USS Gudgeon (SS-211) was the first American submarine to sink an enemy warship in World War II (Pacific, 27 January 1942).

On 27 January 1942, en route home, Gudgeon became the first United States Navy submarine to sink an enemy warship in World War II.

She then checked into dry-dock for overhaul, but undocked three weeks early and readied for sea in a remarkable 40 hours to participate in the momentous Battle of Midway.

Departing Pearl Harbor on 18 May, Gudgeon took station off Midway Atoll as part of the submarine screen which encircled the two giant fleets clashing there.

Gudgeon was prevented from offensive action by the confusion of battle, the possibility of mistaken identity, and poor staff work by Admiral Robert English, COMSUBPAC.

On 14 January 1943 Gudgeon successfully landed six men on Catmon Point, Negros Island, Western Visayas, Philippines, to carry out the vital guerrilla resistance movement there.

Returning from her patrol area, Gudgeon was diverted to Timor Island on 9 February, and the following day rescued 28 men—Australian, English, Portuguese, and Filipino—for passage to Fremantle.

Five days later Gudgeon took on 9987-ton tanker Tōhō Maru in a night surface attack in the Makassar Strait punctuated by bursts of gunfire as the Japanese ships spotted and fired on the submarine.

Her first came 28 April as she sank Kamakura Maru, a former ocean liner, southwest of Pucio Point, Panay (now Poblacion, Libertad, Antique), Philippines.

After sinking the 500-ton trawler Naku Maru with her deck guns west of Panay 4 May, Gudgeon battle-surfaced again that same day and left a coastal steamer burning and settling.

Returning to Pearl Harbor, the veteran submarine was sent to San Francisco, California, for badly needed overhaul, her first since commissioning two years earlier.

Early in the morning of 23 November she spotted a convoy of four ships in the East China Sea some 70 miles north of Shusan Island and closed for attack.

A down-the-throat shot with four torpedoes temporarily discouraged the destroyers and allowed Gudgeon to seek deep water and safety, but when she surfaced the Japanese men-of-war were gone.

During her three-year career, Gudgeon scored 14 confirmed kills of a total of well over 71,372 tons sunk, placing her 15th on the honor roll of American submarines.