USS Sargo ( SS - 188 ) USS " Sargo " ( SS - 188 ) , the lead ship of her class of submarine , was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the sargo . Her keel was laid on 12 May 1937 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton , Connecticut . She was launched on 6 June 1938 sponsored by Mrs . Chester W . Nimitz ( wife of the later admiral ) , and commissioned on 7 February 1939 , Lieutenant E . E . Yeomans in command . After shakedown along the eastern seaboard of South America , " Sargo " departed Portsmouth , New Hampshire , in July 1939 for duty with the Pacific Fleet . Transiting the Panama Canal , she arrived at San Diego , California , in mid - August . She operated in the eastern and mid - Pacific for the next two years , including a practice 40 - day war patrol between Midway Island and the Marshall Islands in the fall of 1941 . She departed Pearl Harbor on 23 October 1941 , arrived in Manila on 10 November , and was there during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December . War patrols under Tyrell D . Jacobs . The next day ( under the command of torpedo specialist Tyrell D . Jacobs , Class of 1927 ) , the submarine got underway for her first war patrol , which took her along the coast of French Indochina and to the Netherlands East Indies . Off the major Japanese base at Cam Ranh Bay , directed her to three cruiser s on 14 December , which " Sargo " was unable to gain position to attack when they appeared as scheduled . Expecting a convoy , she went in closer , and that night detected a freighter , firing one torpedo ; it prematured eighteen seconds later . Confidence in the Mark VI shaken , she switched to contact pistol afterward . On 24 December , she found two freighters , firing two torpedoes at one , one at the other , from about , scoring no hits . Temporarily losing depth control , she broach ed , and the target turned away ; " Sargo " fired two stern tubes at , with no more success . The next day , she sighted a pair of merchantmen , but was unable to gain firing position . Some time afterward , she came on two more merchantmen and fired two stern torpedoes at the rearmost of them , from closer yet , ; both again missed . By now frustrated , after eight torpedoes with zero results , when two additional merchantmen came in view an hour later , " Sargo " took extra pains to get it right , pursuing for fifty - seven minutes and making certain TDC bearings matched perfectly before firing two torpedoes at each ship , at an average of 1000 yards ; all missed . After her skipper discovered the torpedoes were running too deep , and correcting the problem , " Sargo " detected a target at dusk on 26 December losing , then regaining , contact , and running ahead , so be able to get good position . Then weather intervened , and the ships escaped . A few days afterward , a big , slow tanker gave " Sargo " another opportunity , and again , the approach was meticulous , firing one torpedo at a close . It missed . In exasperation , " Sargo " signaled headquarters , questioning the Mark 14 ' s reliability on an open radio circuit . On 20 January 1942 , she assisted in the rescue of the crew of " S - 36 " after she ran aground on Taku Reef in the Makassar Strait . " Sargo " remained surfaced , relaying distress messages to friendly aircraft and surface ships . After the rescue by the Dutch merchant ship " Siberote " , " Sargo " headed for Java , and arrived at Soerabaja on 25 January . Here , she offloaded all her reload torpedoes ( keeping only those in her tubes ) and three - inch ammunition , and took on one million rounds of . 30 - caliber ammunition desperately needed by Allied forces in the Philippines . She sortied 5 February , avoiding the usual traffic lanes , and arrived in Polloc Harbor nine days later . After delivering her vital cargo to Mindanao , she returned to Soerabaja with 24 Boeing B - 17 specialists from Clark Field on board . Sailing from Soerabaja on 25 February , she headed for Australia and was one day out of Fremantle when she was attacked by an Australian plane which mistook her for a Japanese submarine . Although a near miss by a bomb caused minor damage , " Sargo " arrived safely at Fremantle on 5 March with 31 passengers from Java . War patrols under Richard V . Gregory . During March , amid the panic over potential Japanese invasion of Australia , " Sargo " ( now commanded by Richard V . Gregory , Class of 1932 ) was detailed to guard Darwin ' s approaches . Nothing materialized . On 8 June , " Sargo " put to sea for her fourth patrol , conducted in the Gulf of Siam off Malaya . She attacked