USS Spikefish ( SS - 404 ) USS " Spikefish " ( SS / AGSS - 404 ) , a " Balao " - class submarine , was a ship of the United States Navy . " Spikefish " was the first United States submarine to record 10 , 000 dives . " Spikefish " is a name given to the marlin s or spearfish in the family " Istiophridae " , usually applied to the striped marlin in the Pacific off the west coast of the United States . World War II Service . " Spikefish " was laid down on 29 January 1944 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery , Maine ; launched on 26 April 1944 , sponsored by Mrs . Harvey W . Moore , and commissioned on 30 June 1944 , Commander Nicholas J . Nicholas in command . She outfitted there until 31 July when she moved to the Portsmouth - New London area for training . The submarine departed Portsmouth on 16 September and proceeded via the Panama Canal to the Hawaiian Islands . Upon arriving at Pearl Harbor on 23 October , she began preparation for her first war patrol . " Spikefish " got underway on 15 November 1944 for the Kuril Islands and the Sea of Okhotsk . She encountered no enemy shipping during the patrol which ended at Midway Island on 1 January 1945 . On 26 January , she sailed for the Ryukyus and began patrolling westward of that group . On 24 February , the submarine made a submerged attack on a convoy of six cargo ships with four escorts . She fired six torpedoes at two of the freighters , three of which were heard to hit , but results were not observed as " Spikefish " was forced to go deep and weather out a four - hour attack of about 80 depth charge s . She sighted another convoy on 5 March and expended six torpedoes in a fruitless attack which led to another pounding by escorts . " Spikefish " was ordered to terminate her patrol on 6 March , and she returned to Pearl Harbor on 19 March . One month later , " Spikefish " , under Cdr . Robert R . Managhan , sailed with for Guam , topped off with fuel , and proceeded independently , on 3 May , toward an area off the east coast of Formosa where she assumed lifeguard station duties . She made no rescues during this period and sighted only one enemy ship . That occurred on the night of 14 May , and all four torpedoes that she fired missed the target . On 29 May , " Spikefish " was ordered to take station off Sakishima Gunto and act as lifeguard for carrier planes in the area . On 5 June , she bombarded Miyara airstrip on Ishigaki Jima with her gun . Two days later , the submarine rescued a downed pilot whose plane had crashed after taking off from escort carrier , . She returned to Guam on 13 June . " Spikefish " began her last war patrol on 8 July with an uneventful patrol in the Yellow Sea and lifeguard duty off Shanghai . On 24 July , she bombarded Surveyor Island , off the China coast , in an attempt to destroy an enemy radar station . Shortly after midnight on 11 August , she located a small Japan ese cargo ship near her lifeguard station but could not make positive identification at night . The ship was dead in the water , so " Spikefish " waited until morning , identified it as enemy and sank it with gunfire . Three survivors were brought on board . On the night of 13 August about southeast of Shanghai , she made radar contact with a surfaced submarine . After tracking it for about an hour , the submarine submerged and disappeared from " Spikefish " ' s scope . At 00 : 07 , contact was regained and the submarine was tracked until morning , when she was sighted on the surface . Her silhouette proved her to be Japanese . " Spikefish " fired six torpedoes . Two hit the target , which sank in a cloud of smoke at . The sole survivor who was taken prisoner identified the submarine as " I - 373 " ; she was the last Japanese submarine sunk in the war . End of War . On 15 August , an order was received to cease all attacks , as Japan had agreed to surrender . The submarine delivered her prisoners to Saipan on 21 August and proceeded to Pearl Harbor , On 6 September , she and sailed for the east coast of the United States . " Spikefish " transited the Panama Canal on 23 September and arrived at New London , Conn . on 29 September . She was in drydock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard from 1 November 1945 to 15 February 1946 . Upon her return to New London , her home port , she was assigned to Submarine Squadron 2 and trained personnel of the submarine school . Post War service and fate . Her training duty was interrupted by an overhaul from 7 April to 22 September 1947 ; a cruise to Bermuda from 25 September to 2 October 1947 ; and another overhaul at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from 16 May to 8 July 1948 . " Spikefish " operated from New London making training cruises along the east coast from Bermuda to Nova Scotia until 30 April 1955 . On that day , she and sailed for the Mediterranean and deployment with the 6th Fleet . " Spikefish " returned to New London on 8 October 1955 and resumed her normal training duties until early 1963 . On 18 March 1960 , " Spikefish " became the first United States submarine to record 10 , 000 dives . " Spikefish " was redesignated an Auxiliary Research Submarine AGSS - 404 in 1962 . She was decommissioned on 2 April 1963 and was struck from the Navy list on 1 May 1963 . She was subsequently sunk as a target in August 1964 off Long Island , NY . " Spikefish " received three battle star s for World War II service .