USS FLUSSER DD-368

A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History

USS FLUSSER DD-368

The Tin Can Sailor, October 1997

The fifth MAHAN-class destroyer to be laid down was also the first to be assigned to the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Kearny, New Jersey. The vessel was to be named FLUSSER and would be the fourth to bear the name of Lieutenant Commander Charles Williamson Flusser, who lost his life in an attempt to capture the Confederate Ironclad Ram CSS ALBEMARLE during the Civil War.

DD-368 would be launched on September 28, 1935 and commissioned almost exactly one year later.

FLUSSER’s shakedown cruise included operations with squadron 40-T, a naval force created to insure American interests in the Western Mediterranean were protected during the Spanish Civil War. Upon her return to American waters, she cruised the East Coast before her final assignment to the Pacific fleet, based first in San Francisco, then at Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese attack on the Hawaiian naval base found FLUSSER far at sea, screening USS LEXINGTON (CV-2). The task force immediately sped in pursuit of the retreating Imperial Japanese forces, but the attackers were well out of the area. FLUSSER returned to the devastated base on December 12. Vital convoy duty between the Hawaiian archipelago and the South Pacific consumed eight months of FLUSSER’s service.

As Allied forces secured Guadalcanal and began the march northward through the Solomons and Gilberts, FLUSSER was called upon to provide direct support to the invasion forces. DD-368 would provide accurate fire support for the landings at Lae and Finschhafen where she also sank three barges laden with Japanese reinforcements. The destroyer alternated between much-needed overhauls and extensive steaming in the waters north of Australia, protecting vital convoys and blasting away at Japanese shore batteries. The actions were not always one-sided; at Wotje, a Japanese shore battery hit the destroyer, wounding nine men.

The Philippines campaign presented FLUSSER with one of her greatest challenges. Many of Japan’s most prominent military leaders began to understand that only the most drastic of means would halt the Allied drive to Japan. They concluded that massive air assaults, featuring suicidal kamikaze attacks, held the only hope. FLUSSER would enter the conflict around the Western Pacific islands as the first organized kamikaze attacks were mounted. Escorting reinforcements between Hollandia and Leyte, FLUSSER received her first suicide attacker, a near miss. On the following day, a large group attacked FLUSSER’s group and the destroyer splashed a number of attackers, before rescuing survivors from LSM-20. Ormoc Bay seemed to be a kamikaze magnet, and FLUSSER found herself in the middle of a blizzard of attackers. She splashed at least one, then provided cover for the stricken USS LAMSON (DD-367).

The end of the war in the Pacific found FLUSSER operating in the waters around the Philippines. She would subsequently be assigned to occupation duty at Sasebo, Japan, where her officers were given the task of inspecting Japanese naval and merchant shipping in the area. She would return to San Diego in November, 1945.

DD-368 would take part in “Operation Crossroads” the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb “experiments” of 1946. Ultimately, the veteran destroyer would return to Norfolk, VA where she would be decommissioned in December 1946, and sold on January 6, 1948.

USS FLUSSER earned eight battle stars for her actions in World War II.

USS FLUSSER DD-368 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, July 2015

The fourth Flusser (DD-368) was launched 28 September 1935 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Kearny, N.J.; sponsored by Mrs. F. W. Packard; and commissioned 1 October 1936, Commander F. L. Lowe in command.

Flusser sailed from New York 1 December 1936 for a shakedown cruise which found her operating with Squadron 40-T, a unit formed to protect American interests in the Western Mediterranean during the Spanish Civil War. She returned to Hampton Roads 9 February 1937, and for the next 5 months operated along the east coast as far north as Maine. On 16 July, she arrived at San Diego, Calif., her base for Pacific and Caribbean operations until October 1939, aside from a 2-week visit to Washington earlier that year.

Based on Pearl Harbor until the outbreak of the war, she took part in intensive training operations with ships of all types, and on 5 December 1941 put to sea screening Lexington (CV-2). Thus away from base at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Flusser’s force hunted the retiring Japanese after the attack, then returned to their devastated home port 12 December. Through April 1942, Flusser sailed on convoy escort duty between Pearl Harbor and the west coast, then cleared for Palmyra, where on 21 April she landed a small Marine garrison. Continuing on, she began a period of escort and patrol service out of various southwest Pacific ports, on several occasions putting in to Australian ports.