only one target , a small tanker , with only three torpedoes , but failed to score , then returned to Australia on 2 August . The fifth war patrol , from 27 August to 25 October , was in the Celebes Sea and South China Sea . In a submerged attack off Vietnam , French Indochina , on 25 September , she fired two torpedoes at the 4 , 472 - ton cargo ship " Teibo Maru " . When these did not sink the target , three more were fired ; all missed , including one circular , which exploded off her stern , presaging another deadly failing of the Mark 14 . " Sargo " then surfaced and finished off the crippled freighter with gunfire . War patrols under Edward S . Carmick . On 29 November , she departed Brisbane and conducted her sixth patrol ( now commanded by Edward S . Carmick , Class of 1930 ) " en route " to Hawaii . On the last day of 1942 , she made a submerged attack on an enemy tanker off Tingmon Island , firing a spread of four torpedoes . Heavy explosions were heard , accompanied by grinding noises usually associated with a ship breaking up . JANAC did not confirm the sinking . She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 21 January 1943 and proceeded to San Francisco Bay for a three - month overhaul in the Mare Island Navy Yard . Returning to Hawaii on 10 May , she departed on 27 May for her seventh patrol which took her to the Truk - Guam - Saipan shipping lanes . On 13 June , she intercepted a three - ship convoy , escorted by a subchaser . That night , she made a submerged attack , sinking the passenger - cargo ship " Konan Maru " southeast of Palau . The next day , she fired torpedoes at another of the cargo ships but could not learn the results of her attack , since she was forced to dive to escape the subchaser ' s depth charge s . " Sargo " arrived at Midway Island on 9 July , where she was credited with one ship sunk for 6 , 600 tons ( reduced postwar to 5 , 200 ) . She departed Midway on 1 August for her eighth war patrol , again at Truk and in the Mariana Islands . She made no contacts and returned to Pearl Harbor on 15 September for refit . War patrols under Philip W . Garnett and post - war fate . On her ninth war patrol ( now commanded by Philip W . Garnett , Class of 1933 ) , 15 October to 9 December , " Sargo " operated off Formosa and in the Philippine Sea . On 9 November , she torpedoed the cargo ship , " Tago Maru " , southeast of Formosa , and finished off the stricken ship with gunfire . Steaming north , she torpedoed and sank the passenger ship , " Kosei Maru " two days later east of Okinawa . Afterwards , she picked up a Japanese soldier , clinging to floating debris , survivor of another sinking . " Sargo " returned to Pearl Harbor on 9 December 1943 , credited with two ships for 15 , 900 tons ; postwar , it was 6 , 400 . " Sargo " ’ s tenth patrol , 26 January to 12 March 1944 , was conducted north of the Palau Islands . Despite alerting her , she failed to be in position to intercept Admiral Koga when he appeared . Still , she made four attacks and fired all her topedoes . She sank the transports " Nichiro Maru " ( 6 , 500 tons ) on 17 February and " Uchide Maru " ( 5 , 300 tons ) on 29 February ; this time , the wartime credit , one ship of 7 , 000 tons , remarkably , increased . After refit in Pearl Harbor , the veteran submarine departed on her eleventh war patrol on 7 April , along the southern coasts of Kyūshū , Shikoku , and Honshū . On 26 April , she torpedoed and sank the cargo ship " Wazan Maru " in Kii Suido , approaching Osaka Bay . She returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 May and steamed east to the west coast of the United States for a major overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard . Returning to Hawaii in September , " Sargo " got underway for her 12th patrol on 13 October and operated off the Bonin Islands and Ryukyu Islands . Two trawlers were damaged by " Sargo " ’ s three - inch ( 76 mm ) deck gun and machine guns . On arrival at Majuro Atoll , Marshall Islands , on 7 December 1944 , she was assigned to training submarine crews until 13 January 1945 , when she proceeded to Eniwetok Atoll . There she acted as a target for ASW training . As the war ended , she returned " via " Hawaii to the United States , arriving at Mare Island on 27 August . Decommissioned on 22 June 1946 , she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 19 July 1946 . Her hulk was sold for scrap on 19 May 1947 to the Learner Company of California . " Sargo " was awarded eight battle star s for her service in World War II and received the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation .