USS Sailfish ( SS - 192 ) USS " Sailfish " ( SS - 192 ) , a , was originally named Squalus . Her keel was laid on 18 October 1937 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery , Maine , as " Squalus " , the only ship of the United States Navy named for the squalus . She was launched on 14 September 1938 sponsored by Mrs . Thomas C . Hart ( wife of the Admiral ) , and commissioned on 1 March 1939 , with Lieutenant Oliver F . Naquin in command . Due to mechanical failure , " Squalus " sank during a test dive on 23 May 1939 . She was raised , renamed , and recommissioned on 15 May 1940 as " Sailfish " . Sinking of " Squalus " and recommissioning . On 12 May , following a yard overhaul , " Squalus " began a series of test dives off Portsmouth , New Hampshire . After successfully completing 18 dives , she went down again off the Isles of Shoals on the morning of 23 May at . Failure of the main induction valve caused the flooding of the aft torpedo room , both engine rooms , and the crew ' s quarters , drowning 26 men immediately . Quick action by the crew prevented the other compartments from flooding . " Squalus " bottomed in of water . " Squalus " was initially located by her sister ship , . The two submarines were able to communicate using a telephone marker buoy until the cable parted . Divers from the submarine rescue ship began rescue operations under the direction of the salvage and rescue expert Lieutenant Commander Charles B . " Swede " Momsen , using the new McCann Rescue Chamber . The Senior Medical Officer for the operations was Dr . Charles Wesley Shilling . Overseen by researcher Albert R . Behnke , the divers used recently developed heliox diving schedules and successfully avoided the cognitive impairment symptoms associated with such deep dives , thereby confirming Behnke ' s theory of nitrogen narcosis . The divers were able to rescue all 33 surviving crew members from the sunken submarine . Four enlisted divers , Chief Machinist ' s Mate William Badders , Chief Boatswain ' s Mate Orson L . Crandall , Chief Metalsmith James H . McDonald and Chief Torpedoman John Mihalowski , earned the Medal of Honor for their work during the rescue and subsequent salvage . ( The successful rescue of " Squalus " survivors is in marked contrast to the loss of in Liverpool Bay just a week later . ) The navy authorities felt it important to raise her as she incorporated a succession of new design features . With a thorough investigation of why she sank , more confidence could be placed in the new construction , or alteration of existing designs could be undertaken when cheapest and most efficient to do so . Furthermore , given similar previous accidents in and ( indeed , in " S - 5 " , as far back as 1920 ) , it was necessary to determine a cause . The salvage of " Squalus " was commanded by Rear Admiral Cyrus W . Cole , Commander of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard , who supervised salvage officer Lieutenant Floyd A . Tusler from the Construction Corps . Tusler ' s plan was to lift the submarine in three stages to prevent it from rising too quickly , out of control , with one end up , in which case there would be a high likelihood of it sinking again . For 50 days , divers worked to pass cables underneath the submarine and attach pontoons for buoyancy . On 13 July 1939 , the stern was raised successfully , but when the men attempted to free the bow from the hard blue clay , the vessel began to rise far too quickly , slipping its cables . Ascending vertically , the submarine broke the surface , and of the bow reached into the air for not more than ten seconds before the vessel sank once again all the way to the bottom . Momsen said of the mishap , " pontoons were smashed , hoses cut and I might add , hearts were broken . " After 20 more days of preparation , with a radically redesigned pontoon and cable arrangement , the next lift was successful , as were two further operations . " Squalus " was towed into Portsmouth on 13 September , and decommissioned on 15 November . A total of 628 dives had been made in rescue and salvage operations . Operational history of " Sailfish " . Renamed " Sailfish " on 9 February 1940 , she became the first ship of the U . S . Navy named for the sailfish . After reconditioning , repair , and overhaul , she was recommissioned on 15 May 1940 with Lieutenant Commander Morton C . Mumma , Jr . ( Annapolis , Class of 1930 ) in command . With refit completed in mid - September , " Sailfish " departed Portsmouth on 16 January 1941 and headed for the Pacific . Transiting the Panama Canal , she arrived at Pearl Harbor in early March , after refueling at San Diego . The submarine then sailed west to Manila where she joined the Asiatic Fleet until the attack on Pearl Harbor . During the Pacific War , the captain of the renamed ship issued standing orders if any man on the boat said the word " Squalus " , he was to be marooned at the next port of call . This led to crew members referring to their vessel as " Squailfish " . That went over almost as well ; a court martial was threatened for anyone heard using it . World War II . First five patrols : December 1941 – August 1942 . Following the