USS Rasher (SS-269)

USS Rasher (SS-269)

USS Rasher (SS/SSR/AGSS/IXSS-269), a Gato-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the rasher, a vermilion-colored rockfish or scorpionfish found along the California coast.

Rasher (SS-269), an attack submarine, was laid down 4 May 1942 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, Wisc.; launched 20 December 1942; sponsored by Mrs. G. C. Weaver; and commissioned 8 June 1943, Comdr. E. S. Hutchinson in command. Admiral Charles A. Lockwood had earlier relieved Hutchinson of command of Grampus for lacking aggressiveness.

Following builder's trials in Lake Michigan, Rasher was decommissioned and towed down the Mississippi on a floating drydock. After recommissioning and fitting out in New Orleans, the new submarine trained in the Bay of Panama, departed Balboa 8 August 1943, and arrived at Brisbane, Australia, on 11 September.

Read more about USS Rasher (SS-269):  First War Patrol, September – November 1943, Second War Patrol, December 1943 – January 1944, Third and Fourth War Patrols, February – June 1944, Fifth War Patrol, 22 July – 3 September 1944, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth War Patrols, January – August 1945, Service As Radar Picket Submarine, 1953–1960, Vietnam War Service