USS Porpoise ( SS - 172 ) USS " Porpoise " ( SS – 172 ) , the fifth United States Navy ship to bear her name , was the lead ship of her class of submarines . She was laid down at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard , Kittery , Maine on 27 October 1933 ; launched on 20 June 1935 , sponsored by Miss Eva Croft ; and commissioned on 15 August 1935 , Lieutenant Commander Stuart S . Murray in command . Service history . Inter - War Period . After shakedown , " Porpoise " transited the Panama Canal and joined the Pacific Fleet at San Diego on 1 September 1936 . After gunnery and torpedo practice off the west coast of the United States , she participated in Fleet Problem XVIII in the Hawaiian area , April – May 1937 , and toward the end of the year underwent extensive overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard . In January 1938 , she returned to Pearl Harbor for fleet exercises , and on 19 November 1939 got underway for Manila to join the Asiatic Fleet . From December 1939 - December 1941 , she was engaged in various exercises with Submarines , Asiatic Fleet . World War II . At the outbreak of the war with Japan on 7 December 1941 , " Porpoise " - commanded by Joseph A . Callaghan - was at Olongapo , P . I . , undergoing a refit . With all four main engines being overhauled and her entire after battery out , the required work was accomplished in record time . She moved to Manila on 20 December , and two days later was underway on her first war patrol - from 22 December 1941 – 31 January 1942 - in Lingayen Gulf and the South China Sea off French Indochina . Retiring by way of Balikpapan , Borneo , where the Dutch were demolishing their oil wells , " Porpoise " attacked two ships without result before ending her patrol at Surabaya , Java . Conducting her second war patrol in the Netherlands East Indies - from 9 February – 30 March - she scored on a cargo ship before anchoring at Fremantle , Western Australia . Then , with the ultimate destination of Pearl Harbor , she returned to the Netherlands East Indies for her third war patrol - from 26 April – 17 June . She made one unsuccessful attack on a cargo ship and rescued five airmen off the enemy held island of Ju before heading out across the Pacific . After a major overhaul at Mare Island , " Porpoise " departed Pearl Harbor for her fourth war patrol - from 30 November 1942 – 15 January 1943 - off the coast of Honshū , Japan . On 1 January 1943 , she sank " Renzan Maru " , then set course for Midway where she completed the patrol . Her fifth war patrol - from 6 February – 15 April - off Jaluit Atoll , was highlighted by the sinking of " Koa Maru " on 4 April . , and by an unsuccessful attack on the unarmed Japanese hospital ship , " Takasago Maru " on 8 April . After refit at Pearl Harbor , " Porpoise " sailed on her sixth patrol - from 20 June – 28 July - performing reconnaissance of Taroa Island and in the Marshall Islands . Scoring hits on two cargo ships early in her patrol , she then sank " Mikage Maru No . 20 " on 19 July before returning to Pearl Harbor . Due to leaky fuel oil tanks " Porpoise " departed Pearl Harbor for New London , Connecticut , where she was to be used as a training vessel . She arrived in September 1943 , and interrupted only for overhaul at Philadelphia from May – June 1944 , she served on this duty until inactivated . She decommissioned on 15 November 1945 at Boston , and remained in reserve until 8 May 1947 , when she was placed in service and assigned to the 8th Naval District . For the next nine years she trained Naval Reservists in the Houston , area . Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 13 August 1956 , she was sold for scrap to Southern Scrap Material Co . , Ltd . , New Orleans , on 14 May 1957 . Awards . " Porpoise " earned five battle star s for her World War II service .