attack on Pearl Harbor , " Sailfish " departed Manila on her first war patrol , destined for the west coast of Luzon . Early on 10 December , she sighted a landing force , supported by cruiser s and destroyer s , but could not gain firing position . On the night of 13 December , she made contact with two Japanese destroyers and , bravely , began a submerged attack ; the destroyers detected her , dropping several depth charge s , while " Sailfish " fired two torpedoes . Despite a large explosion nearby , no damage was done , and the destroyers counterattacked with 18 – 20 depth charges . She returned to Manila on 17 December . Her second patrol ( now under the command of Richard G . Voge , Class of 1925 ) begun on 21 December , took the submarine to waters off Formosa . On the morning of 27 January 1942 , off Halmahera , near Davao , she sighted a , making a daylight submerged attack with four torpedoes , and reporting the target was damaged , for which she got credit . However , the damage could not be assessed since the cruiser ' s two escorts forced " Sailfish " to dive deep and run silent . Running at , the submarine eluded the destroyers and proceeded south toward Java . She arrived at Tjilatjap on 14 February for refueling and rearming . Departing on 19 February for her third patrol , she headed through Lombok Strait to the Java Sea . After sighting the heavy cruiser , with two escorts , heading for Sunda Strait following the Allied defeat in the Battle of the Java Sea , " Sailfish " intercepted an enemy destroyer on 2 March . Following an unsuccessful attack on the Japanese warship , she was forced to dive deep to escape the ensuing depth charge attack from the destroyer and patrol aircraft . That night , near the mouth of Lombok Strait , she spotted what appeared to be the 38 , 200 ton aircraft carrier , escorted by four destroyers . " Sailfish " fired four torpedoes , scoring two hits . Leaving the target aflame and dead in the water , " Sailfish " dove , the escorts delivering forty depth charges in the next 90 minutes . She eluded destroyers and aircraft and arrived at Fremantle , Western Australia on 19 March , to great fanfare , believed to be the first U . S . sub to have sunk an enemy carrier ; postwar , it was revealed " Kaga " had been nowhere in the area , and the target had in fact been aircraft ferry " Kamogawa Maru " , still a valuable target . The Java Sea and Celebes Sea were the areas of " Sailfish " s fourth patrol , from 22 March - 21 May . After delivering 1 , 856 rounds of anti - aircraft ammunition to " MacArthur ' s guerrilla s " , she made only one ship contact and was unable to attack the target before returning to Fremantle . The submarine ' s fifth patrol – from 13 June – 1 August – was off the coast of Indochina in the South China Sea . On 4 July , she intercepted and tracked a large cargo - type vessel but discovered the intended target was a hospital ship and held her fire . On 9 July , she intercepted and torpedoed a Japanese freighter . One of a pair of torpedoes struck home and the ship took a 15° list . As " Sailfish " went deep , a series of explosions was heard , and no further screw noises were detected . When the submarine surfaced in the area 90 minutes later , no ship was in sight . Though she was credited during the war with a ship , postwar examination of Japanese records confirmed no sinking in the area on that date . " Sailfish " observed only one other enemy vessel before the end of the patrol . Sixth and seventh patrols : September 1942 – January 1943 . Shifting her base of operations to Brisbane , " Sailfish " ( now under the command of John R . " Dinty " Moore , Class of 1929 ) got underway for her sixth patrol on 13 September and headed for the western Solomon Islands . On the night of 17 – 18 September , she encountered eight Japanese destroyers escorting a cruiser , but she was unable to attack . On 19 September , she attacked a minelayer . The spread of three torpedoes missed , and " Sailfish " was forced to dive deep to escape the depth charge counterattack . Eleven well - placed charges went off near the submarine , causing much minor damage . " Sailfish " returned to Brisbane on 1 November . Underway for her seventh patrol on 24 November , " Sailfish " proceeded to the area south of New Britain . Following an unsuccessful attack on a destroyer on 2 December , the submarine made no other contacts until 25 December , when she believed she had scored a hit on a Japanese submarine . Postwar analysis of Japanese records could not confirm a sinking in the area . During the remainder of the patrol , she made unsuccessful attacks on a cargo ship and a destroyer before ending the patrol at Pearl Harbor on 15 January 1943 . Eighth and ninth patrols : May – September 1943 . After an overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard from 27 January – 22 April , " Sailfish " returned to Pearl Harbor on 30 April . Departing Hawaii on 17 May for her eighth patrol , she stopped off to fuel at Midway Island and proceeded to her station off the east coast of Honshū . Several contacts were made but , because of bad weather , were not attacked . On 15 June , she encountered two