USS Scorpion ( SS - 278 ) USS " Scorpion " ( SS - 278 ) — a " Gato " - class submarine — was the fifth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the scorpion , an arachnid having an elongated body and a narrow segmented tail bearing a venomous sting at the tip . Her keel was laid down by Portsmouth Naval Shipyard of Kittery , Maine , on 20 March 1942 . She was launched on 20 July 1942 sponsored by Ms . Elizabeth T . Monagle , and commissioned on 1 October 1942 , Lieutenant Commander William N . Wylie in command . World War II . Following further yard work and fitting out , " Scorpion " conducted shakedown operations off the southern New England coast in January 1943 and sailed for Panama in late February . In mid - March she transited the Panama Canal , arriving at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii on 24 March . There she underwent modifications which included the installation of a bathythermograph , a then - new oceanographic instrument to enable her to locate and hide in thermal layers that minimized the effectiveness of sonar equipment . On 5 April , " Scorpion " departed Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol , a hunting and mining mission off the east coast of Honshū . On 19 April , she reached the mining area near Nakaminato . During the afternoon she reconnoitered the coast and in the evening she laid her naval mine s , then retired to deep water . On 20 April , she sank her first enemy ship – a converted gunboat , " Meiji Maru " No . 1 . On 21 April , prior to 01 : 00 , she fired on and destroyed her first sampan in surface action , then moved up the coast to observe the fishing grounds , shipping lanes , and coastline of the Shioya Saki area . On the night of 22 April , she destroyed three more sampans with gunfire and continued north toward Kinkasan To . With the absence of shipping along the coastal lanes , she moved seaward and on 27 April sighted a convoy of four freighters escorted by a destroyer . At 04 : 59 , she launched four torpedoes at the first and largest merchantman ; two at the second ; then dived and rigged for depth charging . At 05 : 05 , the destroyer dropped her first depth charge s . A half - hour later , the Japanese warship broke off her search for " Scorpion " to aid the stricken passenger - cargo ship . While " Scorpion " escaped with slight damage , the merchant vessel " Yuzan Maru " sank . On 28 April , " Scorpion " received orders home . " En route " on 29 April , she sighted and engaged a patrol vessel , which she left burning to the waterline . On the morning of 30 April she stalked , fired on , and finally torpedoed and sank a patrol ship " Ebisu Maru " No . 5 . During the 105 - minute fight , however , " Scorpion " received her first casualty . Lt . Cdr . R . M . Raymond – on board as prospective commanding officer – was hit and killed by gunfire . Soon after the patrol vessel went down , an enemy plane appeared . " Scorpion " submerged , survived the plane ' s depth charge s and continued toward Midway Island and Pearl Harbor , arriving on 8 May . With a gun in place of her gun , " Scorpion " set out on her second war patrol on 29 May . On 2 June , she refueled at Midway , and on 21 June she arrived off Takara Jima in the Tokara Gunto . For the next week , she searched for targets in that archipelago in an effort to disrupt shipping on the Formosa - Nagasaki routes . On 28 June , she shifted her hunt to the Yellow Sea and , by 30 June , was off the Shantung Peninsula . On 3 July , she sighted a five - freighter convoy with one escort making its way through the eastern waters of that sea . By 09 : 55 , she had sent torpedoes toward the convoy and dived . As the depth charging began , she struck bottom at . Two charges exploded close by . Between 10 : 02 and 10 : 06 , five more shook her hull . Fearing that she was stirring up a mud trail , her screws were stopped and she settled on the bottom at . At 10 : 08 , a chain or cable was dragged over her hull . Four minutes later , her hull was scraped a second time . Immediately underway again , she began evasive course changes and escaped further exploding charges . The hunt continued for over an hour ; and at 11 : 49 , " Scorpion " came to periscope depth ; spied the destroyer off ; and cleared the area . Postwar examination of Japanese records show that " Scorpion " scored five hits , and sank a freighter - the " Anzan Maru " - and a passenger - cargo ship - the " Kokuryu Maru " . Because of damage received during the depth charging , " Scorpion " retraced her route through Tokara Gunto ; underwent a bomber attack east of Akuseki Jima ; and continued on to Midway . On 26 July , she arrived back at Pearl Harbor , underwent repairs , conducted training exercises , and , on 13 October , departed Pearl Harbor for her third war patrol . After touching at Midway on 17 October , she headed for the Mariana Islands , where she reconnoitered Pagan Island and Agrihan Island on 25 – 26 October , and Farallon de Pajoras on 1 – 2 November . On the last date , she struck an uncharted pinnacle ; but suffering no apparent damage , continued her patrol . On 3 November , she was off Maug ; and , two days later , she sighted her first target , a " Mogami " - class heavy cruiser . Squalls interfered , however , and she abandoned the target after a four - hour chase . On 7 November , she was back off Agrihan ; and on 8 November , she closed with a freighter , which turned and gave chase . The freighter was a Q - ship , a warship disguised as a merchantman . Unable to regain the advantage , " Scorpion " retired . Poor weather continued to plague the submarine ' s hunting until , on 13 November , she sighted a freighter and a tanker escorted by three warships . Firing her torpedoes , she scored on the oiler , which went dead in the water . The " Shiretoko " was damaged . One of the escorts dropped depth charge s , then rejoined the formation . On 14 November , " Scorpion " patrolled near Rota ; and , on 15 November , she watched for targets off Saipan . For the next week , the submarine continued to work the shipping lanes of the Marianas without success . Heavy seas and squalls continued to shelter enemy traffic . On 22 November , she sighted a transport accompanied by two destroyers and a corvette . She stalked the formation for 16 hours but was unable to fire . A few hours later , low on fuel , she headed home . Departing Pearl Harbor on 29 December , " Scorpion " stopped at Midway to top off with fuel , and left that place on 3 January 1944 to conduct her fourth war patrol . Her assigned area was in the northern East China Sea and Yellow Sea . On the morning of 5 January , " Scorpion " reported that one of her crew members sustained a fractured foot via dropping a crate of oranges on it during the restocking of inventories in high seas . The " Scorpion " requested a rendezvous with which was returning from patrol and was near her . The rendezvous was accomplished on that afternoon . " " Scorpion " reports case under control . " " Scorpion " was never seen or heard from again after her departure from that rendezvous and reported " sunk and lost at sea " . On 16 February , and " Scorpion " were warned that they were close together , and that an enemy submarine was in the vicinity . No Japanese information indicates that the loss of " Scorpion " was the result of enemy anti - submarine tactics . There were , however , several mine lines across the entrance to the Yellow Sea . The presence of these mine lines and the " restricted area " bounding them was discovered from captured Japanese Notices to Mariners at a much later date . In the meantime , several submarines had made patrols in this area , crossing and recrossing the mine lines without incident , and coming safely home . It is probable that these mine lines were very thin , offering only about a 10 % threat to submarines at maximum , and steadily decreasing in effectiveness with the passage of time . " Scorpion " was lost soon after these mines were laid , at a time when they were the greatest threat . She could have been an operational casualty , but her area consisted of water shallow enough so that it might be expected that some men would have survived . Since there are no known survivors , the most reasonable assumption is that she hit a mine . Awards . " Scorpion " earned three battle star s for her World War II service .