USS Sea Fox ( SS - 402 ) USS " Sea Fox " ( SS - 402 ) , a " Balao " - class submarine , was a ship of the United States Navy named for the sea fox , a large shark , also called the thresher shark , which frequents the coast of Europe and the Americas . " Sea Fox " was laid down on 2 November 1943 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery , Maine ; launched on 28 March 1944 , sponsored by Mrs . Robert N . Robertson ; and commissioned on 13 June 1944 , Lieutenant Commander Roy C . Klinker in command . First patrol : October – November 1944 . Two months after commissioning , " Sea Fox " departed New London for Hawaii and duty in Submarine Division 282 ( SubDiv 282 ) . She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 11 September and , on 4 October , got underway on her first war patrol . On 16 October , she entered her initial patrol area near the Bonin Islands , and remained in the Bonin - Volcano Islands area through 25 October , hunting enemy shipping and serving on lifeguard duty for B - 24 Liberator strikes against Iwo Jima . On 26 October , she conducted her first attack and damaged an enemy freighter ; then proceeded on to the Nansei Shoto in the Ryukyus . There , on 8 November , after firing 11 torpedoes in four attacks , she sank an engines - aft cargoman . Of the 11 torpedoes fired , several broached and one circled and passed over " Sea Fox " ' s conning tower . On 15 November , the submarine departed her assigned area and arrived at Majuro on 24 November for refit . Second patrol : December 1944 – February 1945 . On her second war patrol , 20 December 1944 to 5 February 1945 , " Sea Fox " returned to the Nansei Shoto as a unit of Task Group 17 . 19 , a coordinated attack group composed of her , , and . En route to Saipan to top off with fuel , the submarines and their PC escort picked up survivors of a downed Liberator . On 28 December , the submarines departed the Marianas for the Ryukyus ; and , on 1 January 1945 , " Sea Fox " reached her patrol area . Nine days later , she made her only contact worthy of torpedo fire but , despite two attacks , was unsuccessful . " Puffer " , to which she reported the contact , later sank the target , " Coast Defense Vessel No . 42 " . In February 1945 , while undergoing refit at Guam , five of her crewmembers were killed in a Japanese ambush . Third and fourth patrols : March – July 1945 . " Sea Fox " ' s third war patrol , 8 March to 6 May 1945 , saw her in the South China Sea – Formosa area . She made six contacts but was able to close and attack only one , a convoy of three merchantmen and four escorts . During that action , conducted in heavy fog on the morning of 1 April , she damaged one of the freighters . That same day , sank the " mercy " ship , " Awa Maru " ; and , on 2 April , " Sea Fox " was ordered into the area to pick up survivors and wreckage to determine the type of cargo the maru had been carrying . " Sea Fox " located no survivors but found bales of sheet rubber covering the area where the ship had gone down . She took aboard one of the sheets and continued her patrol . The next day , one of " Sea Fox " ' s crew was accidentally shot by another crewman . Efforts to transfer the wounded man to a homeward - bound submarine were thwarted by rough seas , and the patient remained aboard for the duration of the patrol . In mid - April , " Sea Fox " was off the northwest coast of Formosa where she encountered a shift in Japanese ASW tactics . Patrol planes were numerous at night , precluding recharging . The planes , however , were relatively inactive during daylight hours , and " Sea Fox " surfaced and recharged accordingly . On the night of 16 April – 17 April , " Sea Fox " departed her patrol area . Progress toward Saipan was slowed by a casualty in the bow plane rigging mechanism on 19 April ; but , on 26 April , she arrived in the Marianas , and she reached Pearl Harbor on 6 May . Refit took a month , and " Sea Fox " sailed on 7 June for her last war patrol . Assigned primarily to lifeguard duty during the 53 - day patrol , she picked up nine Army aviators near Marcus Island and a tenth in the Nanpō Islands . On 29 July , she completed the patrol at Midway . 1945 – 1952 . The war ended with the completion of refit , and Sea Fox headed toward Pearl Harbor for a two - week visit prior to getting underway for postwar duty with Submarine Squadron 5 ( SubRon 5 ) in the Philippines . Based at Subic Bay , she operated in the Philippine area into 1946 ; then , on 12 January , got underway to return to the United States . " Sea Fox " arrived in San Francisco Bay on 2 February . Overhaul followed ; and in mid - May , she returned to Pearl Harbor where she rejoined Submarine Division 52 ( SubDiv 52 ) . During the remainder of the 1940s , she was deployed three times : to the central Pacific in the summer of 1946 , and to the western Pacific in the winter of 1948 and in the fall of 1949 . The end of the latter year also brought a brief assignment to SubDiv 13 , but January 1950 saw her a unit of SubDiv 12 . Six months later , the Korean War broke out ; and " Sea Fox " ' s training exercises — mine planting , torpedo approaches , gunnery , and ASW — increased . On 2 September 1951 , the submarine sailed west . A six - month tour in the western Pacific followed during which she supported the United Nations ' effort in Korea by providing services to the ASW training group and by patrolling in the northern Sea of Japan . In March 1952 , she returned to the Hawaiian Islands to resume local operations and to prepare for a GUPPY IIA conversion . 1953 – 1970 . Decommissioned on 15 October 1952 at Mare Island Naval Shipyard , " Sea Fox " completed conversion the following spring and was recommissioned on 5 June 1953 . In August , she returned to Pearl Harbor and resumed operations — training exercises , special operations , and western Pacific deployments — as a unit of SubDiv 71 . Reassigned to SubDiv 33 at San Diego on 1 July 1955 , she became flagship of the division on 1 August and commenced local operations off the southern California coast . A year later , she sailed west for another six - month tour with the 7th Fleet ; and , from then until 1969 , she continued to rotate between training operations out of San Diego and duty with the 7th Fleet in the western Pacific . From 1964 , her tours in WestPac included support of the Allied effort in Vietnam . On 21 December 1968 , " Sea Fox " returned to San Diego from her WestPac deployment . Local operations , overhaul , and training exercises followed then she completed her final WestPac tour in the summer of 1970 . In November 1970 , she was declared unfit for further service . She was decommissioned , her name was struck from the Navy List on 14 December 1970 . Honors and awards . " Sea Fox " earned four battle star s during World War II and four campaign star s for service during the Vietnam War . TCG " Burakreis " ( S 335 ) . " Sea Fox " was sold to Turkey on 14 December 1970 at Hunters Point Navy Yard in San Francisco . The Turkish Navy renamed her TCG " Burakreis " ( S 335 ) , after the great Ottoman admiral Burak Reis . She sailed for her new home on 9 April 1971 from San Diego after conducting ASW training . She was commissioned on 8 August 1971 . In 1996 , " Burakreis " was struck from the Turkish Naval rolls .