USS Spearfish ( SS - 190 ) USS " Spearfish " ( SS - 190 ) , a " Sargo " - class submarine , was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the spearfish , any of several large , powerful , pelagic fish es of the genus " Tetrapturus " allied to the marlin s and sailfish es . Her keel was laid down on 9 September 1937 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton , Connecticut . She was launched on 29 October 1938 sponsored by Mrs . Lawrence Y . Spear , and commissioned on 17 July 1939 with Lieutenant C . E . Tolman , Jr . , in command . Pre - World War II Service . " Spearfish " conducted sea trials off New London , Connecticut , and then held her shakedown cruise in the Guantanamo Bay area from 21 August to 3 October . She was overhauled at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery , Maine from 1 November 1939 to 2 February 1940 . On 10 February , she set sail for the West Coast . After training operations in the San Diego , California , training area from 6 March to 1 April , the submarine sailed to Pearl Harbor . First and Second War Patrols . " Spearfish " operated between Hawaii and the West Coast until 23 October 1941 when she departed Pearl Harbor and headed for Manila . She conducted training operations there from 8 November until the outbreak of war on 8 December ( 7 December east of the International Date Line ) , when she began her first war patrol . This mission took her into the South China Sea , near Saigon and Cam Ranh Bay , French Indochina , and off Tarakan and Balikpapan , Borneo . On 20 December , " Spearfish " encountered a Japanese submarine and made a submerged attack . She fired four torpedoes but all missed the target . She put into Surabaja , Java , on 29 January 1942 for refitting . On 7 February , she began her second war patrol . " Spearfish " patrolled in the Java Sea and Flores Sea and made unsuccessful torpedo attacks on two cruiser task forces . On 2 March , she put into Tjilatjap , Java , and took on board 12 members of the staff of the commander of the submarines of the Asiatic Fleet , for transportation to Australia . The patrol ended at Fremantle , Australia . Third through Sixth War Patrols . Her third war patrol , from 27 March to 20 May , took her to the Sulu Sea and the Lingayen Gulf . On 17 April , she sank an enemy cargo ship of approximately 4 , 000 tons , and , on 25 April , she sank " Toba Maru " , a 6 , 995 - ton freighter . On the night of 3 May , the submarine slipped into Manila Bay and picked up 27 passengers from Corregidor to be evacuated to Fremantle . She was the last American submarine to visit that beleaguered fortress before it surrendered . Navy nurse and Legion of Merit recipient Ann A . Bernatitus was among the 27 rescued by " Spearfish " . From 26 June to 17 August , she scouted the South China Sea for enemy shipping and , from 8 September to 11 November , searched the west coast of Luzon where she damaged two freighters . " Spearfish " sailed from Brisbane on 2 December 1942 and patrolled in the New Britain - New Ireland area for over a month before entering Pearl Harbor on 25 January 1943 . From Oahu , she was directed to Mare Island for a major overhaul which lasted from 3 February to 19 May . Seventh , Eighth and Ninth War Patrols . " Spearfish " returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 May and began her seventh war patrol from there on 5 June . She cruised the Truk Island area , made a photographic reconnaissance of Eniwetok Atoll , and then patrolled in the vicinity of Marcus Island . After refitting at Midway Island from 1 August to 25 August , " Spearfish " searched Japanese home waters south of Bungo Suido for shipping . On the night of 10 September and 11 September , she made a submerged torpedo attack on a convoy of seven freighters escorted by one destroyer and two torpedo boats . The submarine fired torpedoes at four ships and damaged two . " Spearfish " was depth charge d throughout the day but finally eluded the escorts . On the night of 17 September and 18 September , she attacked another convoy of seven ships with their escorts , sinking two and damaging one . Upon concluding this patrol , the ship sailed to Pearl Harbor for refitting . From 7 November to 19 December , " Spearfish " performed photographic reconnaissance of Jaluit , Wotje , and Kwajalein , Marshall Islands , to aid the forthcoming invasion of those islands . On 5 December and 6 December , she acted as lifeguard submarine for air strikes on Kwajalein and Wotje . Tenth , Eleventh and Twelfth War Patrols . " Spearfish " ’ s tenth war patrol was made south of Formosa from 17 January to 29 February 1944 . On 30 January , she made two torpedo attacks on a convoy of three merchantmen and two escorts . She sank an escort and the passenger - cargo ship , " Tomashima Maru " . On 10 February , her attack on a convoy of four ships and their escorts damaged a freighter and sank a transport . The next day , she damaged another freighter in an 11 - ship convoy . On 12 February , she crippled another freighter . " Spearfish " sailed from Pearl Harbor on 31 March for the East China Sea and the area north of Nansei Shoto . On 5 May , she sank a freighter ; and , the following day , she sank the cargo ship , " Toyoura Maru " . When the submarine returned to Pearl Harbor on 27 May , she was routed to the West Coast for a major overhaul . After spending the period from 6 June to 3 October at the Mare Island Navy Yard , the ship returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 October and held training exercises for a month . " Spearfish " ’ s last war patrol took place from 12 November 1944 to 24 January 1945 . On the first part of the patrol , she made photographic reconnaissance surveys of Iwo Jima and of Minami Jima . The submarine spent the second part in the Nanpō Islands area on lifeguard duties and offensive patrols . On 19 December 1944 , she rescued seven survivors ( CPT Linden O . Bricker , 2LT Kenneth R . Chidester , 2LT Jay L . Meikle , 2LT Clifford B . Smith , SSG Richard J . Grinstead , SGT Edmund G . Smith , and CPL Stephen J . Darienzo ) from a ditched B - 29 Superfortress , Z - 1 " Pee Wee . " Four airmen were killed during the ditching ( 2LT Jack O . Mueller , CPL Emory A . Forrest , CPL John C . Estes , and CPL William F . Frank ) . This marked the first submarine rescue of downed B - 29 airmen in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II . On 11 January 1945 , " Spearfish ' s " guns sank a sampan . She took three Japanese on board as prisoners , but one died several days later . LCDR C . C . Cole , commanding officer of the " Spearfish " , noted in the ships ' log at Tanapag Harbor , Saipan on 13 January that he returned the seven airmen to their quarters under jubilant escort from their squadron . Fate . When she returned to Pearl Harbor on 24 January , " Spearfish " was used as a training ship until 18 August . On 19 August , she got underway for the West Coast and arrived at Mare Island on 27 August . On 7 September , a Board of Inspection and Survey recommended that she be decommissioned immediately and possibly scrapped . It was decided to retain her in an inactive status for experimental explosive tests . The tests were cancelled , and " Spearfish " was decommissioned at Mare Island on 22 June 1946 . She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 19 July 1946 ; sold to the Lerner Company of Oakland , California ; and scrapped in October 1947 . " Spearfish " received ten battle star s for World War II service . The " Spearfish " is the subject of an episode of the syndicated television anthology series , " The Silent Service " , which aired during the 1957 - 1958 season .