The first USS Sunfish (SS-281), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the ocean sunfish, Mola mola, a plectognath marine fish, having a deep body truncated behind, and high dorsal and anal fins. Construction and early career Sunfish was laid down on 25 September 1941 by the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California, launched on 2 May 1942, sponsored by Mrs. J. W. Fowler, and commissioned on 15 July 1942, Commander R. W. Peterson in command. Sunfish held her shakedown in the San Diego Bay area and then proceeded to San Francisco, California, for post-shakedown repairs. On 26 October 1942, she stood out to sea en route to the Pacific war zone. First and second war patrols, November 1942 – April 1943 She arrived at Pearl Harbor, T.H. on 1 November, and departed on her first war patrol on 23 November. Her assigned patrol area was off the coasts of Honshū and Hokkaidō, Japan. The submarine laid a minefield at the entrance to Iseno Imi on the night of 16 December. On 18 December, torpedoed and damaged the Kyowa Maru. The patrol ended on 14 January 1943, upon her return to Midway Island. Sunfish began her second patrol on 4 February, which took her into the East China Sea. She torpedoed a ship on the night of 4 March, setting it alight. Two days later, she fired at a transport with a four-torpedo spread, with three explosions heard. When the submarine raised her periscope, a destroyer passed over the conning tower and attacked with depth charges causing minor damage. On the night of 13 March, Sunfish torpedoed and sunk the 3,262-ton Kosei Maru, a cargo ship in the approaches to Takarajima (Toro Shima in DANFS) in . The submarine returned to Pearl Harbor on 3 April. Third and fourth war patrols, May – September 1943 Her third patrol was made from 4 May to 24 June in the shipping lanes near Truk Atoll. The Sunfish did not find any enemy shipping, so she reconnoitered Anguar Island on 23 May and shelled a refinery on Fais Island five days later. From 28 July to 25 September, Sunfish patrolled in waters off Formosa. In two attacks on 13 August, she sank a tanker and attacked the converted gunboat Edo Maru which exploded, sending flames high. In the early-morning hours of 4 September,