freighters off Todo Saki , escorted by three subchaser s . Firing a spread of three stern torpedoes , she observed one hit which stopped the " maru " dead in the water . " Sailfish " was driven down by the escort , but listened on her sound gear as " Shinju Maru " broke up and sank . Ten days later , she found a second convoy , three ships with a subchaser and , unusually , an aircraft , for escort . " Sailfish " once more fired three stern tubes , sinking " Iburi Maru " ; in response , the subchaser , aircraft , and three additional escorts , pinned her down in a gruelling depth charge attack lasting 10 hours and 98 charges but causing only slight damage . After shaking loose pursuit , she set course for Midway on 26 June , arriving there on 3 July . Her ninth patrol ( commanded by William R . Lefavour , Class of 1931 ) lasted from 25 July – 16 September and covered the Formosa Strait and off Okinawa . It produced only two contacts ( a steamer at Naha , Okinawa , and a junk ) , but no worthwhile targets , and " Sailfish " returned to Pearl Harbor , Tenth patrol : November 1943 – January 1944 . After refit at Pearl Harbor , she departed ( under the command of Robert E . McC . Ward , Class of 1935 ) , with newly rejuvenated spirits , on 17 November for her 10th patrol , which took her south of Honshū . Along the way , she suffered a " hot run " in tube eight ( aft ) , and ( after the skipper himself went over the side to inspect the damage ) ejected the torpedo ; the tube remained out of commission for the duration of the patrol . After refueling at Midway , she was alerted by of a fast convoy of Japanese ships before she arrived on station . About southeast of Yokosuka , on the night of 3 December , she made radar contact at . The group consisted of the Japanese aircraft carrier , a cruiser , and two destroyers . Despite high seas whipped up by typhoon winds , " Sailfish " maneuvered into firing position shortly after midnight on 3 – 4 December , dived to radar depth ( just the radar aerial exposed ) , and fired four bow torpedoes at the carrier , at a range of , scoring two hits . She went deep to escape the escorting destroyers , which dropped 21 depth charges ( only two close ) , reloaded , and at 02 : 00 , surfaced to resume the pursuit . She found a mass of radar contacts , and a slow - moving target , impossible to identify in the miserable visibility . As dawn neared , she fired another spread of three bow " fish " from , scoring two more hits on the stricken carrier . Diving to elude the Japanese counter - attack , which was hampered by the raging seas , " Sailfish " came to periscope depth , and at 07 : 58 saw the carrier lying dead in the water , listing to port and down by the stern . Preparations to abandon ship were in progress . Later in the morning , " Sailfish " fired another spread of three torpedoes , from only , scoring two final hits . Loud internal explosions and breaking - up noises were heard while the submarine dived to escape a depth charge attack . Abruptly , a cruiser appeared and , fearing that she would broach the surface , " Sailfish " went to , losing a chance at this new target . Shortly afterwards , the carrier " Chuyo " ( ) went to the bottom , the first aircraft carrier sunk by an American submarine in the war , and the only major Japanese man - of - war in 1943 . In an ironic twist , " Chuyo " was carrying American prisoners of war from , the same boat that had helped locate and rescue " Sailfish " — then " Squalus " — over four years before . Twenty of the 21 US crew members from " Sculpin " were killed . None , however , were of the original rescue crew . 1 , 250 Japanese were also killed . After escaping a strafing attack by a Japanese fighter on 7 December , she made contact and commenced tracking two cargo ships with two escorts on the morning of 13 December , south of Kyūshū . That night , she fired a spread of four torpedoes at the two freighters . Two solid explosions were heard , including an internal secondary explosion . " Sailfish " heard " Totai Maru " ( ) break up and sink as the destroyers made a vigorous but inaccurate depth charge attack . When " Sailfish " caught up with the other freighter she was dead in the water , but covered by a screen of five destroyers . Rather than face suicidal odds , the submarine quietly left the area . On the night of 20 December , she intercepted an enemy hospital ship , which she left unmolested . On 21 December , in the approach to Bungo Suido , " Sailfish " intercepted six large freighters escorted by three destroyers . With five torpedoes left , she fired a spread of three stern tubes , scoring two hits on the largest target . Diving to escape the approaching destroyers , the submarine detected breaking - up noises as " Uyo Maru " ( ) went to the bottom ; destroyers counterattacked with 31 depth charges , " some very close " . " Sailfish " terminated her tenth patrol at Pearl Harbor on 5 January 1944 . She claimed three ships for , plus damage to one for , believed to be the most successful patrol by tonnage to date ; postwar , it was reduced to two ships and ( less the " Uyo Maru " ) . Eleventh patrol : July – September 1944 . After an extensive