USS Sterlet (SS-392) to the Navy on 31 January 1969 when she was sunk as a target by the nuclear-powered submarine USS . "Sterlet" was awarded six battle stars for World War II service. 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
USS Sterlet (SS-392) On 30 November, the submarine returned to the Submarine Base at Pearl Harbor. Following almost two months in Hawaii, "Sterlet" embarked on her third war patrol on 25 January 1945. Her assigned area was off Honshū, Japan, particularly the area off Tokyo Bay, where she stood lifeguard duty for Fifth Fleet pilots attacking Tokyo. She made reconnaissance sweeps of the Japanese Fleet and patrolled with a "wolfpack" that also included , , , and . During this cruise, she made two torpedo attacks, one each on 1 March and 5 March, and claimed two sinkings, a freighter and a tanker.