The US Submarine That Sank an Island of Ships



Midnight, December 21, 1944. Commander George Grider is dozing off in his bunk on board the Gato-class submarine USS Flasher as it glides through the South China Sea. Suddenly, he is rudely awakened by a heated argument erupting throughout the vessel. Two lookouts have spotted a puzzling silhouette on the horizon, and now it seems the entire crew is debating exactly what they’re seeing.

Hauling himself to the conn tower to take a look for himself, Grider finds the quartermaster and executive officer elbowing each other out of the way to wrest control of the periscope, then pointing forcefully at a spot on their chart. Some had thought the shape was Tortue Island, but there’s one small problem – it’s moving. The penny drops: that’s no island – that’s a Japanese tanker convoy!

Wasting no time, Grider moves Flasher in for the attack. Yet a vigilant destroyer blocks her path. The tankers are hugging the shoreline, their escorts forming an impenetrable barrier on the seaward side. Then it hits Grider: the Japanese are only guarding one side because they think the coastal waters are too shallow.

Maybe they’re right – in just a hundred feet of water, the risk of running aground is enormous. But if Flasher is to stop that vital fuel from reaching the Japanese war machine, this might be her only chance…

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25 thoughts on “The US Submarine That Sank an Island of Ships”

  1. Nothing new the only wooden sailing war ship that rammed a steel ship CSS-Tenn. into submission the flagship USS-Hartford from the civil war stayed around until 1956 it was so rotted that the navy could no longer save it.

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