1955. In December 1955, Bluegill moved to a new home port at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. For almost nine years, she alternated between operations in the Hawaiian Islands with deployments to the western Pacific. On 15 August 1959, she was redesignated an attack submarine with the hull classification symbol SS-242. While Bluegill was undergoing overhaul at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 1 April 1964, while in overhaul, her home port changed to San Diego. For the remainder of her career, she divided her time between training duties along the U.S. West Coast and periodic cruises to the Far East. During the Vietnam War, She spent time in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam in 1965, conducting reconnaissance operations and rescueing downed American pilots. She received her last designation change on 1 April 1966, when she became an auxiliary submarine with the hull classification symbol AGSS-242. Disposal Bluegill was decommissioned at San Diego on 28 June 1969, and her name was struck from the Navy Vessel Register the same day. In 1970, she was towed to Pearl Harbor. On 3 December 1970, she was scuttled and moored to the sea bed as a salvage trainer about off Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, in of water. Her hull was used thereafter for underwater rescue training until 1983. On 5 November 1983, after a month of preparatory work, the Edenton-class salvage and rescue ships and raised Bluegill and towed her to deep water, where she was scuttled with military honors on 6 November 1983 as a means of disposal. Awards Navy Unit Commendation for her first war patrol, during which she sank Yubari Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four battle stars for World War II service Korean Service Medal References Sources External links Kill record: USS Bluegill Gato-class submarines World War II submarines of the United States Cold War submarines of the United States Vietnam War submarines of the United States Ships built in Groton, Connecticut 1943 ships Maritime incidents in 1970 Maritime incidents in 1983 Scuttled vessels Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Shipwrecks of Hawaii