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) October and unleashed four torpedoes on small convoy. Results: four misses. Not to be denied, "Sterlet" made another approach on the convoy. This time, four of the six fish she launched scored. Three hit a large gasoline tanker, and the fourth plowed into a freighter. The tanker, "Jinei Maru", is known definitely to have gone down. "Sterlet" spent the remainder of the day evading the attacks of the escorts. That night, she allowed a hospital ship to pass unmolested. She attacked a small freighter with four torpedoes on 29 October, but had to surface and sink it with her deck