USS Guardfish (SSN-612)

USS Guardfish (SSN-612), a Thresher-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the guardfish, a voracious green and silvery fish with elongated pike-like body and long narrow jaws.

Construction and career
The contract to build Guardfish was awarded to New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey on 9 June 1960 and her keel was laid down on 28 February 1961. She was launched on 15 May 1965, sponsored by Mrs. Kenneth E. BeLieu, wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Guardfish commissioned on 20 December 1966 with Commander Gulmer A. Hines, Jr. in command.

The submarine departed Camden on 15 February 1967, and commenced shakedown training, conducting exercises in the San Juan, Puerto Rico area. Upon completion of these exercises, Guardfish transited the Panama Canal and joined the United States Pacific Fleet as a unit of Submarine Squadron Seven, homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She participated in several submarine operations in the Pacific, steaming over 40,000 miles (64,000 km) in her first year at sea.