USS Rasher ( SS - 269 ) USS " Rasher " ( SS / SSR / AGSS / IXSS - 269 ) , a , was a ship of the United States Navy named for the rasher , a vermilion - colored rockfish or scorpionfish found along the California coast . " Rasher " ( SS - 269 ) , an attack submarine , was laid down 4 May 1942 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co . , Manitowoc , Wisc . ; launched 20 December 1942 ; sponsored by Mrs . G . C . Weaver ; and commissioned 8 June 1943 , Comdr . E . S . Hutchinson in command . Admiral Charles A . Lockwood had earlier relieved Hutchinson of command of " Grampus " for lacking aggressiveness . Following builder ' s trials in Lake Michigan , " Rasher " was decommissioned and towed down the Mississippi on a floating drydock . After recommissioning and fitting out in New Orleans , the new submarine trained in the Bay of Panama , departed Balboa 8 August 1943 , and arrived at Brisbane , Australia , on 11 September . First war patrol , September – November 1943 . On her first war patrol , 24 September through 24 November 1943 , " Rasher " operated in the Makassar Strait – Celebes Sea area , and sank the passenger - cargo ship " Kogane Maru " in a submerged attack at dawn on 9 October . Four days later , off Ambon Harbor , she spotted a convoy of four merchantmen escorted by two destroyer s and a " Pete " seaplane . She fired two salvoes of three torpedo es each , then crash dived to avoid the destroyers and bombs from the scout plane . Freighter " Kenkoku Maru " broke up and sank , while the escorts struck back in a vigorous but vain counterattack . On the afternoon of 31 October , while patrolling the shipping lanes off the Borneo coast , " Rasher " commenced trailing tanker " Koryo Maru " , but because of a patrolling float plane , was unable to attack until night . " Rasher " then surfaced , attacked and sent the tanker to the bottom after a thunderous explosion of exploding torpedoes and gasoline . The submarine ' s next victim was tanker " Tango Maru " which lost her stern to a spread of three torpedoes on the afternoon of 8 November . " Rasher " escaped the escorts by diving deep and silently slipping away . A midnight attack on a second convoy off Mangkalihat resulted in a hit on a tanker , but vigorous countermeasures by enemy destroyers prevented any assessment of damage . " Rasher " escaped the enemy surface craft and , her torpedoes expended , headed home and arrived at Fremantle on 24 November . Hutchinson had cleared his record on " Grampus " by conducting a remarkably aggressive patrol and was promoted to command a submarine division . Second war patrol , December 1943 – January 1944 . Command of " Rasher " was given to Willard Ross Laughon , former commanding officer of " R - 1 " in the Atlantic . Following refit , " Rasher " commenced her second war patrol on 19 December 1943 and stalked Japan ese shipping in the South China Sea off Borneo . When she attacked a three - tanker convoy on the night of 4 January 1944 , her first torpedo exploded prematurely . A wild melee ensued , with tankers scattering and escorts racing about , firing in all directions . " Rasher " was pursuing " Hakko Maru " when the tanker exploded from a torpedo from . " Rasher " fired at a second target while submerged , and heard the explosions rip into the tanker ' s hull , but was unable to confirm a sinking . She pursued the third tanker , firing a spread of four fish early in the morning of 5 January . A mushroom of fire arose as the last two torpedoes struck , and " Kiyo Maru " sank , leaving only an oil slick and scattered debris . During the patrol , " Rasher " planted mine s off the approaches to Saigon harbor . Prematurely exploding torpedoes and vigilant escorts frustrated her attacks on convoys on 11 January and 17 January . A week later she returned to Fremantle . Third and fourth war patrols , February – June 1944 . " Rasher " ' s third war patrol from 19 February to 4 April 1944 , was conducted in the Java – Celebes Sea area . On 25 February she attacked a Japanese convoy off Bali , and sank cargo ships Tango Maru , killing 3 , 500 Javanese laborers and POW ' s and Ryusei Maru , killing 5 , 000 Japanese soldiers . Then , after transiting Makassar Strait into the Celebes Sea , she destroyed cargo ship " Nattai Maru " on 3 March . En route home , she met " Nichinan Maru " on 27 March , and sank the 2 , 750 - ton