USS Grenadier ( SS - 210 ) USS " Grenadier " ( SS - 210 ) , a " Tambor " - class submarine , was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the grenadier fish , relatives of cod that are very common in bathyal and abyssal habitats . Her keel was laid down by Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery , Maine , in April 1940 . She was launched on 29 November 1940 sponsored by Mrs . Walter S . Anderson , wife of the Director of Naval Intelligence and commissioned on 1 May 1941 with Lieutenant Commander Allen R . Joyce in command . Pre - World War II service . On 20 June 1941 " Grenadier " participated in the search for " O - 9 " ( SS - 70 ) , which had failed to surface after a deep test dive , and was present two days later as memorial exercises were conducted over the spot where " O - 9 " and her crew lay . After shakedown in the Caribbean Sea , " Grenadier " returned to Portsmouth on 5 November for refit . Less than three weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , she sailed for the Pacific to join the submarine fleet . COMSUBPAC patrols , 1942 . " Grenadier " ’ s first war patrol from 4 February to 23 March 1942 took her near the Japanese home islands , off the coast of Honshū , and brought her several targets but no sinkings . On 12 April " Grenadier " departed Pearl Harbor for her second war patrol , along the Shanghai - Yokohama and Nagasaki - Formosa shipping lanes . On 1 May she sank the soviet merchant ship " Angarstroy " . On 8 May she torpedoed and sank one of her most important kills of the war , transport " Taiyō Maru " . Post - war examination of Japanese records showed " Taiyō Maru " to be more than just the ordinary transport ; she was en route to the East Indies with a group of Japanese scientists , economists , and industrial experts bent on expediting the exploitation of the conquered territory . Their loss was a notable blow to the enemy war effort . On 25 May " Grenadier " was diverted from her patrol area to Midway Island , where she formed part of the submarine patrol line as the American fleet in a bloody but brilliant battle handed the Imperial Navy its first defeat in some three hundred years . " Grenadier " ’ s third war patrol was in the Truk area , heavily patrolled by enemy ships and planes . Although she sighted some 28 Japanese ships , enemy planes effectively hampered her , and she returned to her new base , Fremantle , Australia , empty - handed . Deployment to Australia . The Malay Barrier was the site of " Grenadier " ’ s fourth war patrol from 13 October to 10 December . After laying a minefield off Haiphong , Indochina , the submarine made an unsuccessful attack on a large freighter . During the severe depth charging which followed , sea water seeped into the batteries ; " Grenadier " ’ s crew suffered headaches and nausea from chlorine gas poisoning for the remainder of the patrol . To increase the misery , on 20 November " Grenadier " spotted a " Ryūjō " class aircraft carrier , escorted by a cruiser and a destroyer , heading through the Strait of Makassar too distant to shoot . " Grenadier " surfaced to radio the aircraft carrier ' s location and course to Fremantle in hope that another submarine could capitalize on it . " Grenadier " ’ s fifth war patrol , under the command of LCDR John Allison Fitzgerald , between 1 January and 20 February 1943 , brought her considerably better fortune than earlier patrols . A 75 - ton schooner fell victim to her deck guns 10 January , and two days later " Grenadier " sighted a small tanker with a barge in tow . Judging the target not worth a torpedo , she slipped silently into the column behind the two Japanese ships . At dusk she battle surfaced . With binoculars lashed to the deck guns as sights , she raked tanker and barge sinking them immediately . The remainder of her patrol , along the Borneo coast through shallow and treacherous waters , was hampered by fathometer failures . She conducted an aggressive attack on two cargo ships 22 January but did not sink them . The battle - tired submarine departed Australia on 20 March on her last war patrol and headed for the Strait of Malacca , gateway between the Pacific and Indian Oceans . Patrolling along the Malay and Thai coasts , " Grenadier " claimed a small freighter off the island of Phuket on 6 April . She remained in the area and late in the night of 20 April sighted two merchantmen and closed in for the attack . Running on the surface at dawn 21 April , " Grenadier " spotted , and was simultaneously spotted by , a Japanese plane . The sub dived , and as it passed her exec commented " we ought to be safe now . " Just then , bombs rocked " Grenadier " and heeled her over 15 to 20 degrees . Power and lights failed completely and the fatally wounded ship settled to the bottom at . She tried to make repairs while a fierce fire blazed in the maneuvering room . After 13 hours of sweating it out on the bottom " Grenadier " managed to surface after dark to clear the boat of smoke and inspect damage . The damage to her propulsion system was irreparable . Attempting to bring his ship close to shore so that the crew could scuttle her and escape into the jungle , Commander Fitzgerald even tried to jury - rig a sail . But the long night ' s work proved futile . As dawn broke , 22 April , " Grenadier " ’ s weary crew sighted two Japanese ships heading for them . As the skipper " didn ' t think it advisable to make a stationary dive in 280 feet of water without power , " the crew began burning confidential documents prior to abandoning ship . A Japanese plane attacked the stricken submarine ; but " Grenadier " , though dead in the water and to all appearances helpless , blazed away with machine guns . She hit the plane on its second pass . As the damaged plane veered off , its torpedo landed about from the boat and exploded . Loss . Opening all vents , " Grenadier " ’ s crew abandoned ship and watched her sink to her final resting place . A Japanese merchantman picked up eight officers and 68 enlisted men and took them to Penang , Malay States , where they were questioned , beaten , and starved before being sent to other prison camps . They were then separated and transferred from camp to camp along the Malay Peninsula and finally to Japan . Throughout the war they suffered brutal , inhuman treatment , and their refusal to reveal military information both frustrated and angered their captors . First word that any had survived " Grenadier " reached Australia on 27 November 1943 . Despite the brutal and sadistic treatment , all but four of " Grenadier " ’ s crew survived their two years in Japanese hands . " Grenadier " received four battle stars for World War II service .