USS Dolphin ( SS - 169 ) USS " Dolphin " ( SF - 10 / SSC - 3 / SS - 169 ) , a submarine and one of the " V - boat s " , was the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for that aquatic mammal . She also bore the name " V - 7 " and the classifications SF - 10 and SSC - 3 prior to her commissioning . She was launched on 6 March 1932 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard , sponsored by Mrs . E . D . Toland , and commissioned on 1 June 1932 with Lieutenant John B . Griggs , Jr . in command . Service history . Inter - war period . " Dolphin " steamed from Portsmouth , New Hampshire on 24 October 1932 for San Diego , California , arriving on 3 December to report to Submarine Division 12 ( SubDiv 12 ) . She served on the West Coast , taking part in tactical exercises and test torpedo firings until 4 March 1933 , when she got underway for the East Coast . She arrived at Portsmouth Navy Yard on 23 March for final trials and acceptance , remaining there until 1 August . " Dolphin " returned to San Diego on 25 August 1933 to rejoin SubDiv 12 . In 1933 , " Dolphin " tested a unique feature to submarines of having a motor boat stored in a waterproof unit which could be brought out when needed . At that time , most navies thought that in wartime submarines would cruise and have to board and inspect merchant vessels before they could sink them . She cruised on the west coast with occasional voyages to Pearl Harbor , Alaska , and the Panama Canal Zone for exercises and fleet problems . On 1 December 1937 , " Dolphin " departed San Diego for her new homeport , Pearl Harbor , arriving one week later . She continued to operate in fleet problems and training exercises , visiting the West Coast on a cruise from 29 September to 25 October 1940 . Located at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 , " Dolphin " took the attacking enemy planes under fire , and then left for a patrol in search of Japanese submarines in the Hawaiian Islands . World War II . " Dolphin " departed from Pearl Harbor on 24 December 1941 on her first war patrol , during which she reconnoitered in the Marshall Islands in preparation for later air strikes . She returned to Pearl Harbor on 3 February 1942 to refit and resupply , and then got underway once more on 14 May . Searching a wide area west of Midway Island , she patrolled off the island itself during the pivotal Battle of Midway from 3 to 6 June . She took harbor at the atoll for repairs from 8 to 11 June , and then she returned to her patrol , attacking a destroyer and a tanker with undetermined results before returning to Pearl Harbor on 24 July . Her third war patrol , from 12 October to 5 December , was in the storm - tossed waters of the Kurile Islands , where she performed reconnaissance essential to the operations that were to keep Japanese bases there largely ineffective throughout the war . With newer submarines now available for offensive war patrols , " Dolphin " was assigned less dramatic but still vital service on training duty at Pearl Harbor until 29 January 1944 , when she sailed for exercises in the Canal Zone , and duty as a school boat at New London , Connecticut , where she arrived on 6 March . She served in this essential task until the end of the war , then was decommissioned on 12 October 1945 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard . " Dolphin " was sold for scrap on 26 August 1946 . Awards . " Dolphin " received two battle star s for her World War II service .