USS Flasher (SS-249)

Flasher (SS-249) was launched 20 June 1943 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.; sponsored by Mrs. W. A. Saunders; and commissioned 25 September 1943, Lieutenant Commander R. T. Whitaker in command.

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. She then sank a freighter off Manila 5 February, and sank two cargo ships of the same convoy on 14 February. Flasher arrived at Fremantle 29 February to refit.

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 river gunboat Tahure guarding a freighter off 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.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Flasher (SS-249)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.