Читать книгу The USS Flier - Michael Sturma - Страница 14

Resumed Patrol

The work required to restore the Flier was beyond the scope of the navy yard at Pearl Harbor. After the submarine's starboard shaft and screw were repaired, the Flier limped to Mare Island off San Francisco, arriving on 25 February 1944. It would be more than two months before the Flier was ready to resume duty.¹

Workers at the Mare Island shipyard had been recruited from all over the United States to staff continuous shifts that ran seven days a week. The population of adjacent Vallejo had increased fourfold following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Indeed, the population of California grew a staggering 50 percent during the 1940s. Wartime San Francisco became crowded not only with uniformed men but also with their wives, girlfriends, and families, who wanted to remain in close proximity to their loved ones in the military.²

For many submariners with rural or small-town backgrounds, San Francisco was a much more cosmopolitan and vibrant environment than they were accustomed to. New recruit George R. Wells recalled being shocked when the stage performers in a San Francisco nightclub turned out to be men in drag.³ Calvin Moon, sent to California for training, characterized liberty in San Francisco as being “pretty great.” He remembered, “We had a favorite bar and a restaurant we went to all the time. Met lots of girls, went to a lot of dances.”⁴ Service clubs and canteens proliferated, sponsored by such agencies as the United Service Organizations and American Women's Voluntary Services.

While in San Francisco, John Crowley kept a close eye on the Flier’s progress at the navy yard. More so than other ship captains, submarine commanders carefully monitored the quality of any repairs or alterations made to their vessels.⁵ During the Flier’s repair, Crowley and executive officer Benjamin Adams had what writer Clay Blair describes as an “irreconcilable dispute.”⁶ Adams, originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, had gained a reputation at the Naval Academy for his sense of humor and for being a ladies’ man. According to one crew member, the problem was that Adams “was not willing to work.”⁷ In the end, Adams was transferred to the Albacore, commanded by Jim Blanchard. The Albacore was in San Francisco for an overhaul at the time, and its executive officer, Ralph Loach, was being reassigned to a new submarine. In January 1945 Adams would be given command of the Rasher for its sixth patrol.

On the Flier, James Liddell took Adams's place as executive officer. Liddell, originally from Pennsylvania, had been an all-American football player at Northwestern University in Illinois. Also joining the Flier’s wardroom at Mare Island was Ensign Alvin E. Jacobson Jr. Born and raised in Grand Haven on Lake Michigan, he found San Francisco “a great party town.”⁸ Growing up near the water, Jacobson had become involved in sailboat racing at a young age. Later he attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, completing a degree in mechanical engineering. While at the university he joined the naval reserve officer training program and was commissioned an ensign on graduation. After volunteering for submarine duty, he attended the Submarine School at New London for three months. From there he was sent to Mare Island and reported to the Flier on 15 April. Jacobson became the submarine's youngest officer.

After returning to Pearl Harbor on 8 May 1944, the Flier spent two weeks in training before resuming its first war patrol on 21 May. Not surprisingly, in later accounts Crowley rarely mentioned the initial phase of the patrol and its disastrous interruption at Midway. This time the Flier refueled at Johnston Island, some 720 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor. The crew then set course to patrol the Philippine waters west of Luzon, terminating at Fremantle, Western Australia.

The Southwest Pacific

Crowley no doubt felt pressure to have a successful patrol. A cash prize of $15 and a quart of Old Taylor bourbon were offered to the first lookout that spotted an enemy target. Typically the Flier kept four lookouts on the bridge, both day and night. On the surface there was a continuous high periscope watch; when submerged they generally ran at periscope depth, checking the surface at least every ten minutes. There was also a continuous watch on sound and radar. The Flier’s officers considered themselves lucky to have a good radar operator who was usually able to detect the size of a ship from the radar pip.⁹

The first sighting of the enemy came on 4 June, when the crew picked up a convoy (designated 375) west of the Bonin Islands, traveling from the Marianas to Japan. The Flier started to pursue the convoy on the surface under a bright moon. Crowley dived the boat when it looked like the convoy was changing course, but this proved to be a mistake, and they lost contact. The Flier resurfaced and tried to make an end-around maneuver for an attack. The standard strategy for U.S. submarines was to race ahead of a potential target on the surface and then dive for a torpedo attack once a favorable position had been obtained. The Flier managed to catch up with the convoy southwest of Iwo Jima just as day broke at about 5:00 A.M. Finding its way between the columns of the convoy, the Flier lined up two targets and then fired two spreads of three torpedoes each. There were three hits. When last seen, one of the ships was billowing smoke amidships, and the other appeared to be stalled in the water.¹⁰

As the Flier swung to fire its stern tubes, the crew discovered that a ship was bearing down and attempting to ram them. Crowley ordered the submarine deep. In the ensuing attack a total of thirty-four depth charges, believed to originate from four different Japanese escort ships, were directed at the Flier.