USS Flying Fish ( SS - 229 ) 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 . First war patrol - Battle of Midway . " Flying Fish " arrived at Pearl Harbor 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 . 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 battleship ( 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 on 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 joined 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 and fourth war patrols , October 1942 – February 1943 . " Flying Fish " cleared Pearl Harbor 27 October , headed for her patrol area south of the Marshall Islands . 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 . Crew casualities during R & R , March 9th 1943 . On March 9 , 1943 , three crewmen of the " Flying Fish " - Lyman Darol Williams , Leonard Mathis Sturms , and Harley Albert Kearney died of drinking wood alcohol at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel during R & R in Honolulu , Hawaii . These three seamen would be the only casualties that the crew of the " Flying Fish " would suffer during the war . Fifth war patrol , March 1943 – May 1943 . " 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 . 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 Islands 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 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 carrier . 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 Fish " ' s eighth war patrol , the first to be commanded by Lieutenant Commander R . D . Risser , between Taiwan and the China 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 . 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 Gulf , 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 . Twelfth war patrol , May – July 1945 . Tests with her new gear preceded her return to Guam 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 ( ) . Post - war service . 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 , notably testing a passive GHG sonar salvaged from the former German cruiser Prinz Eugen in a large array surrounding the conning tower . 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 Fish " ' s twelve war patrols , all save the 11th were designated as " successful " . She is credited with having sunk a total of 58 , 306 tons of enemy shipping . She received 12 battle star s for World War II service . References . List of military figures by nickname