USS Kraken ( SS - 370 ) USS " Kraken " ( SS - 370 ) , a " Balao " - class submarine , was a ship of the United States Navy named for the kraken , a legendary sea monster believed to haunt the coasts of Norway . " Kraken " commissioned in September 1944 and saw action during the last year of World War II , serving in the Pacific theater and making four war patrols . In 1946 she was placed in Reserve . In 1959 " Kraken " was transferred to the Spanish Navy as SPS " Almirante García de los Reyes " . She was scrapped in 1982 USS " Kraken ( SS - 370 ) . " Kraken " was launched 30 April 1944 , by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co . , Manitowoc , Wisc . ; sponsored by Mrs . John Z . Anderson , wife of Congressman Anderson of California ; and commissioned 8 September 1944 , Commander Thomas H . Henry in command . " Kraken " steamed by way of Chicago to Lockport , Ill . , 27 September 1944 , and was carried in a floating drydock down the Mississippi River arriving at Algiers , La . , 4 October . Ten days later " Kraken " cleared Algiers , transited the Panama Canal and underwent intensive training in the Gulf of Panama . She sailed for Hawaii 4 November and arrived Pearl Harbor 21 November . " Kraken " departed Pearl Harbor 12 December 1944 , for her first war patrol , touched at Saipan 23 December , set course for Indochina next morning . There she maintained lifeguard duty in support of 3rd Fleet carrier strikes . While on station she rescued a pilot from rough seas and evaded a strafing enemy plane by diving . Finding no targets , " Kraken " set course for Fremantle , Australia , arriving there 14 February 1945 . " Kraken " departed on her second war patrol 15 March and maintained lifeguard duty in the South China Sea supporting aircraft carrier strikes against Singapore and Saigon . She returned to Subic Bay , P . I . , 26 April . Departing on her third war patrol on 19 May 1945 , " Kraken " set course for the Gulf of Siam . After searching in vain for enemy targets , she shifted to the Java Sea where on 19 June she bombarded Merak and riddled a coaster and a small ship with and 40 mm projectiles . She saw the coaster sink and she left the small ship ablaze before clearing the harbor . Three days later , while chasing an eight - ship convoy , " Kraken " ' s torpedoes sank an oiler and a coastal steamer and her guns inflicted heavy damage on one of the Japanese submarine chasers . Then " Kraken " proudly sailed into Fremantle , Australia , 3 July 1945 , ending her most successful patrol . " Kraken " sailed on her fourth and last patrol 29 July . While seeking the enemy in the Java Sea , her patrol was cut short when she received news of Japan ' s capitulation . Sailing for Subic Bay , she arrived 21 August . Kraken cleared Subic Bay 31 August 1945 , touched at Pearl Harbor , and arrived at San Francisco 22 September . On 14 October she rendezvoused with Admiral William Halsey ' s 3rd Fleet and formed a part of honor escort for Halsey , as he passed under the Golden Gate Bridge in his flagship , . Ten days later " Kraken " visited Longview , Wash . , for the first postwar Navy Day celebrations and returned to San Francisco 31 October where she was placed out of commission 4 May 1946 in the Pacific Reserve Fleet . SPS " Almirante García de los Reyes " ( S - 31 ) . " Kraken " remained in reserve status until 18 September 1958 , when she was assigned to Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for activation overhaul and given a Fleet Snorkel conversion preparatory to transfer on loan to Spain . After several months of familiarization at Pearl Harbor for her new crew , on 25 October 1959 she was commissioned SPS " Almirante García de los Reyes " , in memory of Don Mateo García de los Reyes ( 1862 – 1936 ) , the Spanish Navy ' s pioneer in submarines . The ship ' s unusually long name posed a practical problem , so the abbreviation " A . G . de los Reyes " was often used . Originally designated E - 1 , she was redesignated S - 31 in 1961 to conform to the new , NATO - style numbering system adopted by the Spanish Navy . " Almirante García de los Reyes " was the only modern Spanish submarine in the 1960s ( Spain , have got one Tipe VIIC , Ex U - 573 , and 3 insecure and old spanish D - class ) , and was nicknamed " treinta y único " ( " thirty " only - one " " ) and became almost legendary . " A . G . de los Reyes " ' s voyage via the Panama Canal to Cartagena , Spain took till late January 1960 . " García " was decommissioned , 16 September 1974 , sold to Spain , and struck from the US Naval Register , 1 November 1974 . She was to have been cannibalized , but had to be overhauled and recommissioned , 1 September 1975 , to replace " Narciso Monturiol " ( S - 33 ) , ex - , which had suffered a severe engine failure the previous spring and had to be stricken . " García " was finally decommissioned in April 1981 , struck from the Spanish Navy list , 1 April 1982 , and scrapped . Honors and awards . " Kraken " received one battle star for World War II service .