USS Tigrone ( SS - 419 ) USS " Tigrone " ( SS / SSR - 419 ) , a " Tench " - class submarine , was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tigrone , a tiger shark found in tropical waters . Her keel was laid down on 8 May 1944 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard . She was launched on 20 July 1944 sponsored by Mrs . Charles F . Grisham , and commissioned on 25 October 1944 with Commander Hiram Cassedy in command . " Tigrone " completed fitting out in mid - November and conducted training out of Portsmouth , New Hampshire , and New London , Connecticut , before departing the Submarine Base at New London on the last day of 1944 . After ten days of training at the Fleet Sound School , the new submarine got underway on 16 January . Steaming via the Canal Zone , she paused for a week of training off Panama , then set her course for Hawaii , conducting extensive practice approach exercises with attack transport en route . On 16 February , she arrived at Pearl Harbor to prepare for her first war patrol . First Patrol . On 9 March , she departed Oahu and steamed westward , arriving at Guam on 19 March . After a three - day pause to repair a main engine , she got underway on 21 March in company with submarines " Seahorse " was mistakenly strafed and bombed by a B - 24 Liberator on 24 March . " Tigrone " ’ s first brush with the enemy came on 29 March in the South China Sea when she dove to avoid an enemy " Oscar " and , at 60 ft ( 18 m ) , felt the jolt of a small explosion over the forward battery compartment , apparently the concussion of a small bomb dropped by the enemy plane . The new submarine emerged from this encounter without damage and continued her patrol of the sea lanes off the China coast . In the days that followed , she made an unsuccessful attempt to intercept a convoy spotted by American planes . Then , on 3 April , she began lifeguard duties off the eastern shore of Hainan . On 5 April , " Tigrone " again managed to evade a bomb dropped by a high - flying Japanese plane . On 8 April , she assumed a lifeguard station off Kuannan and began steering five mile ( 8 km ) legs to maintain her station , when the ship ' s commanding officer noted a wake which he took to be one of the ship ' s own . Two minutes later , the appearance of a torpedo away on the port bow gave startling proof that the wake was that of an enemy submarine . As " Tigrone " swung left , the torpedo passed her abeam , less than away . She then submerged and rigged for silent running , remaining below for over two hours . On 9 April , she took up a lifeguard station off Mofu Point and continued patrols off Hainan until 15 April when she departed the area late in the day . She bombarded Pratas Reef with five - inch ( 127 mm ) gunfire on 16 April and joined submarine three days later to fire on targets including towns and docks on Batan Island . She ended her first war patrol at Guam on 24 April 1945 . Second Patrol . After refitting by submarine tender , " Tigrone " departed Apra Harbor on 19 May , took on torpedoes at Saipan the same day , and on 20 May got underway for her assigned area . On 25 May , she sighted Sofu Gan Island and Tori Shima before taking up her lifeguard station south of Honshū and west of the Nanpō Islands . That same day , she rescued a downed flier from the 19th Fighter Command , Iwo Jima . Early on the morning of 27 May , " Tigrone " engaged a Japanese lugger which countered the submarine ' s five - inch ( 127 mm ) and 40 millimeter fire with machine - gun fire . As " Tigrone " turned away from the raking fire of the lugger , heavy seas washed over her main deck , knocking three of the submarine ' s crewmen against the gun and injuring them . Despite intermittent heavy rain , " Tigrone " finished off the lugger with five - inch ( 127 mm ) fire . The final and telling round caught the lugger dead center , set it afire , and stopped it dead in the water . High seas made boarding a hazardous proposition , so the battered enemy vessel was left to burn , and " Tigrone " returned to her lifeguard station . Early on the afternoon of 28 May , the submarine rendezvoused with a Navy bomber which had signaled its distress . The plane ditched from " Tigrone " , and the submarine ' s crew quickly rescued five survivors from the water . In the next two days , " Tigrone " proved her skill as a lifeguard ship as she responded to frequent calls for aid and rescued 23 men from the Philippine Sea . On the afternoon of 24 May , " Tigrone " answered a call for assistance from a severely damaged PBY Catalina seaplane which had nosed into a wave on takeoff from a rescue operation . Quickly arriving on the scene , the submarine took on board 16 survivors , the crew and twice - rescued passengers of the disabled seaplane . Soon the submarine was searching again , this time for survivors of other downed aircraft who had been reported by circling planes to be floating on rafts in " Tigrone " ’ s lifeguard area . Night fell before the submarine located the rafts , but , early on 30 May , she surfaced and , despite 30 ft ( 9 m ) waves , resumed the search . Friendly aircraft aided her efforts , and " Tigrone " ’ s persistence was rewarded when she at last located seven Army aviators afloat on a raft . These tenacious survivors had been washed overboard several times during the night but had climbed back each time . The heavy seas made rescue difficult and time - consuming , but finally the exhausted aviators were brought safely on board the submarine . " Tigrone " jauntily sent out the message , and noted that she had set a new record for lifeguard proficiency . On 1 June , " Tigrone " put in at Iwo Jima to disembark her passengers and on the next day , despite continuing radar problems , again got underway , returning to her patrol area on 3 June . Plagued by fog and radar malfunctions , " Tigrone " at last was forced to request to be assigned to lifeguard duty when a persistent loud scraping noise in the vicinity of her starboard shaft rendered normal submarine patrol and attack functions hazardous , if not impossible . Operating south of Honshū , " Tigrone " joined the " Lifeguard League " and on 26 June recovered an aviator who had parachuted from his disabled fighter , rescuing him from the water