The USS Flier. Michael Sturma

in sailboat racing at a young age. Later he attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, completing a degree in mechanical engineering. While at the university he joined the naval reserve officer training program and was commissioned an ensign on graduation. After volunteering for submarine duty, he attended the Submarine School at New London for three months. From there he was sent to Mare Island and reported to the Flier on 15 April. Jacobson became the submarine's youngest officer.

      After returning to Pearl Harbor on 8 May 1944, the Flier spent two weeks in training before resuming its first war patrol on 21 May. Not surprisingly, in later accounts Crowley rarely mentioned the initial phase of the patrol and its disastrous interruption at Midway. This time the Flier refueled at Johnston Island, some 720 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor. The crew then set course to patrol the Philippine waters west of Luzon, terminating at Fremantle, Western Australia.

      The Southwest Pacific

      Crowley no doubt felt pressure to have a successful patrol. A cash prize of $15 and a quart of Old Taylor bourbon were offered to the first lookout that spotted an enemy target. Typically the Flier kept four lookouts on the bridge, both day and night. On the surface there was a continuous high periscope watch; when submerged they generally ran at periscope depth, checking the surface at least every ten minutes. There was also a continuous watch on sound and radar. The Flier’s officers considered themselves lucky to have a good radar operator who was usually able to detect the size of a ship from the radar pip.⁹

      The first sighting of the enemy came on 4 June, when the crew picked up a convoy (designated 375) west of the Bonin Islands, traveling from the Marianas to Japan. The Flier started to pursue the convoy on the surface under a bright moon. Crowley dived the boat when it looked like the convoy was changing course, but this proved to be a mistake, and they lost contact. The Flier resurfaced and tried to make an end-around maneuver for an attack. The standard strategy for U.S. submarines was to race ahead of a potential target on the surface and then dive for a torpedo attack once a favorable position had been obtained. The Flier managed to catch up with the convoy southwest of Iwo Jima just as day broke at about 5:00 A.M. Finding its way between the columns of the convoy, the Flier lined up two targets and then fired two spreads of three torpedoes each. There were three hits. When last seen, one of the ships was billowing smoke amidships, and the other appeared to be stalled in the water.¹⁰

      As the Flier swung to fire its stern tubes, the crew discovered that a ship was bearing down and attempting to ram them. Crowley ordered the submarine deep. In the ensuing attack a total of thirty-four depth charges, believed to originate from four different Japanese escort ships, were directed at the Flier.