USS Croaker ( SS - 246 ) USS " Croaker " ( SS / SSK / AGSS / IXSS - 246 ) , a " Gato " - class submarine , was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the croaker , any of various fishes which make throbbing or drumming noises . Her keel was laid down on 1 April 1943 by Electric Boat Company in Groton , Connecticut . She was launched on 19 December 1943 ( sponsored by the wife of Admiral William H . P . Blandy ) , and commissioned on 21 April 1944 , with Commander John E . Lee in command . Service history . World War II . " Croaker " arrived at Pearl Harbor from New London on 26 June 1944 , and on 19 July put to sea on her first war patrol , sailing to the East China and Yellow Seas . In a series of brilliantly successful attacks which won her the Navy Unit Commendation , she sank the cruiser " Nagara " on 7 August , and two freighters , one on 14 August and one on 17 August . During this patrol , she served as lifeguard during air strikes on the Bonin Islands . She refitted at Midway Atoll from 31 August to 23 September , when she sailed in a coordinated attack group for the same area on her second war patrol . Again successful , she sank a freighter on 9 October , and another on 23 October . She shadowed a convoy on 24 October , and sank one freighter and damaged another with her last torpedo . Tubes empty , she returned to Midway to fuel , and pushed on to Pearl Harbor , arriving for refit on 10 November . " Croaker " s third war patrol , in the Luzon Straits and South China Sea from 13 December 1944 to 12 February 1945 , found her making no contacts with enemy shipping , but providing essential lifeguard service during strikes on Luzon preparatory to the invasion landings in Lingayen Gulf . She refitted at Fremantle , Australia , and on 12 March sailed for a patrol off the coast of Indo - China twice interrupted by the need to return to Australia for repairs . She refitted at Subic Bay , Philippines from 22 April to 15 May , then sailed for her fifth war patrol , in the Java Sea . On 30 May , she attacked a convoy of three small oilers guarded by an escort , with unconfirmed results , and on 5 June returned to Fremantle . Her final war patrol — from 1 July to 13 August — found her assigned to lifeguard duties in the South China Sea and off Hong Kong as the final series of air attacks on Japan were carried out . Returning to Subic Bay , " Croaker " sailed for Saipan and continued on to Galveston , Tex . , and New London , where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 15 May 1946 in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet . Post - War . Recommissioned on 7 May 1951 , she served as schoolship out of New London until 18 March 1953 , when she was again decommissioned at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for conversion to a hunter - killer submarine . She was reclassified SSK - 246 on 9 April 1953 , and was recommissioned on 11 December 1953 . Returning to active duty in February 1954 , she operated along the East Coast and in the Caribbean , visiting ports in England while taking part in NATO exercises in 1957 and 1958 . " Croaker " was reclassified SS - 246 again in August 1959 . Special submarine exercises took her to England once more in February 1960 , after which she resumed local operations out of New London . In September 1960 , " Croaker " departed on a cruise which saw her sailing through the Mediterranean and Suez Canal to call at various Near Eastern ports and Karachi , Pakistan . She returned to New London in mid - December , retracing her outward track . She was reclassified Auxiliary Submarine AGSS - 246 in May 1967 . Decommissioned for the last time on 2 April 1968 , " Croaker " was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 20 December 1971 and reclassified Miscellaneous Unclassified Submarine IXSS - 246 in December 1971 . From 1977 to 1987 , " Croaker " was displayed as a private attraction in Groton , Connecticut by the Submarine Memorial Association until the Navy revoked its agreement with the group citing a requirement for historical preservation of the vessel . Since 1988 , " Croaker " has served as a museum ship at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park in Buffalo , New York . Awards . Along with the Navy Unit Commendation , " Croaker " received three battle star s for those of her war patrols designated as " successful " : the first , second , and fifth of her six . She is credited with having sunk 19 , 710 tons of shipping . " Croaker " was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 12 September 2008 .