USS Stickleback ( SS - 415 ) USS " Stickleback " ( SS - 415 ) , a " Balao " - class submarine , was named for the stickleback , a small scaleless fish . Construction and launch . Her keel was laid down on 1 March 1944 by the Mare Island Navy Yard of Vallejo , California . She was launched on 1 January 1945 sponsored by Mrs . John O . R . Coll , and commissioned on 29 March 1945 , Commander Lawrence G . Bernard in command . World War II . " Stickleback " completed outfitting on 26 May and held her shakedown cruise off the California coast . She reported to Commander , Submarines , Pacific Fleet , for duty on 21 June . More modern equipment was installed at Pearl Harbor ; and , on 2 August , she arrived at Guam , where she held sea trials for a few more days . She began her first war patrol on 6 August when she departed for the Sea of Japan . She arrived there the following week and began patrolling . However , the atomic bomb s had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and it was believed the war would end shortly . " Stickleback " had only been in the patrol area for two days when the cease - fire order was passed . She remained in the area and , on 21 August , sighted two bamboo rafts containing 19 survivors of a freighter which had been sunk ten days before by . They were taken on board for 18 hours , given food , water , medical treatment , and set afloat again a short distance from one of the Japanese islands . " Stickleback " returned to Guam on 9 September and sailed for the United States the next day . She arrived at San Francisco , California , on 28 September as a unit of Admiral William F . Halsey ' s Third Fleet . She participated in the Navy Day celebration in October and , on 2 January 1946 , made a voyage to Pearl Harbor . She was decommissioned , on 26 June 1946 , at Mare Island and attached to the Pacific Reserve Fleet . Korean War . " Stickleback " was recommissioned on 6 September 1946 and served at San Diego , California as a training ship until entering the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 6 November 1952 for conversion to a snorkel ( GUPPY IIA ) type submarine . The ship was back at sea on 26 June 1953 and joined Submarine Squadron 7 at Pearl Harbor . " Stickleback " supported the United Nations forces in Korea from February to July 1954 when she returned to Pearl Harbor . Foundering . For the next four years , she participated in training operations and the development of both defensive and offensive submarine tactics . On 28 May 1958 , " Stickleback " was participating in an antisubmarine warfare exercise with and a torpedo retriever boat in the Hawaiian area . The exercises continued into the afternoon of the next day when the submarine completed a simulated torpedo run on " Silverstein " . As " Stickleback " was going to a safe depth , she lost power and broached approximately ahead of the destroyer escort . " Silverstein " backed full and put her rudder hard left in an effort to avoid a collision but holed the submarine on her port side . " Stickleback " ' s crew was removed by the retriever boat and combined efforts were made by " Silverstein " , , , and , to save the stricken submarine . The rescue ships put lines around her , but compartment after compartment flooded and , at 18 : 57 on 29 May 1958 , " Stickleback " sank in 1 , 800 fathoms ( 3 , 300 m ) of water . " Stickleback " was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 June 1958 .