USS Tilefish ( SS - 307 ) USS " Tilefish " ( SS - 307 ) , a " Balao " - class submarine , was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tilefish , a large , yellow - spotted deepwater food fish . Her keel was laid down on 10 March 1943 at Vallejo , California , by the Mare Island Navy Yard . She was launched on 25 October 1943 sponsored by Mrs . Wilson D . Leggett , and commissioned on 28 December 1943 with Lieutenant Commander Roger Myers Keithly in command . First and Second War Patrols . During February and March 1944 , " Tilefish " underwent trials and shakedown off the California coast before getting underway for Hawaii . On 3 April , the submarine departed Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol , setting course for the Japanese home islands . While patrolling in the " Hit Parade " area east of Honshū , " Tilefish " sighted many enemy aircraft but found few targets for her torpedoes . Early in the patrol , she was hampered by the failure of her fathometer ; and , throughout the mission , she was plagued by periscope fogging and overcast weather which ruled out celestial navigation . Finally , on the morning of 11 May , the novice submarine and her crew encountered their first opportunity for action . " Tilefish " sighted a small convoy and launched a determined attack . Choosing a passenger liner as her target , the submarine unleashed a spread of torpedo es , scoring a hit under the ship ' s bridge . As " Tilefish " dove amid the sounds of explosions , she experienced problems which caused her inadvertently to take on a large amount of water . Before the situation was brought under control , " Tilefish " had made a hair - raising dive to , well below test depth . Too deep to be reached by the depth charge s of her pursuers , she evaded their attack and continued her patrol . Finding contact with the enemy to be very light , " Tilefish " requested another patrol area and was assigned to the northern Mariana Islands where she searched for targets on 19 May and 20 May . She completed this patrol at Majuro on 29 May 1944 . After a refitting by submarine tender , " Tilefish " departed Majuro on 22 June 1944 and headed with an attack group for the Luzon Strait area . In company with submarines and , " Tilefish " set course , via Batan Island and Bashi Channel , for her assigned position . On the morning of 18 July , " Tilefish " launched a torpedo attack on a large convoy and had the satisfaction of seeing a freighter sustain two hits . Meanwhile , " Rock " had joined in the attack and was being held down by a destroyer of the convoy ' s screen . At 10 : 50 , " Tilefish " made a torpedo attack on the destroyer . Seeing their wake s , the enemy ship attempted to evade the torpedoes , but the first hit under its forward mount and wrapped her bow around the bridge . A second hit added to the destroyer ' s damage . Before " Tilefish " was forced down by enemy aircraft , she caught one last glimpse of the destroyer , listing and dead in the water . Nine minutes later , the submarine made a periscope sweep and found no sign of the enemy ship . The enemy ship , frigate CD - 17 , survived her damage , however . In the days that followed , the submarine patrolled the waters east of Formosa attempting to intercept the convoy which she had damaged on 18 July . On 26 July , " Tilefish " surfaced just at the moment when " Sawfish " launched a three - torpedo attack on a Japanese " I - 52 " - class submarine . " I - 29 " exploded , leaving behind only smoke and flames . On 31 July , after " Sawfish " had reported a convoy contact off Luzon , " Tilefish " set course to intercept the enemy ships but never found the quarry . " Tilefish " fueled at Midway Island before completing her second patrol at Pearl Harbor on 15 August . Third and Fourth War Patrols . " Tilefish " departed Oahu on 10 September 1944 . This patrol , conducted in the Sea of Okhotsk and off the Kuril Islands , was made difficult by rough seas which produced swells reaching heights of 30 to 40 feet ( 9 to 12 m ) . Despite the problems imposed by high seas , " Tilefish " sank a small trawler with her four inch ( 102 mm ) gun on 23 September . Early in October , she destroyed two small cargo vessels as they were leaving Hitokappu Bay , Yetorofu Jima . During the mid - watch on 13 October , an adventurous owl came on board . The feathered seafarer was promptly dubbed Boris Hootski and made official ship ' s mascot . In the following days , " Tilefish " claimed two more kills — a cargo ship and a wooden - hulled antisubmarine vessel . On 17 October , to prevent its being salvaged , she blew out the stern of a vessel grounded west of Shimushiru Island . " Tilefish " ended her third patrol at Midway Island on 24 October 1944 . On 15 November , " Tilefish " got underway for the Kuril Islands . During the first half of this patrol , she operated in northern waters but was hampered by bitterly cold weather , poor visibility , and hurricane - force winds . The mountainous waves forced the submarine to submerge to ride out the storm . On 25 November , " Tilefish " entered the Sea of Okhotsk