Wreck of USS Flier (SS-250)

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, submarine, United States Navy

Laid down in October 1942 as the 39th member of the Gato Class of Submarines at the Electric Boat Co Shipyard at Groton CT, USS Flier commissioned into US Navy service as a member of the Atlantic Fleet in October 1943. Remaining in Atlantic waters long enough to complete her shakedown and training cruises, Flier and her crew transited the Panama Canal and joined the US Pacific Fleet in December 1944 at Pearl Harbor.

Standing out of Pearl in January 1944 on her maiden War Patrol, Flier's first deployment was cut short when she grounded on a reef near Midway Atoll, requiring over a month of salvage efforts to be pulled free followed by a further two months of repair stateside before she returned to the frontlines and deployed to enemy waters in May 1944. Operating in waters West of Luzon Island, Flier and her crew successfully attacked several Japanese convoys over the next two months, accounting for 10,380 tons of Japanese shipping sunk by the time she put into Fremantle in July for voyage repairs and provisioning.

Standing out of Fremantle on August 2nd to begin her second War Patrol, Flier shaped a course for the Philippine Islands once again and was running on the surface through Balabac Strait on the night of August 12th when she entered a recently-laid Japanese minefield. Unaware they were in any danger, Flier's crew were thrown about the Submarine as she struck and detonated a Japanese mine on her Starboard bow shortly after 2200hrs. Mortally damaged by the blast, Flier's hull quickly flooded and those who managed to escape the rapidly sinking Submarine did so in less than a minute as she quickly sank at this location, spilling 15 of her crew into the sea and taking the remaining 71 men to the bottom. Flier's survivors would spend over 15 hours in the water before reaching Mantangula Island, where the surviving eight were assisted by a Coastwatcher and rescued on the 30th of August.

Located during a expedition by YAP Films in 2008, USS Flier's wreck now lies in 330ft of water and is a designated War Grave for the men still on duty aboard ship.

USS Flier earned one Battle Star for her World War Two service.

www.ussflier.com/index.htm
www.navsource.org/archives/08/08250.htm