USS Sterlet (SS-392) USS Sterlet (SS-392) USS "Sterlet" (SS-392), a "Balao"-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the sterlet, a small sturgeon found in the Caspian Sea and its rivers, whose meat is considered delicious and whose eggs are one of the world's great delicacies, caviar. Her keel was laid down on 14 July 1943 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 27 October 1943 sponsored by Mrs. Charles A. Plumley, and commissioned on 4 March 1944 with Commander O. C. Robbins in command. Following fitting-out and shakedown training, "Sterlet" departed Key West,
USS Sterlet (SS-392) Florida, on 1 May to join the Pacific Fleet. The submarine reached Pearl Harbor on 13 June, and she immediately plunged into another round of training exercises to prepare for her first war patrol. On 4 July 1944, she put to sea to prey on Japanese shipping. The patrol lasted 53 days; and "Sterlet" spent 34 of them in her assigned patrol area, the Bonin Islands. By the time she put into Midway Island for refit on 26 August, the submarine was a battle-proven veteran, claiming to have sunk four enemy ships. She even brought in a prisoner — a