USS Robalo ( SS - 273 ) USS " Robalo " ( SS - 273 ) , a " Gato " - class submarine , was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the róbalo or common snook . Her keel was laid down on 24 October 1942 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc , Wisconsin . She was launched on 9 May 1943 , sponsored by Mrs . E . S . Root , and commissioned on 28 September 1943 . After passage by inland waterways and being floated down the Mississippi River , " Robalo " deployed to the Pacific . On her first war patrol ( under the leadership of Commander Stephen Ambruster , Annapolis Class of 1928 ) , she sortied from Pearl Harbor , hunting Japanese ships west of the Philippines . There , " en route " to her new station in Fremantle , she damaged a large freighter , firing four torpedo es at . She spent 36 of her 57 - day mission submerged . When she arrived , her commanding officer was summarily relieved by Admiral Christie and replaced with Manning Kimmel ( Class of 1935 ) . In March 1944 , Christie ( based on Ultra ) feared surprise from a strong Japanese force . When Chester W . Nimitz , Jr . in , made contact on his SJ radar and reported " many large ships " , Christie scrambled to respond . " Robalo " , along with , , , and all ran to intercept . No attack ever materialized . For her second patrol , " Robalo " went to the South China Sea , assigned to interdict Japanese tanker traffic from French Indochina to the fleet anchorage at Tawi Tawi . On a " wildly aggressive patrol " lasting 51 days , " Robalo " fired twenty torpedoes in four attacks . She was bombed by a Japanese antisubmarine aircraft , suffering shattered and flooded periscopes and loss of radar , while taking a harrowing plunge to after her main induction was improperly closed ( a casualty frighteningly reminiscent of " Squalus " ) in diving to escape . When she returned to Fremantle , Captain " Tex " McLean ( commanding Subron 16 ) and Admiral Christie both considered relieving " Robalo " s skipper for his own safety . She was credited with sinking a 7500 - ton tanker which was not confirmed postwar by JANAC . " Robalo " departed Fremantle on 22 June 1944 on her third war patrol . She set a course for the South China Sea to conduct her patrol in the vicinity of the Natuna Islands . After transiting Makassar Strait and Balabac Strait ( which was well - known to be mined ) , she was scheduled to arrive on station about 6 July and remain until dark on 2 August 1944 . On 2 July , a contact report stated " Robalo " had sighted a " Fusō " - class battleship , with air cover and two destroyer s for escort , just east of Borneo . No other messages were ever received from the submarine and when she did not return from patrol , she was presumed lost . Fate of survivors . On 2 August , a note was dropped from the window of a cell of Puerto Princesa Prison Camp on Palawan Island in the Philippines . It was picked up by an American soldier who was on a work detail nearby . The note was in turn given to H . D . Hough , Yeoman Second Class , who was also a prisoner at the camp . On 4 August , he contacted Trinidad Mendosa , wife of guerrilla leader Dr . Mendosa who furnished further information on the survivors . From these sources , it was concluded " Robalo " was sunk on 26 July 1944 , off the western coast of Palawan Island from an explosion in the vicinity of her after battery , probably caused by an enemy mine . Only four men swam ashore , and made their way through the jungles to a small barrier northwest of the Puerto Princesa Prison Camp , where Japanese Military Police captured them and jailed them for guerrilla activities . On 15 August , they were evacuated by a Japanese destroyer and never heard from again . " Robalo " was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 16 September 1944 . There were two Japanese destroyers that were lost in August 1944 , either of which could have held the four survivors for transport : " Robalo " earned two battle star s for World War II service .