 He retired from the Navy on June 2, 1958 and was promoted to vice admiral concurrent with his retirement.He died barely a month after his retirement at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on July 9, 1958 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery two days later.During the attack on the "Shōhō", Flatley observed numerous torpedo and dive bombers wasting their ordnance on an already finished carrier, instead of diverting to other intact ships.