USS Medregal (SS-480/AGSS-480), a Tench-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the medregal, a streamlined, fast-swimming, bluish-colored fish of the jack family which abounds in waters of the West Indies and in the Atlantic as far north as the Carolinas. Construction Medregals keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, on 21 August 1944. She was launched on 15 December 1944, sponsored by Mrs. A. H. Taylor, and was commissioned on 14 April 1945. World War II service Medregal departed Portsmouth in April 1945. A collision with a U.S. destroyer escort off the north coast of Panama while submerged caused major damage to the periscope shears and radar, requiring a return to Portsmouth just at the time that Germany surrendered. After repairs and Air/Sea Rescue modifications, Medregal departed New London, Connecticut, on 16 June, and steamed to participate in final operations in the Pacific against the Japanese. The surrender of Japan halted her long Pacific voyage and she returned to the Canal Zone, thence to Key West, Florida, for operations with Submarine Squadron 4. Atlantic Fleet service From late 1945 to mid-1957 Medregal operated out of Key West, training Reserves, supporting activities of the Fleet Sonar School, and taking part in antisubmarine warfare exercises. Her cruises sent her along the east coast from Florida to Virginia, into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and to operating areas in the western Atlantic. Periodically she deployed to Guantanamo Bay and Havana, Cuba, as well us to Puerto Rico and islands of the West Indies. From March to November 1952 she underwent conversion to a Fleet Snorkel submarine at Charleston, South Carolina. On 17 June 1957 Medregal entered Charleston Naval Shipyard for conversion to a missile-guidance submarine. She completed overhaul 22 November, thence steamed to Norfolk, Virginia, for operations with Submarine Squadron 6. During the next 18 months she participated in intermittent missile-evaluation projects in the Caribbean off the Virgin Islands and in the Atlantic out off Puerto Rico. Pacific Fleet service Assigned to Submarine Squadron 3 on 10 July 1959 Medregal departed Norfolk 25 July and steamed to Pearl Harbor, arriving 24 August. She served in Hawaiian waters until sailing 9 January 1960 to the Far East, arriving at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka on 26 January. During the next five months she conducted training and evaluation exercises with