Biography of robert f fleming jr born in germany

Robert Francis Flemming Jr. Hunley before it sank the USS Housatonic. The sinking of USS Housatonic is renowned as the first sinking of an enemy ship in combat by a submarine. Robert F. Flemming Jr. Flemming Sr. By the family had moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts , and Flemming age 12 had four new siblings: John age 10 , Catherine age 5 , George age 2 , and Mary an infant.

Flemming opened a boarding house in Cambridge while the three oldest children went out to work. He was rated as Landsman rank , the equivalent of the current naval rating of seaman recruit. His first posting was to the USS Wyoming the following June; he was present when the sloop engaged the naval forces of the Japanese Empire at the Naval battle of Shimonoseki on July 16 of that year.

On the evening of February 17, , Flemming was on watch when he noticed a strange object in the water about feet off the starboard bow. He alerted the officer of the guard, who dismissed the object as a log. Taking a closer look, he soon realized that the "log" wasn't floating with the tide, but was actually coming at a high speed toward the Housatonic.

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Shouting that there was a torpedo approaching the ship, Flemming alerted the rest of the crew, who started to get the Housatonic under way. However, it was too late; there was an explosion and, within five minutes, the Housatonic sank in 25 feet of water with a loss of five crewmen. The crew immediately began climbing the rigging or entering life boats as the sloop began to sink; once it hit bottom, however, the masts and rigging were still above the water, and Flemming and others hung on for forty-five minutes until help arrived.