USS Ray (SS/SSR-271), a , was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the ray, a fish characterized by a flat body, large pectoral fins, and a whiplike tail. Construction and commissioning A fleet submarine, Ray was laid down on 20 July 1942; launched on 28 February 1943 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, sponsored by Mrs. S. C. Loomis; and commissioned on 27 July 1943. Service history After training in Lake Michigan until 15 August 1943, Ray arrived at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, via New Orleans, Louisiana, on 31 August 1943 for intensive training. Departing Panama on 5 October, she reached Brisbane, Australia, on 30 October 1943. World War II First war patrol, November–December 1943 Departing Milne Bay, New Guinea, on 13 November for her first war patrol, Ray searched the area north of the Bismarck Archipelago. On the New Hanover-Truk shipping lane, she made radar contact with a three-ship convoy, escorted by three patrol craft. Attacking just before dawn she scored three hits on one of the freighters. Then, after evading the escorts' countermeasures, she followed the convoy and sank the converted gunboat Nikkai Maru with a spread of torpedoes. Before ending her patrol in December, Ray twice unsuccessfully attacked another convoy. Second war patrol, December 1943–January 1944 Rays second patrol, 11 December 1943 to 12 January 1944 was in the Celebes-Ambon-Timor area. Near midnight on 26 December she sighted an unescorted tanker standing out from Tioro Strait. When the enemy ship reached open water, Ray fired a spread of torpedoes which stopped Kyoko Maru dead in the water and sent a huge mushroom of flame into the night sky as the target disintegrated. On 1 January 1944, SS-271 intercepted two ships with escorts in the mouth of Ambon Bay, Java, and sank converted gunboat Okuyo Maru with three hits. The accompanying cargo ship tried to ram the submarine, and a combined aerial attack by patrol bombers and a sustained depth charge attack forced Ray to run deep. Three days later, following an unsuccessful attack on two cargo ships escorted by a Chidori-class torpedo boat, Ray returned to Fremantle. Third war patrol, February–March 1944 The third patrol, 6 February to 27 March, in the South China and Java Seas included the laying of a minefield off Saigon, Indochina, on 22 February. On the evening of 2 March, Ray intercepted a