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USS Flying Fish (SS-229)
Encyclopedia
USS Flying Fish (SS/AGSS-229), a Gato-class
submarine
, was the first submarine and second ship of the United States Navy
to be named for the flying fish, a family of fishes of tropic and warm temperate seas whose long winglike fins make it possible for them to move some distance through the air.
The keel of Flying Fish (SS-229) was laid down on 6 December 1940 by Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
, Kittery, Maine
. She was launched
9 July 1941 (sponsored by Mrs. Husband E. Kimmel
, wife of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet), and commissioned
10 December 1941, Lieutenant Commander Glynn "Donc" Donaho
(Class
of 1927) in command.
Flying Fish is credited with having sunk a total of 58,306 tons of Japanese shipping and received 12 battle stars for World War II service.
for final training 2 May 1942, and 15 days later was ordered out to patrol west of Midway
, which was threatened by an expected Japan
ese attack. During the Battle of Midway
4 – 6 June, she and her sisters fanned out to scout and screen the island, at which she refitted from 9 – 11 June. Continuing her first full war patrol, she searched major shipping lanes in Empire waters (the seas around Japan) and scored a hit on a Japanese destroyer
off Taiwan
during the night of 3 July. She returned to Midway to refit on 25 July.
(now known to be Yamato
), guarded by two destroyers and air cover. She launched four torpedoes at this prime target, and two hits were detected by sonar. Immediately the counterattack began, and as Flying Fish prepared to launch torpedoes at one of the destroyers, rapidly closing to starboard, her commanding officer was blinded by a geyser of water thrown up by a bomb. Flying Fish went deep for cover. A barrage of 36 depth charges followed. When Flying Fish daringly came up to periscope depth 2 hours later, she found the two destroyers still searching aided, by two harbor submarine chasers and five aircraft. A great cloud of black smoke hung over the scene, persisting through the remaining hours of daylight. As Flying Fish upped periscope
again a little later, a float plane dropped bombs directly astern, and the alert destroyers closed in. A salvo of torpedoes at one of the destroyers missed, and Flying Fish went deep again to endure another depth charging. Surfacing after dark, she once more attracted the enemy through excessive smoke from one of her engines, and again she was forced down by depth charges. Early in the morning of 29 August, she at last cleared the area to surface and charge her batteries. Possibly the torpedo explosions were premature; Japanese records show no warships lost on 28 August 1942.
Unshaken by this long day of attack, Flying Fish closed Truk once more 2 September 1942, and attacked a 400 ton patrol vessel, only to see the torpedoes fail to explode upon hitting the target. The patrol ship ran down the torpedo tracks and began a depth charge attack, the second salvo of which damaged Flying Fish considerably. A second patrol ship came out to join the search; Flying Fish successfully evaded both opponents and cleared the area. Determinedly, she returned to the scene late the next night, and finding a single patrol vessel, sank her with two torpedoes just after midnight early on 4 September. Two hours later a second patrol craft came out, and as Flying Fish launched a stern shot, the Japanese ship opened fire, then swerved to avoid the torpedo. Flying Fish dived for safety, enduring seven depth charge runs by the patrol vessel. Two destroyers joind the patrol craft, and all three kept the submarine under attack for five hours. At last able to get clear, Flying Fish sailed for Pearl Harbor, where she arrived 15 September.
. Three times on this third patrol she launched bold attacks on Japanese task forces, only to suffer the frustration of poor torpedo performance, or to score hits causing damage which postwar evaluation could not confirm. She arrived at Brisbane for refit on 16 December 1942.
On 6 January 1943, Flying Fish started her fourth war patrol, a reconnaissance of the Marianas. Along with gaining much valuable intelligence, she damaged a freighter in Apra harbor
on 26 January, hit a passenger/cargo ship in Tinian
's Sunharon Roadstead 6 February, and sank another freighter in the presence of patrolling aircraft and surface escorts 16 February. She returned to Pearl Harbor 28 February.
