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USS ''Grayback'' (SS-208), a ''Tambor''-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the lake herring. Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 31 January 1941 sponsored by Mrs. Wilson Brown, wife of Rear Admiral Wilson Brown, Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy, and commissioned on 30 June 1941 with Lieutenant Willard A. Saunders in command. Attached to the Atlantic Fleet ''Grayback'' conducted her shakedown cruise in Long Island Sound out of Newport, New London, and New York City. In company with she departed New London, Connecticut, on 8 September for patrol duty in the Caribbean Sea and Chesapeake Bay; then arrived Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 30 November for overhaul. With the United States's entry into the war, ''Grayback'' sailed for Pearl Harbor, arriving 8 February 1942. == First patrol == ''Graybacks first war patrol from 15 February to 10 April took her along the coast of Saipan and Guam. There she had a four-day encounter with an enemy submarine; the enemy U-boat fired two torpedoes at ''Grayback'' on the morning of 22 February, then continued to trail her across the Pacific. ''Grayback'' spotted the enemy conning tower a couple of times, and the Japanese ship broached once; but the ''Grayback'' could not get into position to attack. After four days, ''Grayback'' shook the other sub and continued on patrol. On 17 March she sank her first ship, a 3291-ton cargo ship off Port Lloyd. ''Graybacks second war patrol met with a dearth of targets although she even took the unusual and risky measure of patrolling surfaced during the day. On 22 June she arrived at Fremantle, Australia, which was to remain her home base for most of the war. On her third and fourth war patrols, in the South China Sea and St. George's Passage, ''Grayback'' was hampered by bright moonlight, shallow and treacherous water, and enemy patrol craft. Despite these hazards, she damaged several freighters and an enemy submarine. However, the very presence of ''Grayback'' and her sister ships in these waters—the threat they presented to shipping and the number of enemy escorts they tied up—was an important factor in the successful conclusion of the Guadalcanal campaign, America's first offensive campaign in the Pacific war. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Grayback (SS-208)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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