USS Flier (SS-250)

History
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	30 October 1942
Launched:	11 July 1943
Sponsored by:	Mrs. A. S. Pierce
Commissioned:	18 October 1943
Fate:	Mined in the Balabac Strait, 13 August 1944
General characteristics
Class and type:	Gato-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 diesel engines driving electrical 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:	21 kn (39 km/h) surfaced 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 kn (4 km/h) submerged 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	300 ft (90 m)
Complement:	6 officers, 54 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 Flier (SS-250), a Gato-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the flier, a round sunfish widely known in the United States.

Her keel was laid down 30 October 1942 by Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 11 July 1943 (sponsored by Mrs. A. S. Pierce), and commissioned on 18 October 1943 with Lieutenant Commander John D. Crowley in command.

Flier reached Pearl Harbor from New London, Connecticut, on 20 December 1943, and prepared for her first war patrol, sailing 12 January 1944. However, the submarine ran aground near Midway Island on 16 January. Macaw, a Chanticleer-class submarine rescue ship, attempted to pull Flier free but ran aground herself and sank. Flier was eventually saved by Florikan and towed to first Pearl Harbor and then the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs. On 21 May she sailed again for action, heading for a patrol area west of Luzon. She made her first contact on 4 June, attacking a well-escorted convoy of five merchantmen. Firing three torpedoes at each of two ships, she sent the transport Hakusan Maru to the bottom and scored a hit on another ship, before clearing the area to evade countermeasures.

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