freighter as well . " Rasher " returned to Makassar Strait - Celebes Sea area for her fourth patrol , from 30 April to 23 June . On 11 May , she torpedoed and sank the freighter " Choi Maru " . Next to go down were the converted gunboat " Anshu Maru " on 29 May and the tanker " Shioya Maru " in the Celebes Sea off Manado 8 June . Six days later , the cargo ship " Koan Maru " went to the bottom , after taking a spread of torpedoes aft and capsizing . Fifth war patrol , 22 July – 3 September 1944 . Commander Henry G . Munson relieved Commander Laughon as commanding officer of " Rasher " . " Rasher " s fifth patrol was spent largely with in the South China Sea west of Luzon . Thirty miles south of Scarborough Shoal at 2255 5 August , " Rasher " launched a spread of six bow torpedoes at the largest ship in a three - ship convoy . Diving to avoid being rammed , " Rasher " s crew counted five hits and heard the sounds of a ship breaking up as the army cargo ship " Shiroganesan Maru " went down . " Rasher " observed nine successive aircraft contacts to the north on the afternoon of 18 August and deduced these were air patrols for an important convoy . That dark , rainy night " Rasher " ' s radar picked up a convoy of thirteen ships protected by six escorts . After a surfaced approach to , two stern torpedoes were launched at " Teiyo Maru " at 2122 . Both torpedoes hit ; and the tanker loaded with gasoline exploded into a column of flame high , with parts of the ship being blown from the flaming hulk . The escorts fired wildly and laid depth charge patterns astern of " Rasher " . In a second surfaced approach to " Rasher " launched a spread of six bow torpedoes . Three torpedoes hit and sank the 17 , 000 ton transport Teia Maru , killing 2 , 665 Japanese soldiers , and a fourth torpedo was heard exploding at a timed range of 3900 yards . " Rasher " swung hard left to launch four stern torpedoes at 2214 . Three torpedoes hit and sank the 20 , 000 ton carrier , and the fourth torpedo was heard exploding on a more distant ship . " Rasher " pulled away to reload torpedo tubes and the convoy split into two groups . " Rasher " followed the group moving northwest while " Bluefish " intercepted the remaining ships continuing southwesterly and sank two tankers . " Rasher " launched four bow torpedoes at a range of , and three hits on the cargo - transport " Eishin Maru " caused an ammunition detonation with the pressure wave sweeping over the submarine ' s bridge . The fourth torpedo was heard exploding on a more distant ship . " Rasher " then swung hard right to launch two stern torpedoes . Both torpedoes hit and " Noshiro Maru " slowed to and reversed course . joined the wolfpack and scored hits on two of the surviving transports . " Rasher " counted sixteen detonations from the eighteen torpedoes fired on 18 August and five detonations for the six fired on 5 August . With all torpedoes expended , " Rasher " set course for Midway . Munson was called into a secret conference at Midway to compare his observations with decrypted Japanese message traffic . Postwar accounting verified " Rasher " had sunk the highest tonnage of any World War II U . S . submarine patrol to that date . That record would be exceeded only once , when " Archerfish " sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano three months later . " Rasher " proceeded to San Francisco via Hawaii for overhaul at Hunter ' s Point Naval Shipyard on 11 September . She was given a new 5 - inch deck gun , ST radar , and many other upgrades . Sixth , seventh , and eighth war patrols , January – August 1945 . Benjamin Ernest Adams Jr . replaced Munson for the sixth war patrol . " Rasher " departed San Francisco on 20 December 1944 , arriving at Midway via Pearl Harbor in early January 1945 . Her sixth patrol , as a unit of a wolfpack with and , commenced on 29 January , and was conducted in the southern sector of the East China Sea . " Rasher " attacked a pair of ships on 15 February but missed , and approached a convoy the next day but was unable to get in position to attack . A later attack on another convoy also ended in misses . No other suitable targets were found , only small patrol craft , hospital ships , and ubiquitous patrol aircraft . The patrol ended on 16 March 1945 at Guam . Charles Derick Nace replaced Adams for the seventh and eighth patrols . " Rasher ' s " seventh