to patrol the coast of Shimushiru . Snow frosted the periscope and prevented accurate identification of possible targets . By 16 December , " Tilefish " had moved south to take up a lifeguard station off Najima Saki . On the morning of 22 December , she sank " Chidori " , a torpedo boat , and evaded a Japanese counterattack of depth charge s and aerial bombs without damage . She departed the patrol area on 24 December and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 2 January 1945 . Fifth and Sixth War Patrols . After refitting by submarine tender , " Tilefish " set course for the Mariana Islands in company with submarines and on 31 January 1945 , under the command of Lt . Cmdr . Walter F . Schlech , Jr . En route , she participated in exercises and searched for the survivors of a downed American plane . Underway from Saipan on 13 February , " Tilefish " proceeded independently to her patrol area in the Nansei Shoto where she prowled the traffic lanes in search of targets . She reported sinking a 90 - ton cargo ship in a morning gun attack on 28 February before taking up a lifeguard station in support of planned strikes on Amami Shima . On 1 March , she rescued a flier from aircraft carrier whose plane had splashed and sank only 500 yards off the starboard bow of the submarine . She sent a fishing trawler to the bottom on 4 March . On the following day , in the course of a day - long attack on a freighter , she sank a Japanese minesweeper which was escorting the cargo ship . From 10 March to 19 March , she performed lifeguard duties in support of strikes on Nagoya and other Japanese targets . After patrolling the approaches to Tokyo Bay on 22 March , " Tilefish " set course , via Midway Island and Pearl Harbor , for San Francisco , California where she was overhauled . " Tilefish " returned to Pearl Harbor on 11 July and was soon underway for Midway Island and Saipan . When the war in the Pacific ended , " Tilefish " was on lifeguard station off the Ryukyu Islands . She continued lifeguard duties and patrols in the western Pacific until 7 September when she returned to Pearl Harbor . Early in 1946 , " Tilefish " returned to San Francisco , California , and operated off the West Coast throughout most of the year . In May , she participated in " wolfpack " exercises and in September took part in live load training , using the hulk of the former SS " Schuyler Colfax " as a target . In October , she made a brief trip to the Hawaiian Islands and then returned to the West Coast . From January 1947 to September 1950 , " Tilefish " continued to operate out of California ports with occasional voyages to Pearl Harbor . During this period , she conducted underway training and took part in fleet exercises off the West Coast . Post World War II service . On 5 September 1950 , " Tilefish " departed Pearl Harbor for Japan . From 28 September 1950 through 24 March 1951 , the submarine operated out of Japanese ports conducting patrols in Korean waters in support of the United Nations campaign in Korea . She made reconnaissance patrols of La Perouse Strait to keep the Commander , Naval Forces Far East , informed of Soviet seaborne activity in that area . After this tour , the submarine resumed her routine of operations out of Hawaiian and West Coast ports until 1957 . Highlights of this period were convoy attack exercises in Hawaiian waters and a goodwill visit to Acapulco , Mexico , early in June 1956 . Following a period of reduced status and overhaul , " Tilefish " again got underway in April 1957 for Far Eastern waters . During this deployment , she visited ports in Japan and the Ryukyu Islands before completing the cruise at San Diego , California , on 27 September 1957 . On 16 September 1958 , the veteran submarine made way via Pearl Harbor for Midway Island and the Marshall Islands . With four civilian geophysicists on board from the Hydrographic Office , the submarine completed a submerged survey of Eniwetok , Wake , and Midway Island , operating at sea for nearly three months . She returned to San Diego , California , on 5 December 1958 for inactivation . " Tilefish " was decommissioned on 12 October 1959 , underwent overhaul at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard , and was recommissioned on 30 January 1960 . Her final decommissioning was in May 1960 . She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1960 , and sold to the Venezuelan government . ARV " Carite " ( S - 11 ) . The ex - " Tilefish " , now commissioned as ARV " Carite " ( S - 11 ) , served in the " Armada Venezolana " ( the Venezuelan Navy ) for 16 years . In 1969 and 1970 , she played the part of a German U - boat hiding in the Orinoco River during the filming of the movie " Murphy ' s War " . For the role , she was modified by the addition of a " cigarette deck " aft of her sail and was painted in a " dazzle " camouflage pattern . " Carite " was decommissioned by the Venezuelan Navy on 28 January 1977 and cannibalized for spare parts . Awards . " Tilefish " received five battle star s for World War II service . She received one battle star for Korean War service .