USS Lizardfish
USS Lizardfish (SS-373), a Balao-class submarine, was a boat of the United States Navy named for the lizardfish, a slender marine fish having a scaly, lizard-like head and large mouth. Construction and commissioning Lizardfish was laid down on 14 March 1944 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin; launched on 16 July 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Lansdale G. Sasscer; wife of Congressman Sasscer of Maryland; and commissioned on 30 December 1944. Operational history World War II Lizardfish departed the Manitowoc River 20 January 1945 for Lockport, IL, where she was loaded on a floating drydock and towed down the Mississippi River. She arrived at Algiers, La., 1 February and put to sea 5 days later for the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor, arriving 23 March. Lizardfish left Pearl Harbor on her first war patrol 9 April 1945. Topping off with fuel at Saipan on the 21st, she set course for the South China Sea. The submarine maintained a thorough close-in patrol of Indochina between 30 April and 18 May, but contacted no enemy traffic. From 23 to 28 May, a similar painstaking patrol in the Java Sea produced no enemy contacts. Completing this arduous patrol, Lizardfish arrived Fremantle, Australia,