USS Pickerel ( SS - 524 ) USS " Pickerel " ( SS - 524 ) , a " Tench " - class submarine , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for a young or small pike . The contract to build her was awarded to the Boston Naval Shipyard and her keel was laid down on 8 February 1944 . She was launched without a christening ceremony on 15 December 1944 . After being towed to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery , Maine for completion , she was simultaneously christened and commissioned on 4 April 1949 sponsored by Mrs . John R . Moore and commanded by Lieutenant Commander Paul R . Schratz . Early service . After sea trials , " Pickerel " departed New London , Connecticut , on 10 August , and headed for Hawaii via East and Gulf coast ports , and the Panama Canal and arrived Pearl Harbor on 28 September where she joined SubDiv 11 . From 16 March to 5 April 1950 , " Pickerel " completed a voyage from Hong Kong to Pearl Harbor in 21 days while completely submerged , probably the longest distance ever traveled by a submerged diesel - electric submarine . During her first deployment in the Western Pacific in 1950 , " Pickerel " spent four months in the Korean War zone , one of the first submarine s to enter the Korean War . Returning to Pearl Harbor in the spring of 1951 , " Pickerel " operated in the Hawaiian area undergoing tests of maximum capabilities , and conducting intensive training until she returned to the Far East in July 1953 . Upon returning to Hawaii early in 1954 , " Pickerel " resumed service for our aircraft and surface anti - submarine forces there and , but for overhaul , continued this important duty until returning to the Western Pacific in June 1955 . She returned to Hawaii 1 December . 1960 ' s . " Pickerel " alternated North Pacific with WestPac duty through 1963 with the exception of a conversion period during 1962 for GUPPY III modernization . " Pickerel " operated out of Pearl Harbor during 1964 until 28 December , when she departed en route Yokosuka to begin a WestPac tour as a unit of the Seventh Fleet . In the years that followed , she continued this pattern of alternating services in Hawaii with deployments in the Far East . In the fall of 1966 , her duties in WestPac were broadened to include operations in the Vietnam combat zone on Yankee Station . After a year in Hawaiian waters , " Pickerel " headed west once more on 16 January 1968 . She visited various ports of the Orient before returning to Yankee Station on 8 May . Following service in the Combat Zone , she reached Pearl Harbor via Japan on 8 July . Her home port was changed to San Diego , CA , on 1 August and she headed for the West Coast and Naval Shipyard , Hunters Point , CA , on 22 August . After completing overhaul in the Spring of 1969 , PICKEREL spent several weeks in the Puget Sound , WA , area undergoing weapons and sound trials . She headed for Pearl Harbor in late April / early May 1969 ( ? ) . PICKEREL was transferred to SUBLANT / SUBRON 4 and arrived in her new home port of Charleston , SC , on 9 JUN 69 . 1970 ' s and after . " Pickerel " was transferred to Italy on 18 August 1972 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 December 1977 . " Pickerel " and were transferred and commissioned into the Italian Navy at the same time . Some civilian sources disagree as which of them became " Primo Longobardo " ( S - 501 ) and which became " Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia " ( S - 502 ) . The United States Department of the Navy ' s Naval Historical Center maintains that " Pickerel " became " Primo Longobardo " and " Volador " became " Gianfranco Gazzana Priaroggia " . " Primo Longobardo " was stricken on either 31 January 1980 or 31 May 1981 .