The USS Flier. Michael Sturma
plant thus far” and claimed that it would inspire “increased efforts to build better submarines.”6
Apart from Crowley, there were a number of other submarine commanders and their wives in attendance at the Flier’s launch ceremony. Some of these men had already gained outstanding reputations, such as Reuben Whitaker and William Stovall. Also present was Admiral Freeland A. Daubin, commander of submarines in the Atlantic.7 (Daubin would later assume an important, if unexpected, role following the loss of the Flier in 1944.) At precisely 5:00 P.M. the Flier’s hull slid stern-first down the Victory Yard's way number five into the Thames River. For many of those present, these moments were full of pride and anticipation. Later the hull would be towed a few miles upstream to Electric Boat's fitting-out basin, and the submarine would be completed over the next three months.
As the Flier’s prospective commanding officer, Crowley's job was to serve as both observer and adviser in the final stages of construction. He had access to the blueprints (covering a quarter of an acre), as well as other machinery and equipment specifications. It was his right to suggest modifications or to complain if he found any workmanship deficient.8 The fitting-out period allowed the officers and some key enlisted men to begin familiarizing themselves with their new submarine. They also had the opportunity to attend special schools covering such subjects as gunnery, sonar, and mine warfare. Most important, this time allowed the men to begin bonding with one another and forging a cohesive fighting unit. On 18 October 1943 the Flier was officially commissioned under Crowley's command.
As a fleet boat, the Flier (named after a common species of sunfish) offered a stark contrast to the old S-boats. The first of the larger and more agile fleet boats had begun appearing in 1933, and about forty were in service at the start of World War II. The Flier was almost a third longer than the S-28 and could carry nearly twice the crew. With a greater periscope depth, fleet boats were less likely to be rammed by enemy ships. Whereas the old S-boats had riveted hulls, the Flier was constructed with welded seams, a method first introduced in the early 1930s. Welded hulls were stronger and could be made from lighter materials. Welded hulls were also cheaper to build, requiring less skilled labor and no plate overlap. Most important, there were no rivets to pop out in the likely event of a depth charge attack.9
The Flier had ten torpedo tubes, compared with only four on the S-28. Equipped with the latest in radar, the submarine could detect ships 20,000 yards away. When used in combination with the plan position indicator, the radar system provided a two-dimensional image of surface targets in relation to the submarine. At the same time, the torpedo data computer on board allowed more sophisticated attacks. On the S-boats, angles of fire had to be preset by hand, and the submarine needed to be more or less pointed in the direction of the torpedo track. On fleet boats, in contrast, the torpedo data computer automatically adjusted gyro angles on the torpedoes and offered the best submarine fire-control system in the world.10
Before departing for a forward base, all new submarines went through a shakedown period of testing. Originally the shakedown period was six weeks, but starting in July 1943 it was reduced to thirty days. The crew then underwent two more weeks of training at Pearl Harbor. With a critical need for manpower, some crew had little preparation for submarine duty. Although young officers were occasionally sent straight to new constructions, most officers attended the Submarine School at New London. There, they spent their mornings in classes and their afternoons working in an attack or diving trainer. Some of those with technical aptitude spent their time at New London studying radar exclusively. Others were given specialized training at universities, such as electrical engineering at Texas A&M. Regardless of his background, every officer would eventually be required to go before a qualification board.11
Once on board a submarine, the officers and petty officers began the process of qualifying the men under their command in what was known as the “School of the Boat.” Each man had an assigned station, but all crew members were expected to have a grasp of the equipment throughout the submarine. It was an arduous process that involved both studying plans and gaining practical experience in each compartment until the men knew the function of every pipe, valve, and piece of machinery. Eventually, when the chief of the boat deemed a sailor ready, he would undergo both an oral and a practical examination given by the officers.12
The Flier sailed from New London for Pearl Harbor on 20 December 1943. As the submarine approached Panama in the Caribbean Sea, it was attacked by a “friendly” merchant ship. The merchantman fired off thirteen shells before the Flier managed to disappear, still on the surface, into a rain squall.
Despite designated safety zones and recognition signals, such attacks were unnervingly common. The Flier’s executive officer, Lieutenant James Liddell, had already experienced a “friendly” attack while serving on the USS Snapper. As that submarine had traversed the Indian Ocean on its way to a patrol in the Philippines, an amphibious patrol bomber had dropped two bombs nearby. Liddell later described the damage to the Snapper as “fairly limited.”13
Like the Flier, a number of new submarines received their baptism of fire from Allied ships and aircraft while making their way from New London to Pearl Harbor. The USS Scorpion was fired on by a merchant ship as it cruised between Panama and Hawaii. The USS Harder was strafed and bombed by an American patrol plane as it made its way through the Caribbean a week after departing New London. The USS Dorado, similarly en route to Panama, was sunk by an American aircraft only six days before the Flier was commissioned. News of the Dorado’s loss with all hands naturally upset the Flier’s green crew.14
3
Midway
War manufactures death and irony in abundance, as the men of the Flier would discover only days into their first war patrol. Although John Crowley had managed to evade the myriad hazards of the Aleutian Islands for five patrols in the antiquated S-28, he would come to grief in his brand-new submarine on its first outing in the Pacific. The Flier departed Pearl Harbor at 1:23 P.M. on 12 January 1944, and only four days later it would be a wreck at Midway.
The circular atoll known as Midway lies some 1,250 miles from Pearl Harbor, about one-third the distance from Hawaii to Tokyo. Surrounded by a ring of coral reef five miles in diameter are a number of tiny plots of dry land. The largest island of the group, Sand Island, is only a mile and a half long by half a mile wide. The next largest island, Eastern Island, is a mile and a quarter long and three-quarters of a mile wide. This rather pathetic piece of real estate would assume enormous importance in the Pacific war.
Back in July 1859, N. B. Brooks, captain of the Honolulubased ship Gambia, laid claim to the atoll for the United States under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The Guano Act enabled U.S. citizens to temporarily occupy unclaimed Pacific islands in order to harvest the bird droppings for fertilizer. Brooks called the place Middlebrooks, partly in an attempt at self-aggrandizement, and partly in recognition of its location between Japan and the west coast of the United States.
Less than a decade later, in August 1867, Captain William Reynolds took formal possession of the Midway islands for the United States, under instructions from the secretary of the navy. There was little interest in the atoll until the turn of the century, when a transpacific cable was laid. In 1900 the tugboat Iroquois was dispatched to take soundings at Midway, and the crew discovered Japanese killing the local birds for their plumage. A series of protests by the U.S. government against Japanese poachers and squatters followed, and President Theodore Roosevelt placed Midway under the authority of the Department of the Navy on 20 January 1903.
Midway next became a cable station and received something of a makeover. Daniel Morrison, the station's superintendent from 1906 to 1921, imported grass, shrubs, and casuarina trees to be planted on the aptly named Sand Island. In August 1921 the tanker Patoka arrived to service U.S. Navy ships in the area. In 1935 Midway also became a refueling stop for Pan American Airlines, and Pan Am built a small, low-lying hotel at the northeastern end of Sand Island.
With the approach of war,