The USS Flier: Death and Survival on a World War II Submarine

2. A New Boat

15 2 A New Boat John Crowley’s reward for his perseverance with the S-28 was command of the brand-new fleet submarine the USS Flier (SS-250). After being replaced on the S-28 in March 1943, Crowley attended the Prospective Commanding Officer School at New London, Connecticut. All officers receiving their first command or a newly constructed ship were required to take a four-week course of lectures and practical training. With its focus on attack techniques and rigorous exercises at sea, the course would later be called the “Command Class in Attack Technique.”1 Beginning in July 1943 Crowley was involved in fitting out the Flier at Groton, Connecticut. The Flier’s keel had been laid at the Electric Boat Company in Groton many months earlier, on 30 October 1942. Originally known as the Electric Storage Battery Company, Electric Boat had obtained patents in 1897 for the first submarine capable of recharging its own batteries while at sea. From that point on, Electric Boat built the lion’s share of the U.S. Navy’s submarines. The U.S. submarine-building program first picked up during World War I and continued to gain momentum thereafter. Following the fall of France in May 1940, Congress approved the building of more than seventy new submarines. By July 1941 Electric Boat had eleven ways in operation for submarine construction. By March 1943 an additional ten ways were in use at a new facility 16 The USS Flier called the Victory Yard. The USS Dace (SS-247) became the first submarine built at the Victory Yard, as production reached full throttle. With the motto “Keep ’em sliding,” swing shifts operated twenty-four hours a day. By the time the Flier was launched in July 1943, a new submarine was being completed at Electric Boat every other week.2 The official launching of ships served a number of purposes beyond simply carrying on a naval tradition. At times, the launching of a new craft reflected the family networks so pervasive in the navy. For instance, when Slade Cutter was assigned to the newly constructed USS Requin, his wife became the sponsor and officially christened the submarine on 1 January 1945. At other times, ship launchings provided an occasion to grease the wheels of bureaucracy and consolidate government patronage. Thus, when the USS Missouri was launched, Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri was the principal speaker at the event, and Truman’s daughter, Margaret, christened the ship. The ceremony would prove prophetic : when Japan surrendered, Truman was president of the United States, and it was Truman who decided that the surrender ceremony at Tokyo Bay should be carried out on the deck of the Missouri.3 With less spectacular results, the launch of the USS Flier was similarly politicized. The secretary of the navy designated Mrs. Anna Smith Pierce from Lynchburg, South Carolina, the Flier’s sponsor. Not coincidentally, she was the daughter of Ellison DuRant Smith, a member of the Senate’s Naval Affairs Committee. Smith had first been elected to the Senate as a South Carolina Democrat in 1908. He gained the nickname “Cotton Ed” for his efforts on behalf of the Southern Cotton Association. Any anticipated gains from Smith’s navy patronage proved short-lived, however . He died on 17 November 1944, barely a year after the Flier was commissioned. The launch of the Flier was, as expected, organized with military precision, and press releases were distributed to the South Carolina newspapers. Mrs. Pierce, along with her sister-in-law Mrs. Farley Smith, would depart South Carolina by train on 9 July 17 A New Boat 1943. They were scheduled to arrive at Groton on Sunday, 11 July, at 3:30 p.M., with the ceremony set to commence at 4:45 p.M. The two women would begin their return trip the same evening. Employees of Electric Boat, along with their families, were encouraged to attend the launch ceremony at the company’s Victory Yard. To reduce worker absenteeism, the ceremony included a raffle in which maintenance electricians with perfect attendance records would have the chance to win a $25 war bond.4 Veteran skipper Glynn R. “Donc” Donaho delivered the keynote address at the Flier’s launch. Lieutenant Commander Donaho, then on leave, had been recommended by Commander Lewis Parks to give the approximately five-minute speech. Donaho had been awarded three Navy Crosses, the...