USS Sarda ( SS - 488 ) USS " Sarda " ( SS - 488 ) , a " Tench " - class submarine , was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the sarda , a game fish of the central , southwestern , and western Pacific Ocean . Financed by bonds purchased during the Seventh War Loan by the residents of Lynn , Massachusetts , her keel was laid down on 12 April 1945 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard . She was launched on 24 August 1945 sponsored by Mrs . Heffernan , the wife of James J . Heffernan , Congressman from New York . Waiting . Since World War II had ended just weeks before the submarine ' s launch , the decision as to whether to commission or scrap her had to be made . " Sarda " ’ s prospective commanding officer grew frustrated with the debate over the fate of his boat . During the months of waiting , he received a small plaque from his father inscribed " Illegitimi non Carborundum " — " Don ' t Let the Bastards Grind You Up . " " Sarda " was eventually commissioned on 19 April 1946 with Commander Chester W . Nimitz , Jr . , son of the famous Admiral Chester W . Nimitz , in command . Re - fitting and commissioning . During the period between launching and commissioning , " Sarda " , no longer needed for wartime service , was fitted out with an extra large conning tower to permit installation of experimental equipment . After commissioning , she conducted her shakedown cruise in the Caribbean Sea , then returned north to commence experimental work out of New London , Connecticut . There , she joined Submarine Division ( SubDiv ) 22 of Submarine Squadron 2 ; and , for the next four years , tested new equipment for the Underwater Sound Laboratory , Fort Trumbull , and evaluated new ship control procedures . In the fall of 1949 , she was transferred to SubDiv 21 , and her primary mission was shifted from test and evaluation work to school ship duties . She continued that work through the 1950s , interrupting it only for type training ; mine planting exercises ; ASW exercises ; fleet exercises ; occasional participation in NATO or joint United States - Canadian exercises off the coasts of the Atlantic Provinces and northern New England ; and , from January to June 1957 , operations in the Caribbean Sea and the Guiana and Brazilian basins for the Hydrographic Office . On her return , she resumed her primary function , training submarine school students . 1960s . In the early 1960s , she continued that work , but devoted more time to providing services to ASW units conducting exercises . During the winter of 1960 , she provided services to 92 surface ships and 14 air squadrons participating in annual training exercises in the Caribbean . During the winter of 1962 , she again returned to the Caribbean for an extended stay and , when not employed in servicing Atlantic Fleet air and surface ASW units , she tested and evaluated acoustical torpedoes . The following winter , 1963 , she deployed to the Mediterranean Sea where she operated with the Sixth Fleet ; and , on her return to New London in late May , she resumed school ship duties . Decommissioned . Eleven months later , " Sarda " was declared to be surplus to Navy needs . May 1964 was spent in port at New London preparing for inactivation ; and , on 1 June , " Sarda " was decommissioned . Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on the same day , and her hulk was sold for scrapping in March 1965 .