USS Flasher ( SS - 249 ) USS " Flasher " ( SS - 249 ) was a " Gato " - class submarine which served in the Pacific during World War II . She received three Presidential Unit Citation s and six battle star s , and sank 21 ships for a total of 100 , 231 tons of Japanese shipping . She was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the flasher . Her keel was laid down 30 September 1942 by Electric Boat Co . , Groton , Connecticut . She was launched on 20 June 1943 ( sponsored by Mrs . W . A . Saunders ) and commissioned 25 September 1943 , Lieutenant Commander Reuben T . Whitaker ( Class of 1934 ) in command . First and second war patrols , January – May 1944 . " Flasher " arrived at Pearl Harbor from New London 15 December 1943 to prepare for her first war patrol , for which she sailed 6 January 1944 . Bound for her patrol area off Mindoro , she sank her first target 18 January , sending a 2 , 900 - ton former gunboat to the bottom . Adding to what would be the greatest total of enemy tonnage credited to an American submarine in World War II , she sank a freighter off Manila 5 February , and sank two cargo ships of the same convoy on 14 February . " Flasher " arrived at Fremantle , Australia 29 February to refit . The 2 vessels sunk 14 February 1944 were the " Minryo Maru " and the " Hokuan Maru " . See . ( The " Hokuan Maru " probably rammed and sunk the 9 September 1943 . ) Action - bound once more , the submarine departed Fremantle 4 April 1944 for the coast of French Indochina on her second war patrol . On 29 April she contacted the french river gunboat " Tahure " guarding a freighter off the Hon Doi Islands , and sank both . After sinking a large cargo ship in the Sulu Sea 3 May , " Flasher " shaped course for Fremantle , arriving 28 May for refit until 19 June . Third and fourth war patrols , June – October 1944 . " Flasher " made her third war patrol in the South China Sea , where on 28 June 1944 she contacted a heavily escorted convoy of 13 ships . She made a cautious approach , undeterred by the escort , and shortly after midnight 29 June , broke into the convoy to sink a freighter and badly damage a large passenger cargo ship . Her next victim was a freighter , sunk 7 July . Twelve days later , " Flasher " sighted cruiser " Ōi " escorted by a destroyer . Two attacks , each followed by a heavy depth charge retaliation from the destroyer , sufficed to sink the cruiser , a fact confirmed several hours later when a periscope observation revealed only the destroyer in sight . Seven days later , she sank another important target , a merchant tanker , and the same day damaged another tanker later sunk by one of her sisters . With all her torpedoes gone , " Flasher " put back for Fremantle , where she replenished and refitted between 7 August and 30 August . During her fourth war patrol , in the Philippines , " Flasher " headed a coordinated attack group which included two other submarines , and . Although she was on lifeguard station during the air attacks preliminary to the invasion of the Philippines during part of this patrol , " Flasher " sank three ships , a former light cruiser on 18 September , a transport on 27 September , and a cargo ship on 4 October . She returned to Fremantle 20 October . Fifth and sixth war patrols , November 1944 – April 1945 . Heading the same attack group , " Flasher " now commanded by Lieutenant Commander G . W . Grider , sailed on her fifth war patrol 15 November 1944 , bound for Cam Ranh Bay . On 4 December one of her companions reported a tanker convoy , and " Flasher " set a converging course . As she made her approach in a heavy downpour , a destroyer suddenly loomed up before her , and " Flasher " launched her first spread of torpedoes at this escort . The destroyer was stopped by two hits , and began listing and smoking heavily . " Flasher " got a spread of torpedoes away at a tanker before she was forced deep by a second destroyer , which dropped 16 depth charges . Rising to periscope depth , " Flasher " located the tanker burning and covered by yet a third destroyer . Speedily reloading , she prepared to sink the destroyer and finish off the tanker , and though almost blinded by rainsqualls , she did so with a salvo of four torpedoes , two of which hit the destroyer , and two of which passed beneath her , as planned , to hit the tanker . Once more , counter - attack forced " Flasher " down , and when she surfaced she found no trace of the two damaged destroyers . The tanker , blazing away , was still guarded by three escorts until abandoned at sunset , when " Flasher " sank her with one torpedo . The two destroyers , both found after the war to have been sunk , were " Kishinami " and " Iwanami " ( However , the destroyer " Iwanami " did not exist . " Flasher " s war patrol reported that her count of destroyers may have been inaccurate , but this seems to have been ignored , and it is likely that " Flasher " actually finished off previously crippled " Kishinami " and did not hit any other destroyer . " Flasher " contacted another well - guarded tanker convoy on the morning of 21 December 1944 , and she began a long chase , getting into position to attack from the unguarded shoreward side . In rapid succession , " Flasher " attacked and sank three of the tankers , receiving no counter - attack since the enemy apparently believed he had stumbled into a minefield . One of these tankers was the largest " Flasher " sank during the war . The other two tankers had displacements similar to each other , were tied for third largest . Refitting at Fremantle once more between 2 January and 29 January 1945 , " Flasher " made her sixth war patrol on the coast of Indochina . Contacts were few , but on 21 February she sank a sea truck by surface gunfire , and 4 days later sank a cargo ship with torpedoes . She completed her patrol upon her arrival at Pearl Harbor 3 April 1945 , and sailed a few days later for a West Coast overhaul . Post - war . Bound for Guam on a seventh war patrol at the close of the war , " Flasher " was ordered back to New London , where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 16 March 1946 , attached to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet . On 1 June 1959 the " Flasher " was struck from the Naval Vessel Register . She was sold for scrap on 1 June 1963 . Her conning tower was removed and placed on display as a memorial at the entrance to Nautilus Park , a Navy housing area in Groton , Connecticut . It was then moved to the intersection of Thames St . and Bridge St . where it is the centerpiece of the World War II memorial that honors the 52 U . S . submarines and their valiant crews lost during the war . Its upkeep was originally the responsibility of the Submarine Veterans of World War II organization and was then transferred into the willing ( and usually younger ) hands of the U . S . Submarine Veterans , Inc . Awards . " Flasher " received the Presidential Unit Citation for her brilliantly successful third , fourth , and fifth war patrols . For her six war patrols , each designated " Successful " , she received six battle star s .