Flying Fish stood out of Pearl Harbor 24 March for her fifth war patrol, this one to the coast of Honshū
, where the submarine was battered by foul weather. On 12 April, she closed the northern coast to make a daring attack on a freighter, which she sank, again in the presence of scout planes and armed trawlers
. Moving north to Hokkaidō
, Flying Fish damaged a large freighter on 13 April, and two days later torpedoed an inter-island cargo ship which beached in a mass of flames. Continuing her bold inshore attacks, on 19 April Flying Fish sank another freighter, and in the Tsugaru Strait
on 24 April, sent yet another cargo ship to the bottom. On 1 May a small inter-island freighter was sunk, but an alert enemy antisubmarine group shook Flying Fish considerably before she could clear the area. She returned to Midway from this highly successful patrol 11 May.
and off Taiwan
. Her first attacks, two against the same convoy, resulted in unconfirmed damage, but off Taiwan on 2 July, she blasted the stern off a cargo ship, watching it sink. While Pearl Harbor-bound from her patrol area, she made a two day chase for a fast convoy, but was forced by her dwindling fuel supply to break off the hunt. On 11 July she destroyed a 125 feet (38.1 m) (38 m) sailing vessel with gunfire, leaving it aflame from stem to stern.
. A two-day tracking of a well-escorted convoy from 26 – 28 October resulted in the sinking of one, and the damaging of two merchantmen before Flying Fish ran out of torpedoes. She arrived at Midway 6 November.
coast from 30 November 1943 to 28 January 1944, found her sinking a cargo ship on 16 December, and a tanker on 27 December. Her refit and retraining between patrols were held once more at Pearl Harbor.
Flying Fish sailed for her ninth war patrol 22 February for the waters off Iwo Jima
. On 12 March, she sent a merchantman to the bottom, then closed the Okinawa shore and attacked a convoy in the early morning darkness of 16 March. A passenger/cargo ship was sunk and a tanker damaged in this attack. Pressing on with her chase for six hours in the hope of finishing off the tanker, the submarine was detected and held down by aircraft and destroyers while the tanker escaped. On the afternoon of 31 March, Flying Fish was attacked by a Japanese submarine, whose torpedoes she skillfully evaded. Bound for Majuro
at the close of her patrol, the submarine torpedoed and sank a freighter moored at Kita Daito Jima. Flying Fish closed out her patrol and arrived at Majuro 11 April 1944.
Clearing Majuro harbor 4 May, Flying Fish sailed for her tenth war patrol, coordinated with the assault on the Marianas scheduled to open the next month. First she covered shipping lanes between Ulithi
, Yap
, and Palau
, coming under severe attack on the night of 24 – 25 May when she was detected while attacking a four-ship convoy. At dawn, however, she had got back into position to sink two of the ships, both passenger/cargo types.
Along with other American submarines, she then headed to take up a patrol station between the Palaus and San Bernardino Strait
, from which she could scout any movement by the enemy fleet out of its base at Tawi
in the Sulus
while the Marines
were landed on Saipan
. On 15 June, the day of the invasion, Flying Fish spotted the Japanese carrier force emerging from San Bernardino Strait bound westward. Her prompt report of this movement enabled a sister submarine, , to sink the carrier Shōkaku
four days later while American carrier aircraft broke the back of Japanese naval aviation in the Battle of the Philippine Sea
. Flying Fish remained on her scouting station until 23 June, then sailed for Manus
and Brisbane, arriving there 5 July]].
, the coast of Celebes
, and along the shipping lanes from the Philippines
to Halmahera
. Flying Fish was held down much of the time by enemy aircraft. After refueling at Mios Woendi
from 29 August – 1 September, she closed Celebes, where on 7 September she detected a concealed enemy airstrip. Her report led to the airfield's bombardment by aircraft 11 days later. Through the remainder of her patrol she served on lifeguard duty for air strikes on Celebes, returning to Midway 18 October. The submarine sailed on for an extensive overhaul at San Francisco
, where she was equipped with mine
detection and clearance equipment to enable her to penetrate the Sea of Japan
.