Overhauled at Pearl Harbor between July 1942 and February 1943, Flusser returned to escort, antisubmarine, and training operations in the southern Solomons. After replenishing at Pearl Harbor between 25 July and 4 August 1942, Flusser returned to Efate 17 August to resume escort and patrol operations to the Fijis, Espiritu Santo, Samoa, and Tonga, returning to Pearl Harbor for overhaul between September and February 1943. Once more at Espiritu Santo 17 February, Flusser again escorted convoys of auxiliaries as well as warships among southwest Pacific bases, to and from Australia, and to Guadalcanal. She returned from Australia to Milne Bay 22 August, and based here for the New Guinea operation. Participating in the landings at Lae and Finschhafen, she conducted preinvasion bombardment, gave fire support cover to the assaults, escorted reinforcement and re-supply convoys, and on 22 September, attacked and sank three Japanese barges at Finschhafen. Flusser next participated in the bombardment and landing at Arawe, New Britain, and had similar duty in the occupation of Cape Gloucester and Saidor.

From 11 January 1944 to 30 January, Flusser had a brief overhaul; she then took part in exercises in Australian waters, returning to Milne Bay for duty escorting convoys to Saidor and Caps Gloucester, and taking part in the landings on Los Negros, Admiralties. Her constant activity in the New Guinea area made a west coast overhaul imperative, and she received this at Mare Island between April and June.

Departing Pearl Harbor 1 August 1944, Flusser escorted a convoy to Eniwetok, and arrived at Majuro 16 August for 6 weeks of duty patrolling off the bypassed Japanese-held atolls in the southern Marshalls. On 7 September, in an engagement with a shore battery on Wotje, nine of her men were wounded. Leaving Majuro 1 October on escort duty to Eniwetok, Ulithi, and Hollandia, she sailed north for San Pedro Bay, arriving 29 October for patrol duty in Leyte Gulf and Surigao Strait. On 18 November, she shot down a kamikaze plane, which crashed so close aboard that the pilot’s parachute landed on the ship’s forecastle.

Continuing her support of the Philippines operation, Flusser escorted reinforcement convoys to Leyte from Hollandia, and on 4 December 1944, received damage from the near miss of a Japanese suicide plane. A heavy air attack was launched at her group the next day, during which Flusser splashed several planes, and rescued survivors of LSM-20, a kamikaze victim. The destroyer sailed from Leyte 6 December to cover the landings at Ormoc Bay, and next day her group was attacked by the first of many waves of desperate suicide planes. Flusser shot down at least one of these, and aided survivors of stricken ships, screening Lamson (DD-367) back to San Pedro.

Flusser sailed to Hollandia and Biak to prepare for the Lingayen operation, and arrived in Lingayen Gulf escorting the second group of reinforcements 13 January 1945. She covered the landings at Nasugbu on 31 January, then participated in the assault at Puerto Princesa, Palawan, as well as convoying escort forces between Leyte, Mindoro, and Palawan.

Flusser remained in the Philippines, joining in the landings on Cebu 26 March 1945 and escorting support convoys to that island, then escorted resupply convoys from Morotai to Polloc Harbor and Davao Gulf until 1 July. She participated in the Balikpapan operation, covering the landings, and escorting ships from Morotai, until 20 July, when she arrived at Manila. After brief overhaul, she sailed 31 August for escort duty to Okinawa, then arrived at Sasebo 16 September for occupation duty. Her officers served on teams inspecting Japanese naval and merchant shipping at Sasebo until 29 October, when the destroyer departed for San Diego, arriving 19 November.

During the summer of 1946, Flusser took part in Operation “Crossroads,” the atomic weapons tests in the Marshalls. She returned to Pearl Harbor from this duty 14 September, and on 12 November arrived at Norfolk, Va., where she was decommissioned 16 December 1946 and sold 6 January 1948.

Flusser received eight battle stars for World War II service.