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Photo # NH 98325:  USS Flier off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Calif., 20 April 1944

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Flier (SS-250), 1943-1944

USS Flier, a 1525-ton Gato class submarine built at Groton, Connecticut, was commissioned in mid-October 1943. After working up, she arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, near the end of the year and departed for her first war patrol in 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 in May 1944, heading from Pearl Harbor to the waters off Luzon. While en route on 4 June she attacked and sank the transport Hakusan Maru. On 13 June she attacked a Japanese convoy off Subic Bay, receiving a depth charging in return, and on 22-23 June hit another convoy off Mindoro, apparently damaging one or more ships.

In early August 1944 Flier left Fremantle, Australia, for her second war patrol. On 13 August, while transiting shallow water to enter the South China Sea, she struck a mine and quickly sank. Eight of her crewmen survived the sinking and subsequent long swim to reach shore. After making their way by raft to Palawan and being protected by local people and a group of guerrillas, at the end of the month they were evacuated by the submarine Redfin (SS-272).

This page features the only views we have related to USS Flier (SS-250).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 98325

USS Flier (SS-250)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 April 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98326

USS Flier (SS-250)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 April 1944.
Note the temporary propeller guards attached by chains to her after hull.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98327

USS Flier (SS-250)


View from directly ahead, taken off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 April 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98328

USS Flier (SS-250)


Plan view amidships, looking aft, taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 27 April 1944.
Note the submarine's 4"/50 deck gun in lower left and mounting for a 20mm gun on the platform in center.
Circles mark recent alterations.
Barges in the right distance include YC-312 (with dark hull, outboard), and YF-509 (inboard and closer to the camera).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98329

USS Flier (SS-250)


Plan view amidships, looking forward, taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 27 April 1944.
Note the submarine's bell in the lower right center, with a mounting for a 20mm gun on the platform above and a pressure-tight ready service ammunition locker below..
Circles mark recent alterations.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 91KB; 610 x 765 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

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Page made 2 February 2003