18 May 1945, where she joined a submarine task group for her 12th war patrol. She sailed 29 May for the heavily mined Tsushima Strait
, entering the Sea of Japan
7 June. Now each submarine headed for her own assigned area, Flying Fish setting course north for the coast of Korea
. On 10 June, in separate attacks, she sank two cargo ships, taking aboard one survivor. Five days later she sank ten small craft with gunfire and sent two onto the beach. Completing her patrol at Pearl Harbor 4 July, Flying Fish returned to New London
21 September to become flagship of Commander, Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet (COMSUBLANT.
During the next 8 years, from her base at New London, the veteran Flying Fish conducted reserve training cruises in Long Island
and Block Island Sound
, exercised off the Virginia Capes
, trained men of foreign navies, joined in major operations in the Caribbean
, and cruised to Canadian
ports. She was reclassified AGSS-229 on 29 November 1950. On 11 January 1951, she completed her duty as flagship, and began to serve the Underwater Sound Laboratory in sonar experiments. On 29 February 1952, at 10:53, Flying Fish made became the first American submarine to make 5,000 dives. On board for the event was a distinguished party headed by Secretary of the Navy Dan A. Kimball
. Placed in commission in reserve 31 December 1953, Flying Fish was decommissioned at New London 28 May 1954 and was sold for scrapping 1 May 1959.
Of Flying Fishs twelve war patrols, all save the 11th were designated "Successful". She is credited with having sunk a total of 58,306 tons of enemy shipping. She received 12 battle stars for World War II
service.
Gato class submarine
The United States Navy Gato class submarine formed the core of the submarine service that was largely responsible for the destruction of the Japanese merchant marine and a large portion of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II...
submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
, was the first submarine and second ship of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
to be named for the flying fish, a family of fishes of tropic and warm temperate seas whose long winglike fins make it possible for them to move some distance through the air.
The keel of Flying Fish (SS-229) was laid down on 6 December 1940 by Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard , often called the Portsmouth Navy Yard, is a United States Navy shipyard located in Kittery on the southern boundary of Maine near the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is used for remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships...
, Kittery, Maine
Kittery, Maine
Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,543 at the 2000 census. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals...
. She was launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...
9 July 1941 (sponsored by Mrs. Husband E. Kimmel
Husband E. Kimmel
Husband Edward Kimmel was a four-star admiral in the United States Navy. He served as Commander-in-chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Because of the attack, he was removed from office and was reduced to his permanent two-star rank of rear admiral...
, wife of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet), and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
10 December 1941, Lieutenant Commander Glynn "Donc" Donaho
Glynn R. Donaho
Glynn Robert "Donc" Donaho was a U.S. Navy officer known principally for his exploits as a submarine commander during World War II, for which he received the Navy Cross four times, the Silver Star twice, and the Bronze Star twice. Donaho was born in George, Texas...
(Class
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
of 1927) in command.
Flying Fish is credited with having sunk a total of 58,306 tons of Japanese shipping and received 12 battle stars for World War II service.
First war patrol - Battle of Midway
Flying Fish arrived at Pearl HarborPearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
for final training 2 May 1942, and 15 days later was ordered out to patrol west of Midway
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...
, which was threatened by an expected Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese attack. During the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
4 – 6 June, she and her sisters fanned out to scout and screen the island, at which she refitted from 9 – 11 June. Continuing her first full war patrol, she searched major shipping lanes in Empire waters (the seas around Japan) and scored a hit on a Japanese destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
off Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
during the night of 3 July. She returned to Midway to refit on 25 July.
Second war patrol, August – September 1942
On 15 August 1942, she sailed on her second war patrol, bound for a station north of Truk. On 28 August, only three days after arriving on station, Flying Fish sighted the masts of a Japanese battleshipBattleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
(now known to be Yamato
Japanese battleship Yamato
, named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was the lead ship of the Yamato class of battleships that served with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing...
