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The first SEA DEVIL (SS-400) was laid down on 18
November 1943 at the Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy Yard; launched
on 28 February 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Sherman K. Kennedy;
and commissioned on 24 May 1944, Comdr. Ralph E. Styles in
command.

    Completing shakedown training at New London, SEA DEVIL
departed that port on 11 July 1944 and arrived at her home
port, Pearl Harbor, on 9 August to join Submarine Division
(SubDiv) 281 and prepare for her first war patrol. On 3
September, she sailed west. By the 15th, she was 500 miles
off Honshu, and, during the early morning darkness, made
contact with her first enemy ships-two sampan type patrol
vessels. Rough seas, however, precluded an attack, and she
continued on to patrol in the shipping lanes to Japan's
major ports: Yokohama, Kobe, and Osaka.