USS Bugara (SS-331), a Balao-class submarine in commission from 1944 to 1970, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the bugara, a multicolored fish found along the coast of California. Bugaras World War II operations extended from 21 February to 17 August 1945, during which she completed three war patrols in the Flores Sea, Java Sea, South China Sea and Gulf of Siam. While the first two patrols proved uneventful, her third war patrol might be classified as one of the most colorful to be made during the war. This patrol in the Gulf of Siam was highlighted by a series of excellently conducted gun attacks which disposed of 57 small ships totaling 5284 tons. All except two of these vessels were boarded and their native crews put safely ashore with their personal belongings. One of the many interesting incidents of this patrol was an encounter with a Japanese ship manned by a Chinese crew being attacked by Malay pirates. Bugara rescued the Chinese, sank the Japanese ship, and then disposed of the pirates. Bugara later served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Construction and commissioning Bugara was laid down on 21 October 1943 by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut. She was launched 2 July 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Anna A. Perry, wife of Captain Lyman S. Perry, and commissioned on 15 November 1944 with Commander Arnold F. Schade — a veteran of eight war patrols and recipient of the Navy Cross and the Silver Star — in command. Service history World War II November 1944–February 1945 Bugara fitted out for service, conducted her shakedown, then departed on 25 December 1944 bound for the Panama Canal Zone. She conducted five days of additional training in the Panama Canal Zone, then pushed on for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where Schade put his crew through two more weeks of intensive training. First war patrol Bugara departed Pearl Harbor on 21 February 1945 to begin her first war patrol and proceeded directly to Saipan in the Mariana Islands, meeting her escort, the motor minesweeper on 5 March 1945 before reaching Saipan. On 8 March 1945, she got underway from Saipan in company with the submarines and in company with their escort, the submarine chaser . One day out of port, on 9 March 1945, Bugara’s cook sustained a severe head laceration when the storeroom hatch fell on