The USS Besugo (SS-321, later AGSS-321) was a Balao-class submarine, laid down in 1943, launched, and commissioned in 1944. During her first WW2 war patrol, the ship attacked a Japanese picket boat, evaded aircraft, reported enemy ships, damaged destroyers, sank a frigate, patrolled near Kyushu, then ended her mission at Saipan. The submarine’s second war patrol sank a landing ship and barge, damaged a cargo vessel, then sailed to Australia after exhausting torpedoes, ending duty. On her third patrol, she sank a tanker and damaged others under heavy counterattack, evaded aircraft and depth charges, sank a frigate, then returned to Fremantle in 1945. The fourth war patrol resulted in sinking a minesweeper and German submarine U-183, destroying a guard boat, rescuing survivors, and ending operations at Subic Bay. After WW2 ended, the ship underwent overhauls, completed training duties, and antisubmarine warfare exercises until her decommissioning in 1958. While in reserve in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, she was reclassified as an "auxiliary research submarine" and received the hull classification AGSS-321 in 1962. Just like surface ships, submarines of the WW2 era were built with thousands of pounds of asbestos materials for fireproofing and heat resistance, endangering personnel’s health.
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