), guarded by two destroyers and air cover. She launched four torpedoes at this prime target, and two hits were detected by sonar. Immediately the counterattack began, and as Flying Fish prepared to launch torpedoes at one of the destroyers, rapidly closing to starboard, her commanding officer was blinded by a geyser of water thrown up by a bomb. Flying Fish went deep for cover. A barrage of 36 depth charges followed. When Flying Fish daringly came up to periscope depth 2 hours later, she found the two destroyers still searching aided, by two harbor submarine chasers and five aircraft. A great cloud of black smoke hung over the scene, persisting through the remaining hours of daylight. As Flying Fish upped periscope
Periscope
A periscope is an instrument for observation from a concealed position. In its simplest form it consists of a tube with mirrors at each end set parallel to each other at a 45-degree angle....
again a little later, a float plane dropped bombs directly astern, and the alert destroyers closed in. A salvo of torpedoes at one of the destroyers missed, and Flying Fish went deep again to endure another depth charging. Surfacing after dark, she once more attracted the enemy through excessive smoke from one of her engines, and again she was forced down by depth charges. Early in the morning of 29 August, she at last cleared the area to surface and charge her batteries. Possibly the torpedo explosions were premature; Japanese records show no warships lost on 28 August 1942.
Unshaken by this long day of attack, Flying Fish closed Truk once more 2 September 1942, and attacked a 400 ton patrol vessel, only to see the torpedoes fail to explode upon hitting the target. The patrol ship ran down the torpedo tracks and began a depth charge attack, the second salvo of which damaged Flying Fish considerably. A second patrol ship came out to join the search; Flying Fish successfully evaded both opponents and cleared the area. Determinedly, she returned to the scene late the next night, and finding a single patrol vessel, sank her with two torpedoes just after midnight early on 4 September. Two hours later a second patrol craft came out, and as Flying Fish launched a stern shot, the Japanese ship opened fire, then swerved to avoid the torpedo. Flying Fish dived for safety, enduring seven depth charge runs by the patrol vessel. Two destroyers joind the patrol craft, and all three kept the submarine under attack for five hours. At last able to get clear, Flying Fish sailed for Pearl Harbor, where she arrived 15 September.
Third, fourth and fifth war patrols, October 1942 – May 1943
Flying Fish cleared Pearl Harbor 27 October, headed for her patrol area south of the Marshall IslandsMarshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
. Three times on this third patrol she launched bold attacks on Japanese task forces, only to suffer the frustration of poor torpedo performance, or to score hits causing damage which postwar evaluation could not confirm. She arrived at Brisbane for refit on 16 December 1942.
On 6 January 1943, Flying Fish started her fourth war patrol, a reconnaissance of the Marianas. Along with gaining much valuable intelligence, she damaged a freighter in Apra harbor
Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor is a deep-water port on the western side of Guam in the Mariana Islands. The harbor is formed by Orote Peninsula in the south and Cabras Island in the north. To the south, the harbor narrows and then widens again to form an inner harbor. The southern end of the harbor is the location...
on 26 January, hit a passenger/cargo ship in Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
's Sunharon Roadstead 6 February, and sank another freighter in the presence of patrolling aircraft and surface escorts 16 February. She returned to Pearl Harbor 28 February.
Flying Fish stood out of Pearl Harbor 24 March for her fifth war patrol, this one to the coast of Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
, where the submarine was battered by foul weather. On 12 April, she closed the northern coast to make a daring attack on a freighter, which she sank, again in the presence of scout planes and armed trawlers
Naval trawler
A naval trawler is a vessel built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes. Naval trawlers were widely used during the First and Second world wars. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust boats designed to work...
. Moving north to Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
, Flying Fish damaged a large freighter on 13 April, and two days later torpedoed an inter-island cargo ship which beached in a mass of flames. Continuing her bold inshore attacks, on 19 April Flying Fish sank another freighter, and in the Tsugaru Strait
Tsugaru Strait
is a channel between Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan connecting the Sea of Japan with the Pacific Ocean. It was named after the western part of Aomori Prefecture...
on 24 April, sent yet another cargo ship to the bottom. On 1 May a small inter-island freighter was sunk, but an alert enemy antisubmarine group shook Flying Fish considerably before she could clear the area. She returned to Midway from this highly successful patrol 11 May.