patrol , 17 April to 29 May 1945 , was little more rewarding than the sixth . On lifeguard station off Honshū , she riddled two small craft with gunfire . No aircraft came down in her area , and she returned to Midway on 29 May . " Rasher " departed Midway 23 June 1945 to take lifeguard station off southern Formosa . No Allied planes were downed in her area before orders arrived to proceed to the Gulf of Siam . While she was en route the war ended , and " Rasher " returned to the Philippines . She departed Subic Bay on 31 August arriving New York on 6 October , via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal . Following deactivation overhaul , she was decommissioned 22 June 1946 and was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at New London , Connecticut . Service as radar picket submarine , 1953 – 1960 . She was placed in commission in reserve at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 14 December 1951 , Lt . V . D . Ely in command . After being reclassified as a radar picket submarine , SSR - 269 she commenced conversion which continued after she decommissioned 28 May 1952 . After extensive hull and interior alterations at Philadelphia Navy Yard , she was recommissioned 22 July 1953 , Lt . Comdr . R . W . Stecher in command . She departed New London on 12 November , arriving San Diego 17 December via Guantanamo Bay and the Panama Canal . The following 2 years were spent off the west coast in operations from Washington to Acapulco . On 4 January 1956 , she deployed to the 7th Fleet , where she operated with U . S . and SEATO naval units . She returned to San Diego 3 July 1956 . Prior to and following a second WestPac deployment from 4 March to 4 September 1958 , SSR - 269 served in Fleet exercises as an early warning ship , and in ASW training operations . On 28 December 1959 , " Rasher " departed the continental United States for the Far East . While attached to the 7th Fleet , she participated in exercise " Blue Star " , a large - scale American - Nationalist Chinese amphibious exercise . In May 1960 , she took part in the Black Ship Festival at Shimoda , Japan , commemorating Commodore Matthew C . Perry ' s landing . She returned to San Diego on 20 June 1960 . Vietnam War service . " Rasher " was reclassified as an auxiliary submarine , AGSS - 269 , on 1 July 1960 , with conversion being accomplished at Mare Island Naval Shipyard . Involved in maintaining fleet readiness until mid - August 1962 when she deployed to WestPac , " Rasher " continued to exhibit her usual high standards of performance . She returned to San Diego on 15 February 1963 , and was overhauled that summer . During the next year , AGSS - 269 was engaged in strike exercises involving other American and Canadian ships . Her next deployment , beginning on 3 August 1964 , involved support of 7th Fleet operations off Vietnam , as well as ASW exercises with SEATO allies . After returning to San Diego on 5 February 1965 , she had ASW and amphibious training . Her next WestPac deployment , from 3 January to 17 July 1966 , included amphibious and ASW training support for Republic of Korea , Nationalist Chinese , and Thai units , as well as operations with the 7th Fleet off Vietnam . " Rasher " spent the remainder of her commissioned career providing training services off the coast of California to UDT and ASW units . She was decommissioned 27 May 1967 , and later was reclassified " unclassified miscellaneous submarine " IXSS - 269 , was towed to Portland , Oreg . , where she served as a training submarine for Naval reservists until struck from the Navy List , 20 December 1971 . " Rasher " was credited with sinking 99 , 901 tons of Japanese shipping , the second highest total for US submarines in World War II . However , a Japanese destroyer credited as sunk by sister ship " USS Flasher ( SS - 249 ) " is given a name that never existed and may have been a case of mistaken identity . If the tonnage credited for this ship is removed from the record of " Flasher " , then " Rasher " becomes the highest scoring US submarine for tonnage . ( " " has the highest total in credited sunk hulls . ) She was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for outstanding performance in combat during World War II patrols 1 , 3 , 4 , and 5 . She received seven battle star s in World War II service , and two battle stars for service off Vietnam .