USS Flying Fish (SS-229)
1941 Gato-class submarine
USS Flying Fish (hull number 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. 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.
Construction and commissioning
The keel of Flying Fish was laid down on 6 December 1940 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 9 July 1941, sponsored by Mrs. Dorothy K. Kimmel, wife of Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, Commander-in-Chief, United States Pacific Fleet. Flying Fish was commissioned 10 December 1941, Lieutenant Commander Glynn "Donc" Donaho in command.
December 1941–May 1942
After shakedown training, Flying Fish transited the Panama Canal and departed Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone on 17 April 1942 bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During her voyage, a United States Army Air Forces plane mistook her for a Japanese submarine and dropped depth charges on her, but she submerged and avoided damage. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 2 May 1942.
First war patrol - Battle of Midway
On 17 May 1942, Flying Fish was ordered out to patrol west of Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which was threatened by an expected Japanese attack.
“USS Flying Fish (SS-229)” enters the record as 1941 Gato-class submarine. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Flying, Fish and SS-229 can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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