USS Pintado ( SS - 387 ) USS " Pintado " ( SS - 387 / AGSS - 387 ) , a , was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pintado . Operational history . " Pintado " was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard , Kittery , Maine , 7 May 1943 ; launched 15 September 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . Antonio Prince ; and commissioned 1 January 1944 , Lieutenant Commander Bernard A . Clarey in command . " Pintado " departed Portsmouth 17 February 1944 for torpedo trials at Newport , training out of New London , and antisubmarine warfare tactics and experiments with torpedo developments out of Key West . She sailed for the Pacific 31 March , transited the Panama Canal , and arrived Pearl Harbor 23 April . World War II . First patrol , May – July 1944 . On her first war patrol , " Pintado " served as flagship of a wolfpack , commanded by Captain Leon P . Blair , which also included submarines and . The attack group departed Pearl Harbor 16 May , touched at Midway 20 May – 21 May , and headed for waters west of the Marianas and south of Formosa . On 31 May , they formed a scouting line in search of a convoy reported by submarine . After sparring with the convoy ' s escorts through the night , " Pintado " managed to reach attack position shortly before dawn and fired a spread of six torpedoes at overlapping targets , destroying the 4 , 716 ton cargo ship " Toho Maru " . She then daringly came within of an escort while bringing her stern tubes to bear on another merchant ship . Although explosions suggested that some of the second spread of torpedoes had scored , no second sinking has been confirmed . " Pintado " then skillfully evaded angry Japanese destroyer s and sped away to safety . About midday on 4 June , " Pintado " spotted smoke from a Japanese convoy heading toward Saipan . She and her sister subs headed for the enemy , and soon " Shark " sank 6 , 886 - ton cargo ship " Katsunkawa Maru " before slipping away from a heavy depth charge attack . The American submarines continued to shadow the convoy and early the next day " Shark " ' s torpedoes accounted for two more cargo ships . " Pintado " made her kills shortly before noon of 6 June , D - Day in Normandy , with a spread of torpedoes at overlapping targets . An awesome explosion tore one ship apart , her bow and stern both projecting up in the air as she sank . The stern of a second was under water before she was swallowed by smoke and flame . These victims were later identified as 5 , 652 - ton " Havre Maru " and 2 , 825 - ton " Kashimasan Maru " . An airplane and five escorts tried to box in the submarine and dropped over 50 depth charges , but she escaped damage . " Pintado " and her sisters in the wolfpack had all but destroyed the convoy which was attempting to reinforce Japanese defenses of the Marianas . While escorts rescued many of the 7 , 000 troops whose ships had gone down , they had lost weapons , tanks , and equipment . This greatly weakened Japan ' s defensive capability in the Marianas for the impending American invasion of Saipan . Pintado then headed for the Marshall Islands , arriving Majuro 1 July for refit . Second patrol , July – September 1944 . Her second war patrol took the submarine to the East China Sea . On 6 August she sank 5 , 401 - ton cargoship " Shonan Maru " and damaged another target in a Formosa - bound convoy , before scampering away through a downpour of exploding depth charges . On 22 August " Pintado " spotted an 11 - ship convoy guarded by three escorts . After dark she moved into the center of the convoy , passing a scant from an escort , to attack " Tonan Maru No . 2 " , a former whale factory which Lt . Comdr . Clarey , as executive officer of , had helped to sink in Kavieng Harbor , Bismarck Archipelago , 10 October 1942 . Since then the Japanese had raised the ship and towed her to Japan where she was repaired and converted to a tanker . Two spreads of torpedoes from the submarine left the monster ablaze and sinking and damaged two other tankers . " Tonan Maru " was one of the largest merchant ships sunk by an American submarine during World War II . Following lifeguard station duty off Japan , " Pintado " turned eastward 1 September and arrived Pearl Harbor on 14 September . Third patrol , October 1944 – January 1945 . On " Pintado " ' s third war patrol , Lt . Comdr . Clarey commanded a wolfpack which included and . The group departed Pearl Harbor 9 October heading for the South China Sea . Meanwhile , General Douglas MacArthur was preparing to return to the Philippines . When his troops landed on Leyte 20 October , the Japanese Navy struck back with all its force in a " go for broke " attempt to smash the invasion . The result was the Battle for Leyte Gulf . As the Americans turned back the Japanese offensive , Clarey ' s submarines sped toward Luzon Strait to attack the Northern Japanese Force which Admiral William Halsey ' s Third Fleet had engaged off Cape Engaño . On the night of 25 October , " Jallao " made radar contact with bomb - damaged light cruiser fleeing from Halsey . " Pintado " closed the scene with " Jallao " but held her fire while her sister submarine attacked , ready to join in if needed . " Jallao " launched seven torpedoes , and " Tama " broke up and went to the bottom , the last cruiser to go down in the Battle off Cape Engaño . A bonus came on 3 November when " Pintado " ' s periscope revealed " the largest enemy ship we have ever seen " , apparently an oiler in the support group for the Japanese carriers . Clarey fired six bow torpedoes at the huge target , but enemy destroyer crossed their path before they could reach their target . The destroyer disintegrated in a tremendous explosion which provided an effective smoke screen protecting the original target until the two remaining Japanese escorts forced the submarine to dive and withdraw to escape exploding depth charges . " Pintado " joined on 14 November and escorted the damaged submarine to Saipan , arriving Tanapag Harbor five days later . After a week in port , she resumed her war patrol south of Takao . On the night of 12 December – 13 December , she sank two enemy landing craft , " Transport No . 12 " and " Transport No . 104 " , and claimed she had sunk a third , " Transport No . 106 " , but apparently missed . Two days later she headed for Australia and arrived Brisbane on New Year ' s Day 1945 . She won the Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary skill and heroism on her first three war patrols . Fourth – sixth patrols , January – August 1945 . The veteran submarine departed Brisbane 27 January but found no targets as she patrolled the Singapore - Saigon shipping lanes . Throughout the patrol , she played hide and go seek with Japanese aircraft and , on 20 February , barely escaped when a plane appeared from the clouds and dropped two depth charges which jarred the submarine . She made temporary repairs and continued to patrol until returning to Fremantle 30 March . " Pintado " sailed to Pearl Harbor before getting underway 1 June for her fifth war patrol on lifeguard station for bomber raids on Tokyo . On 26 June , just south of Honshū , a smoking B - 29 bomber , the " City of Galveston " , crossed her bow at about , dropped a dozen parachutes , crashed into the sea and exploded . In less than an hour the submarine had rescued the entire crew which she took to Guam , arriving Apra Harbor a fortnight later . Color Footage of that video can be found at Denver ' s 9 news The submarine departed Guam 7 August for her sixth and last war patrol , and took station off Tokyo Bay until hearing that hostilities had ended on 15 August . She returned to Pearl Harbor on 25 August and reached San Francisco 5 September . She remained there until decommissioning 6 March 1946 . Postwar . While in the Pacific Reserve Fleet , " Pintado " was reclassified AGSS - 387 on 1 December 1962 . She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1 March 1967 and sold for scrapping to Zidell Explorations , Inc . , Portland , Oregon , 20 January 1969 . During the war , " Pintado " was credited with sinking 13 ships of 98 , 600 tons , and damaging two additional vessels , one a 28 , 000 ton aircraft carrier to score a total of 34 , 300 tons . Postwar , this was reduced to eight ships for 42 , 963 tons by JANAC . Her conning tower is on display at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg , Texas .