overhaul at Mare Island — from 15 – 17 June — she returned to Hawaii and sailed on 9 July as part of a " wolfpack " ( " Moseley ' s Maulers " , commanded by Stan Moseley ) , with and , to prey on shipping in the Luzon – Formosa area . On the afternoon of 7 August , " Sailfish " and " Greenling " made contact with an enemy convoy . " Sailfish " maneuvered into firing position and fired a spread of three torpedoes at a medium tanker . One hit caused the tanker to disintegrate into a column of water , smoke and debris . It was not recorded in the postwar account . The next target was a battleship escorted by three destroyers , on which she made radar contact shortly after midnight on 18 – 19 August . At 01 : 35 , after getting as close as she was able , , " Sailfish " fired all four bow tubes . One of the escorts ran into the path of two fish ; the other two missed . While the destroyer must have been severely damaged or sunk , there was nothing in JANAC . On 24 August , south of Formosa , " Sailfish " made radar contact with an enemy convoy consisting of four cargo ships escorted by two small patrol craft . Moving into firing position , " Sailfish " fired a salvo of four torpedoes , scoring two hits . The cargo ship " Toan Maru " ( ) was enveloped in a cloud of smoke and shortly afterwards broke in two and sank . Surfacing after escaping a depth charge attack , " Sailfish " closed on a second cargo ship of the convoy , scoring two hits out of four torpedoes fired . The submarine ' s crew felt the cargo ship either had been sunk or badly damaged , but the sinking was not confirmed by JANAC postwar . " Sailfish " terminated her 11th patrol at Midway on 6 September ; her wartime credit was four ships for , a total reduced to just one of ( " Toan Maru " ) postwar . Twelfth patrol : September – December 1944 . Her 12th patrol — from 26 September – 11 December — was conducted between Luzon and Formosa , in company with and . After passing through the edge of a typhoon , " Sailfish " arrived on station to perform lifeguard duty . On 12 October , staying surfaced in full view of enemy attackers , she rescued 12 Navy fliers who had ditched their stricken aircraft after strikes against Japanese bases on Formosa . She sank a sampan and a patrol craft with her deck gun as the enemy craft tried to capture the downed aviators . The following day , she rescued another flier . The submarines pulled into Saipan , arriving on 24 October , to drop off their temporary passengers , refuel , and make minor repairs . After returning to the patrol area with the wolf pack , she made an unsuccessful attack on a transport on 3 November . The following day , " Sailfish " damaged two destroyers but was slightly damaged herself by a bomb from a patrol aircraft . With battle damage under control , " Sailfish " eluded her pursuers and cleared the area . After riding out a typhoon on 9 – 10 November , she intercepted a convoy on the evening of 24 November heading for Itbayat in the Philippines . After alerting " Pomfret " of the convoy ' s location and course , " Sailfish " was moving into an attack position when one of the escorting destroyers headed straight for her . " Sailfish " fired a three - torpedo spread " down the throat " and headed toward the main convoy . At least one hit was scored on the destroyer and her pip faded from the radar screen . Suddenly , " Sailfish " received an unwelcome surprise when she came under fire from the destroyer that she had believed to be sunk . " Sailfish " ran deep after ascertaining there was no hull damage resulting from a near miss from the escort ' s guns . For the next 4½ hours , " Sailfish " was forced to run silent and deep as the Japanese kept up an uncomfortably accurate depth charge attack . Finally , the submarine was able to elude the destroyers and slip away . Shortly , " Sailfish " headed for Hawaii , via Midway , and completed her 12th and final war patrol upon arriving at Pearl Harbor on 11 December . " Sailfish " had damaged the IJN Japanese destroyer Harukaze ( 1922 ) and a landing ship , which had previously sunk . Return stateside . Following refit , " Sailfish " departed Hawaii on 26 December and arrived at New London , " via " the Panama Canal , on 22 January 1945 . For the next four and one - half months , she aided training out of New London . Next , she operated as a training ship at Guantanamo Bay from 9 June – 9 August . After a six - week stay at Philadelphia Navy Yard , she arrived at Portsmouth , New Hampshire on 2 October for deactivation . Post war . Decommissioned on 27 October 1945 , she was initially scheduled to be a target ship in the atomic bomb tests or sunk by conventional ordnance . However , she was placed on sale in March 1948 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 April 1948 . The hulk was sold for scrapping to Luria Brothers of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania on 18 June 1948 . Her conning tower stands at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery as a memorial to her lost crewmen . " Sailfish " was awarded nine battle star s for service in the Pacific and the Presidential Unit Citation for outstanding performance on her 10th patrol .