only six minutes from the time his parachute blossomed . During the two days that followed , she took on rescued aviators from other submarines and set her course for Guam on 28 June . She ended her second war patrol on 3 July at Apra Harbor , having rescued a total of 30 aviators on this war patrol . Third Patrol . Following refitting by submarine tender , " Tigrone " departed Guam on 31 July and , after the usual stop at Saipan for torpedo es , arrived on lifeguard station . As the submarine approached within 100 miles ( 160 km ) of Honshū , the news arrived that the Soviet Union had declared war on Japan . Patrolling nearer and nearer Honshū as American planes made strikes on Tokyo and other cities of the Japanese homeland , " Tigrone " encountered increasing numbers of Japanese search planes . On 11 August , the first reports of Japan ' s surrender were received , but , for two more days , " Tigrone " continued her patrols , approaching within 50 miles ( 80 km ) of the shore of Sagami Wan as she pursued lifeguard duties . On 13 August , with Navy pilots helping to spot targets , she bombarded Mikomoto Island , scoring 11 hits on a radio station and lighthouse tower . The submarine claimed this action as the final bombardment of the war . On 14 August , " Tigrone " rescued another aviator who had been forced to parachute from his plane and , later in the day , spent an anxious half hour attempting to evade persistent sonar contacts which turned out to be birds . On 15 August , she received orders to cease all attacks ; and , the next day , the official statement of Japan ' s surrender was published . She patrolled off the east coast of Japan as far north as Sendai and Todo Saki . Then , on 30 August , she rendezvoused with " Benny ' s Peacemakers " and , on the last day of August , moored in Tokyo Bay . She departed Tokyo on 2 September and made her way via Hawaii and the Canal Zone to New London , arriving there early in October 1945 . Post - War Activities . Later that month , she visited Washington , DC , for Navy Day activities and , late in December , reported to the Sixth Fleet at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , for preservation procedures preparatory to inactivation . She was towed to New London and placed out of commission , in reserve , on 30 March 1946 . On 12 April 1948 , her hull classification symbol was changed to SSR - 419 , radar picket submarine . In June , she was towed from New London to Portsmouth for conversion . She was recommissioned on 1 November 1948 and , early in 1949 , conducted shakedown out of Portsmouth in preparation for her new duties as an Arctic radar picket . That summer , she joined Submarine Division 62 operating out of Norfolk to begin activities evaluating new radar equipment and techniques for long range air defense . She continued in this role until 1957 , operating in the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea and completing five Mediterranean Sea deployments with both American and NATO forces . On 1 August 1957 , her status was changed to in commission , in reserve , and , on 1 November , she was decommissioned . She was assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and berthed at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Redesignated SS - 419 on 3 February 1961 , she was recommissioned on 10 March 1962 and underwent overhaul and conversion at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard before reporting to New London for refresher training on 22 September . On 15 November , she departed New London for four weeks of shakedown out of Puerto Rico , and , on 14 December , she returned to New London to remain there into the new year . From April through August 1963 , she operated in the Mediterranean Sea on deployment with the Sixth Fleet . She then returned to New London for local operations and to provide services for the Submarine School . On 1 December 1963 , she was redesignated an auxiliary submarine with hull classification symbol AGSS - 419 . Early in 1964 , she was fitted out with an experimental sonar unit . Through the end of 1964 , she operated in conjunction with the Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory and the Submarine School , testing and evaluating the new equipment . In 1965 , she underwent a major eight - month overhaul and modification at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard . Her torpedo tubes were removed , two forward compartments thoroughly sound isolated , and a new experimental sonar system , the Brass III , was installed . Operating as a research and development vessel in cooperation with the United States Underwater Sound Laboratory , she began duties which would fill the remaining years of her long career . Assigned primarily to data collection and sonar and acoustic tests in connection with the Brass program , she operated out of New London , conducting underwater systems tests as well as research in sound propagation . In 1968 , she visited Britain and port on the Norwegian Sea , spent September through December in antisubmarine warfare exercises ; and trained reserves . She continued her research assignments , joining with submarine in the early months of 1972 for a joint American - British oceanographic operation in the eastern Atlantic . She operated occasionally in the Caribbean Sea , taking part in Operation " Springboard " in 1973 and 1974 . While moored at the Submarine Base in New London , on 25 October 1974 , " Tigrone " observed the 30th anniversary of her commissioning . Into 1975 , she continued research activities off the East Coast , which included a visit to Bermuda in March and operations with air units off Jacksonville and Atlantic City , New Jersey . On 5 May , she began pre - inactivation procedures and , on 27 June 1975 , was decommissioned at the Naval Submarine Base , Groton , Connecticut . At the time of her decommissioning , " Tigrone " was the oldest submarine in commission in the United States Navy , as well as the last unit of the submarine force still in operation to have taken part in combat action in World War II . Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on that same day , and she was sunk as a target on 25 October 1976 . " Tigrone " received two battle star s for World War II service .