USS Grayback (SS-208), a Tambor-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the lake herring, Coregonus artedi.

Attached to the United States Atlantic Fleet, Grayback conducted her shakedown cruise in Long Island Sound from Newport, New London, and New York City.

In company with the submarine Grampus (SS-207), she departed New London, Connecticut, on 8 September 1941 for patrol duty in the Caribbean Sea and Chesapeake Bay, then arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, on 30 November 1941 for overhaul.

After the United States's entry into World War II, Grayback departed for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii arriving 8 February 1942.

With Grayback running 100 feet beneath the surface, the untutored Roby successfully removed the infected appendix, and his patient was back standing watch by the end of the patrol.

On 5 January, Grayback served as beacon ship for the bombardment of Munda Bay in the Solomon Islands, and also engaged in rescue work.

Lying off Munda early on the morning of 5 January, she received word that six survivors of a crashed Martin B-26 Marauder bomber from the 70th Bombardment Squadron were holed up on the island.

As night fell, Grayback surfaced offshore and by coded light signals directed the small boat "home safe" with the rescued aviators.

On her sixth war patrol from 16 February to 4 April 1943, Grayback again had a run of bad luck, operating in the Bismarck Archipelago–Solomon Islands area without any military success.

Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 12 September 1943, Grayback prepared for her eighth war patrol, now under the command of John Anderson Moore.

Sailing 26 September with Shad (SS-235), she met Cero (SS-225) at Midway Island to form the first of the Submarine Force's highly successful wolfpacks.

[7] With almost a quarter of her crew untested in battle Grayback departed Pearl Harbor for the East China Sea on 2 December for her ninth war patrol.

Two nights later, 20 to 21 December, she spotted another convoy of six ships, and after an end-around run, she fired a spread of nine torpedoes into the heart of the Japanese formation.

The submarine surfaced on 27 December to sink a good-sized fishing boat with deck guns before reaching Pearl Harbor on 4 January 1944.

[9] According to Japanese reports, the submarine "exploded and sank immediately," but antisubmarine craft were called in to depth-charge the area, clearly marked by a trail of air bubbles, until at last a heavy oil slick swelled to the surface.

On 10 November 2019, a private research group, Lost 52 Project, announced it had found the wreck of Grayback 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) south of Okinawa, in June 2019.

[16] The wreck has severe damage aft of the conning tower, consistent with Japanese reports of a direct bomb hit in that area.