Sixth war patrol, June – July 1943
After five grueling patrols Lieutenant Commander Donaho turned command over to Captain Frank T. Watkins. On her sixth patrol (2 June – 27 July), Flying Fish patrolled in the Volcano IslandsVolcano Islands
The Volcano Islands is a group of three Japanese islands south of the Bonin Islands that belong to the municipality of Ogasawara...
and off Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. Her first attacks, two against the same convoy, resulted in unconfirmed damage, but off Taiwan on 2 July, she blasted the stern off a cargo ship, watching it sink. While Pearl Harbor-bound from her patrol area, she made a two day chase for a fast convoy, but was forced by her dwindling fuel supply to break off the hunt. On 11 July she destroyed a 125 feet (38.1 m) (38 m) sailing vessel with gunfire, leaving it aflame from stem to stern.
Seventh war patrol, October – November 1943
After a major overhaul at Pearl Harbor from 27 July to 4 October 1943, Flying Fish sailed on her seventh war patrol, again with her original skipper , bound for the Palaus. Her first attack, 18 October, scored at least one hit on an auxiliary aircraft carrierAircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
. A two-day tracking of a well-escorted convoy from 26 – 28 October resulted in the sinking of one, and the damaging of two merchantmen before Flying Fish ran out of torpedoes. She arrived at Midway 6 November.
Eighth, ninth, and tenth war patrols, November 1943 – July 1944
Flying Fishs eighth war patrol, the first to be commanded by Lieutenant Commander R. D. Risser, between Taiwan and the ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
coast from 30 November 1943 to 28 January 1944, found her sinking a cargo ship on 16 December, and a tanker on 27 December. Her refit and retraining between patrols were held once more at Pearl Harbor.
Flying Fish sailed for her ninth war patrol 22 February for the waters off Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
. On 12 March, she sent a merchantman to the bottom, then closed the Okinawa shore and attacked a convoy in the early morning darkness of 16 March. A passenger/cargo ship was sunk and a tanker damaged in this attack. Pressing on with her chase for six hours in the hope of finishing off the tanker, the submarine was detected and held down by aircraft and destroyers while the tanker escaped. On the afternoon of 31 March, Flying Fish was attacked by a Japanese submarine, whose torpedoes she skillfully evaded. Bound for Majuro
Majuro
Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...
at the close of her patrol, the submarine torpedoed and sank a freighter moored at Kita Daito Jima. Flying Fish closed out her patrol and arrived at Majuro 11 April 1944.
Clearing Majuro harbor 4 May, Flying Fish sailed for her tenth war patrol, coordinated with the assault on the Marianas scheduled to open the next month. First she covered shipping lanes between Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
, Yap
Yap
Yap, also known as Wa'ab by locals, is an island in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean. It is a state of the Federated States of Micronesia. Yap's indigenous cultures and traditions are still strong compared to other neighboring islands. The island of Yap actually consists of four...
, and Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
, coming under severe attack on the night of 24 – 25 May when she was detected while attacking a four-ship convoy. At dawn, however, she had got back into position to sink two of the ships, both passenger/cargo types.
Along with other American submarines, she then headed to take up a patrol station between the Palaus and San Bernardino Strait
San Bernardino Strait
The San Bernardino Strait is a strait in the Philippines. It separates the Bicol Peninsula of Luzon island from the island of Samar in the south.-Filipinos and San Bernardino Strait:...
, from which she could scout any movement by the enemy fleet out of its base at Tawi
Tawi-Tawi
Tawi-Tawi is an island province of the Philippines located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao . The capital of Tawi-Tawi is Bongao. The province is the southernmost of the country sharing sea borders with the Malaysian State of Sabah and the Indonesian East Kalimantan province. To the...
in the Sulus
Sulu Archipelago
The Sulu Archipelago is a chain of islands in the southwestern Philippines. This archipelago is considered to be part of the Moroland by the local rebel independence movement. This island group forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea....
while the Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
were landed on Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
. On 15 June, the day of the invasion, Flying Fish spotted the Japanese carrier force emerging from San Bernardino Strait bound westward. Her prompt report of this movement enabled a sister submarine, , to sink the carrier Shōkaku
Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku
Shōkaku was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the lead ship of her class. Along with her sister ship , she took part in several key naval battles during the Pacific War, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands...
four days later while American carrier aircraft broke the back of Japanese naval aviation in the Battle of the Philippine Sea
Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...
