo Maru and the Hokuan Maru. See [1]. Incidentally one source credits USS Tautog (SS-199) with sinking Hokuan Maru on October 27, 1942.

Action-bound once more, the submarine departed Fremantle 4 April 1944 for the coast of French Indochina on her second war patrol. On 29 April she contacted the river gunboat Tahure guarding a freighter off Hon Doi Islands, and sank both. After sinking a large cargo ship in the Sulu Sea 3 May, Flasher shaped course for Fremantle, arriving 28 May for refit until 19 June.

Third and fourth war patrols, June – October 1944

Flasher made her third war patrol in the South China Sea, where on 28 June 1944 she contacted a heavily escorted convoy of 13 ships. She made a cautious approach, undeterred by the escort, and shortly after midnight 29 June, broke into the convoy to sink a freighter and badly damage a large passenger cargo ship. Her next victim was a freighter, sunk 7 July. Twelve days later, Flasher sighted cruiser Oi escorted by a destroyer. Two attacks, each followed by a heavy depth charge retaliation from the destroyer, sufficed to sink this choice target, a fact confirmed several hours later when a periscope observation revealed only the destroyer in sight. Seven days later, she sank another important target, a merchant tanker, and the same day damaged another tanker later sunk by one of her sisters. With all her torpedoes gone, Flasher put back for Fremantle, where she replenished and refitted between 7 August and 30 August.

Flasher (SS-249) underway, circa 1944.

During her fourth war patrol, in the Philippines, Flasher headed a coordinated attack group which included two other submarines, Hawkbill and Becuna. Although she was on lifeguard station during the air attacks preliminary to the invasion of the Philippines during part of this patrol, Flasher sank three ships, a former light cruiser on 18 September, a transport on 27 September, and a cargo ship on 4 October. She returned to Fremantle 20 October.

Fifth and sixth war patrols, November 1944 – April 1945

Heading the same attack group, Flasher now commanded by Lieutenant Commander G. W. Grider, sailed on her fifth war patrol 15 November 1944, bound for Camranh Bay. On 4 December one of her companions reported a tanker convoy, and Flasher set a course which would bring her to the target. As she made her approach in a heavy downpour, a destroyer suddenly loomed up before her, and Flasher launched her first spread of torpedoes at this escort. The destroyer was stopped by two hits, and began listing and smoking heavily. Flasher got a spread of torpedoes away at a tanker before she was forced deep by a second destroyer, which dropped 16 depth charges. Rising to periscope depth, Flasher located the tanker burning and covered by yet a third destroyer. Speedily reloading, she prepared to sink the destroyer and finish off the tanker, and though almost blinded by rainsqualls, she did just this with a salvo of four torpedoes, two of which hit the destroyer, and two of which passed beneath her as planned to hit the tanker. Once more, counter-attack forced Flasher down, and when she surfaced she found no trace of the two damaged destroyers. The tanker, blazing away, was still guarded by three escorts until abandoned at sunset, when Flasher sank her with one torpedo. The two destroyers, both found after the war to have been sunk, were Kishinami and Iwanami (However, the destroyer, Iwanami did not exist. Flasher's war patrol reported that her count of destroyers may have been inaccurate, but this seems to have been ignored, and it is likely that "Flasher" actually finished off previously crippled Kishinami and did not hit any other destroyer. If "Flasher" has the non-existent Kagero class destroyer - on the basis of tonnage credited for "Iwanami" - subtracted from her credits, and no change is made to other ships, her sister Rasher becomes the top-scoring US submarine in WWII in terms of tonnage.)

Flasher contacted another well-guarded tanker convoy on the morning of 21 December 1944, and she began a long chase, getting into position to attack from the unguarded shoreward side. In rapid succession, Flasher attacked and sank three of the tankers, receiving no counter-attack since the enemy apparently believed he had stumbled into a minefield. One of these tankers was the largest she sank during the war, the other two, of the same displacement, were tied for third-largest.

Refitting at Fremantle once more between 2 January and 29 January 1945, Flasher made her sixth war patrol on the coast of Indochina. Contacts were few, but on 21 February she sank a sea truck by surface gunfire, and 4 days later sank a cargo ship with torpedoes. She completed her patrol upon her arrival at Pearl Harbor 3 April 1945, and sailed a few days later for a west coast overhaul.

Post-war

Bound for Guam on a seventh war patrol at the close of the war, Flasher was ordered back to New London, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 16 March 1946, attached to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. On 1 June 1959 the Flasher was struck from the Naval Vessel Register. She was sold for scrap on 1 June 1963. Her conning tower was removed and placed on display as a memorial at the entrance to Nautilus Park, a Navy housing area in Groton, Connecticut.

Awards

Flasher received the Presidential Unit Citation for her brilliantly successful third, fourth, and fifth war patrols. For her six war patrols, each designated "Successful", she received six battle stars. She is credited with having sunk a total of 100,231 tons of Japanese shipping, the only submarine exceeding the 100,000 ton mark.

See also

See USS Flasher for other ships of the same name.

References

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• navsource.org: USS Flasher
• Sinkings by boat: USS Flasher