USS Flounder (SS-251)

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USS Flounder (SS-251)
USS Flounder (SS-251)
Overview
Keel laying December 5, 1942
Launch August 22, 1943
1. Period of service flag
Commissioning November 29, 1943
Decommissioning February 12, 1947
Whereabouts scrapped
Technical specifications
displacement

1526 t surfaced,
2424 t submerged

length

95.33 meters

width

8.30 meters

Draft

4.65 meters

Diving depth 90 meters
crew

60

drive

4 × 990 kW diesel engines
4 × 500 kW electric motors

speed

Surfaced 20.25 knots, submerged
8.75 knots

Range

48 h immersed (at 2 knots)
75 days patrol

Armament

6 × 533 mm torpedo tubes in front
4 torpedo tubes in back
24 torpedoes
1 × 76.2 mm deck gun
2 × .50 machine guns
2 × .30 machine guns

The USS Flounder (SS-251) was an American submarine of the Gato-class submarine , which by the US Navy in the Pacific War was used.

The boat sank U 537 and was one of two American submarines that could sink a German submarine. The other boat was the USS Besugo , which sank U 183 .

Technology and operational profile of the boat

As a Gato class boat, the USS Flounder was one of the largest American submarine classes (73 boats in the class). The Gato class was standardized and built in series. It was designed for naval warfare against Japanese merchant shipping and intended for long patrols. As a result, the Gato boats were relatively large and comfortably equipped, so they even had a refrigerator compartment for perishable food. The USS Flounder was a typical boat of its class, no deviations from the standard are known.

The operational history of the USS Flounder

Commissioning

The USS Flounder , named after a fish, in this case the flounder , as a submarine in the tradition of the United States Navy , was laid down at the Electric Boat Company in Groton , Connecticut , on December 5, 1942 Launched August 22, 1943 and entered service with the US Navy on November 29, 1943 under Commander CA Johnson.

First mission trips

The boat reached the American submarine base in Milne Bay, New Guinea , coming from New London on March 6, 1944. Eleven days later, the boat embarked on its first war patrol that was to take it to the Palau Islands . Numerous Japanese aircraft were sighted in the patrol area, the presence of which hindered the operations of the submarine, so that hardly any shipping traffic could be detected. No attacks were carried out during this mission. The boat returned to base, replenished supplies, and went to Manus for exercises before setting off for the second war patrol on June 3. This took place in the Philippine Sea parallel to the invasion of the Mariana Islands . The boat's commanding officer had previously changed, the new commanding officer was Lt. Cdr. JE Stevens. On June 17, the day before the Battle of the Philippine Sea , the USS Flounder followed a screw noise and discovered a Japanese convoy . The Flounder sank the Japanese torpedo salvage ship Nihonkai Maru (2684 GRT ) and survived the ensuing depth charge attack the escort ships, but long-lasting and severe, was not very accurate. Seven days later, on June 24th, the surface submarine was again the target of an enemy attack, this time by two planes that pushed out of the cloud cover and dropped bombs on the boat, which landed close to him in the water and caused some damage, although not critical. The USS Flounder returned to Manus, replenished its fuel supplies there and drove to Brisbane , Australia , to have the damage repaired there.

The boat left Brisbane on August 1 and first went to Manus to report back before continuing to the area of ​​operation of its third war patrol. The main task of the boat during this mission was to serve as a rescue ship in the Philippine Sea for American airmen who were shot down during the air raids on the Philippines. However, part of the patrol was also intended for combat tasks. During this part, the boat found few enemy contacts and could only make one attack. The intended target, a smaller Japanese escort ship, the more the torpedoes of Flounder , however, forcing the submarine with depth charges to escape into the depths. The boat replenished supplies and fuel in Mios Woendi, New Guinea, from August 28th to September 1st and then resumed its service in the Gulf of Daveo, finally returning to Brisbane on October 4th.

The sinking of U 537

The next war patrol went to the Flounder as part of an American "Wolfpack". In contrast to the pack tactics of the German submarines, in which numerous individually traveling submarines were guided to a common destination by radio, the American Wolfpacks consisted of only two or three boats that completed the entire patrol together. The common area of ​​operation of the Wolfpack, with which the USS Flounder sailed on October 27, was the South China Sea . There, on November 10th, the boat spotted what was initially thought to be a small sailing boat. However, as it got closer, it was recognized as the tower of a submarine. The USS Flounder immediately went diving and the boat was made ready for action. A fan of four torpedoes was launched at the target, one of which hit. The shock with which the targeted submarine exploded could be felt on board the USS Flounder . When the USS Flounder went to periscope depth half an hour later , no more was seen. The submerged submarine was U 537 , a German Type IX C / 40 boat under the command of Lieutenant Peter Schrewe, one of the monsoon boats that operated from Penang . None of the 56 crew members of U 537 survived the sinking. A joint attack by the Wolfpack on a convoy off Palawan on November 21 was not conclusively successful for the USS Flounder , but it was for another member of the Wolfpack, the USS Guavina , which carried the freighter Gyosan Maru (5698 GRT) torpedoed by the USS Flounder. could finally sink. Since the rest of the shipping traffic was low, there were no further attacks, and the boat returned to Brisbane for repair work, which lasted from December 13 to January 7, 1945 .

A series of problems

The USS Flounder off Mare Island, California in July 1945

At the start of the fifth voyage, problems arose with the boat's depth gauge, forcing it to return to Brisbane January 12-14. The USS Flounder then resumed patrol as the lead boat of a wolf pack of three boats. On February 12 and 13, the group chased a Japanese task force, but could not get into an attack position against the fast moving ships. The boat presented itself a better target on February 22nd, when it was able to fire four torpedoes at a Japanese patrol boat, but two of the four torpedoes became wanderers, which steered in a bow back to the launching boat. The USS Flounder was only able to avoid being sunk by its own torpedoes with great difficulty . The breakdown series of the boat on this patrol did not end there. Three days later, the USS Flounder hit an obstacle while diving, which turned out to be its sister boat USS Hoe a little later . Both boats suffered only minor damage in the underwater collision at a depth of 20 meters.

Last trips

On February 26th, the Flounder , again in a wolf pack of three boats, started its sixth war patrol, which lasted until March 16. First, the association cleared up the situation south of Hainan and discovered a large Japanese convoy on March 29, which was attacked by Allied aircraft before the USS Flounder and its sister boats could launch their attack. After the patrol, the boat was ordered home so that a general overhaul could be carried out. On September 2, 1945 , the day of the Japanese surrender, the boat reported operational again in Pearl Harbor . It was ordered back to the US east coast and reached New York on September 18. After the boat had lain in Portsmouth and New London for some time, it was finally decommissioned on February 12, 1947 and assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Without having been used again, the boat was deleted from the ship register on June 1, 1959 and then scrapped.

The USS Flounder received two "Battle Stars" (combat awards) for its service in World War II.

Web links

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 31, 2006 .