USS Mingo ( SS - 261 ) Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company , Groton , Connecticut . She was launched on 30 November 1942 ( sponsored by Mrs . Henry L . Pence ) , and commissioned on 12 February 1943 , Lieutenant Commander Ralph C . " Red " Lynch , Jr . , ( Class of 1929 ) in command . After shakedown off Long Island , " Mingo " sailed for Newport , RI on 1 April 1943 for three weeks of operations with the torpedo station . She cleared New London on 16 May for the Pacific via the Panama Canal Zone . First and second war patrols . After further training at Pearl Harbor , " Mingo " departed on her maiden war patrol on 25 June 1943 . She made damaging attacks on three Japanese merchant ships and bombarded Sorol Island off the Palaus before returning to Pearl Harbor for refit . Her second war patrol — from 29 September - 20 November — took her to the Marshalls , Carolines , and Marianas . Her torpedo es damaged a Japanese cruiser . She departed the Hawaiian Islands for overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard , San Pablo Bay , Calif . The submarine left the West Coast on 3 February 1944 for continued operations in the Pacific . Third and fourth war patrols . For her third war patrol , " Mingo " joined the US 7th Fleet in patrolling the South China Sea . She then sailed for Brisbane , Australia , via the Bismarck Sea and Milne Bay , New Guinea , arriving on 9 May . She continued on to Manus , Admiralty Islands on 10 June for further training . " Mingo " left Manus for the Philippines on 18 June on her fourth war patrol . On 7 July , she attacked a Japanese high - speed convoy off Luzon and sank the destroyer . The submarine put in to Fremantle , Australia on 30 July . Fifth and sixth war patrols . " Mingo " began her fifth war patrol on 27 August 1944 . Although her primary operation was lifeguard duty in support of the US Thirteenth Air Force strikes on the Philippines and Borneo , she sank four coastal freighters . " Mingo " did a noteworthy job as lifeguard as she rescued 16 B - 24 Liberator fliers shot down off Balikpapan , Borneo ; six of them from rubber boats in Makassar Strait and the other 10 from the beach of Celebes Island . She moored in Fremantle on 13 October . Her sixth war patrol , mostly reconnaissance duty , took place west of Borneo . On 25 December , " Mingo " made a night torpedo attack on a Japanese convoy on a run between Singapore and Brunei , Borneo . Beside damaging an escort gunboat , she sank loaded 9 , 486 - ton tanker " Manila Maru " . The sinking of a maru of that name was prophetic , for the Japanese were only three months away from losing their hold completely on the ship ’ s namesake , the Philippine capital . After assisting two other submarines in successful attacks , she returned to Fremantle on 29 December for repairs . Seventh war patrol . " Mingo " took station at the South China Sea again for her seventh and last war patrol from 6 February – 10 April 1945 . On 14 February , she sailed to Fremantle to repair damage caused by a hurricane in which she had lost two men on 10 February . She departed on 19 February for further patrol off the Gulf of Siam before arriving in the Marianas on 10 April . " En route " to Hawaii on 14 August , " Mingo " received word of the end of hostilities . After a short stay at Pearl Harbor , she sailed for the West Coast . " Kuroshio " , 1955 – 1966 . On 1 January 1947 " Mingo " decommissioned at Mare Island and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet . Recommissioned on 20 May 1955 . " Mingo " was transferred on loan to Japan under the Military Assistance Program and renamed " Kuroshio " ( SS - 501 ) on 15 August . Her initial role was as a underwater training target for surface vessels . She continued to serve the Japanese Navy as " Kuroshio " until decommissioned on 31 March 1966 . She was sunk as a target in 1973 . Awards . " Mingo " received five battle star s for World War II service . Five of her seven war patrols were designated " successful " .