USS Besugo (SS-321, later AGSS-321), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy in commission from 1944 to 1958. She was named for the besugo. During World War II, Besugo made five war patrols between 26 September 1944 and 25 July 1945, operating in the Bungo Channel, Makassar Strait, Java Sea, and South China Sea. During these patrols, Besugo sank the German submarine , becoming one of a very few U.S. submarines to sink a German naval vessel during the war, the 10,020-gross register ton tanker Nichei Maru, one tank landing ship, one frigate, and a minesweeper. After post-World War II Korean War and Cold War U.S. Navy service, Besugo was decommissioned. She was loaned to the Italian Navy in 1966, in which she served until the mid-1970s as Francesco Morosini (S 508). Construction and commissioning Besugo′s keel was laid down on 27 May 1943 at Groton, Connecticut, by the Electric Boat Company. She was launched on 27 February 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Margaret Perry Homer, an employee in the Outside Machinist's Department of the Electric Boat Company and wife of Peter J. Homer, also an employee of the company. Besugo was commissioned at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton on 19 June 1944 with Commander Thomas L. Wogan in command. Service history United States Navy World War II June–September 1944 Besugo completed shakedown training in the waters off New London, Connecticut, before heading south on 25 July 1944. Arriving at Key West, Florida, on 1 August 1944, she conducted another two weeks of training with the Key West Sound School before setting out for the Pacific Ocean on 13 August. She transited the Panama Canal on 17 August and, after five days of repairs at Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone, continued on to Pearl Harbor in the Territory of Hawaii, arriving there on 7 September 1944. She spent the next two weeks training in the waters of the Hawaiian Islands. Later operations Besugo made five war patrols between 26 September 1944 and 25 July 1945 operating in the Bungo Channel, Makassar Strait, Java Sea, and South China Sea. During these patrols, Besugo sank the , 23 April 1945 in .; one 10,020-ton tanker Nichei Maru; one LST (Landing Ship, Tank), one frigate, and a minesweeper totaling 2260 tons. Besugo was one a very few US submarines to sink a German naval vessel during World