. Flying Fish remained on her scouting station until 23 June, then sailed for Manus
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
and Brisbane, arriving there 5 July]].
Eleventh war patrol, October – November 1944
On 1 August, Flying Fish headed out to sea for her eleventh war patrol, this one taking her to Davao GulfDavao Gulf
Davao Gulf is a gulf found in Mindanao in the Philippines. It has an area of 308,000 hectares. Davao Gulf cuts into the island of Mindanao from Celebes Sea. It is surrounded by all four provinces in the Davao Region. The largest island in the gulf is Samal Island. Davao City, on the gulf's west...
, the coast of Celebes
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
, and along the shipping lanes from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
to Halmahera
Halmahera
Halmahera is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia.Halmahera has a land area of 17,780 km² and a population in 1995 of 162,728...
. Flying Fish was held down much of the time by enemy aircraft. After refueling at Mios Woendi
Mios Woendi
Mios Woendi is the name of an island and was a forward base for United States Navy during World War II. The US Navy code word for the base located in Schouten Islands, was Stinker...
from 29 August – 1 September, she closed Celebes, where on 7 September she detected a concealed enemy airstrip. Her report led to the airfield's bombardment by aircraft 11 days later. Through the remainder of her patrol she served on lifeguard duty for air strikes on Celebes, returning to Midway 18 October. The submarine sailed on for an extensive overhaul at San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, where she was equipped with mine
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
detection and clearance equipment to enable her to penetrate the Sea of Japan
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
.
Twelfth war patrol, May – July 1945
Tests with her new gear preceded her return to GuamGuam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
18 May 1945, where she joined a submarine task group for her 12th war patrol. She sailed 29 May for the heavily mined Tsushima Strait
Tsushima Strait
is the eastern channel of the Korea Strait, which lies between Korea and Japan, connecting the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.The Tsushima Strait is the broader eastern channel to the east and southeast of Tsushima Island, with the Japanese islands of Honshū to the east and northeast, and...
, entering the Sea of Japan
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
7 June. Now each submarine headed for her own assigned area, Flying Fish setting course north for the coast of Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. On 10 June, in separate attacks, she sank two cargo ships, taking aboard one survivor. Five days later she sank ten small craft with gunfire and sent two onto the beach. Completing her patrol at Pearl Harbor 4 July, Flying Fish returned to New London
Naval Submarine Base New London
Naval Submarine Base New London is the United States Navy's primary submarine base, the "Home of the Submarine Force", and "the Submarine Capital of the World".-History:...
21 September to become flagship of Commander, Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet (COMSUBLANT.
Post-war service
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
and Block Island Sound
Block Island Sound
Block Island Sound is a strait in the open Atlantic Ocean, approximately wide, separating Block Island from the coast of Rhode Island in the United States...
, exercised off the Virginia Capes
Virginia Capes
The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America....
, trained men of foreign navies, joined in major operations in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, and cruised to Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
ports. She was reclassified AGSS-229 on 29 November 1950. On 11 January 1951, she completed her duty as flagship, and began to serve the Underwater Sound Laboratory in sonar experiments. On 29 February 1952, at 10:53, Flying Fish made became the first American submarine to make 5,000 dives. On board for the event was a distinguished party headed by Secretary of the Navy Dan A. Kimball
Dan A. Kimball
Dan Able Kimball was the 50th U.S. Secretary of the Navy.-Biography:Kimball was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 1, 1896. He was an Army Air Service pilot during the First World War and maintained an intense interest in aviation thereafter...
. Placed in commission in reserve 31 December 1953, Flying Fish was decommissioned at New London 28 May 1954 and was sold for scrapping 1 May 1959.
Of Flying Fishs twelve war patrols, all save the 11th were designated "Successful". She is credited with having sunk a total of 58,306 tons of enemy shipping. She received 12 battle stars for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
service.