Sea Devil's keel was laid down 18 November 1943 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine.

By 15 September, she was 500 miles (800 km) off Honshū, 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.

On 16 September, at 04:32, Sea Devil made her second contact; submerged; and commenced closing the target.

On 21 September, the submarine commenced running along the 100 fathom (183 m) curve, but the strong Kuroshio Current there caused her to lose ground and forced her to shift her course.

On 1 December, just prior to midnight, she made radar contact with a distant convoy and commenced running with the state-five sea on four engines to gain position.

A minute later, she took a wave over the bridge which knocked the starboard lookout onto the bridge deck; flooded the main induction and both engine rooms to the lower deck plates; and sent water through the supply line into the after battery compartment, the crew's mess, and the radio shack.

A minute later, Sea Devil launched four torpedoes from her stern tubes at a large passenger ship 1,300 yards (1,200 m) away, the Akikawa Maru.

A look around through the periscope then revealed a larger freighter in the center column less than 150 yards (140 m) away and headed directly for the submarine.

Then, on the evening of 8 December, she made radar contact with four distant targets zigging on various courses toward Nagasaki.

Sea Devil went deep and rigged for depth charging but, by 00:50, the sounds of searching surface ships faded out.

That evening sister ship Plaice (SS-390) confirmed Sea Devil’s hits, but was unable to provide a damage estimate.

At mid-month, Sea Devil moved further south to patrol off Okinawa; and, on 29 December, she headed for Midway Island and Pearl Harbor.

At the end of the month, she was diverted to search for downed aviators; and, on 3 March, she continued on to her patrol area to further decrease the declining traffic between China and Manchuria, and the Japanese home islands.

[8] The pilots, from the aircraft carrier USS Essex (CV-9), had been covering the movements of the Japanese battleship Yamato and, on running low on fuel, had ditched in a location they thought to be near Okinawa.

Prior to midnight on 8 April, Sea Devil located three of the pilots 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) northeast of Okinawa.

Sea Devil submerged, maneuvered into position; launched four torpedoes "down-the-throat," then changed course radically to avoid a collision with the target.

Sea Devil remained on life guard duty in the northern Ryukyu Islands and southern Kyūshū area until 10 July, then headed east to Guam for refit and the installation of LORAN equipment and a radio direction finder.

On 1 December, she sailed for San Francisco, California, for overhaul and, on 23 April 1946, she returned to her home port, Pearl Harbor.

On 16 May, she returned to Subic Bay; and, on 23 May, she continued on to Tsingtao where she provided antisubmarine warfare training services to TF 71 into July.

A simulated war patrol and the provision of ASW training services occupied her during her deployment; and, on 8 January 1948, she returned to Pearl Harbor whence she operated until ordered to Mare Island for inactivation.

Two months after the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, however, she was ordered activated; and, on 2 March 1951, she was recommissioned, assigned to SubDiv 71, SubRon 7, and based at Pearl Harbor.

In September, she returned to the west coast to provide ASW training services for Fleet Air Wing 4 in the Puget Sound area.

From mid-April to mid-June 1952, she underwent overhaul at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard; then resumed local operations.

Sea Devil arrived at Yokosuka on 7 October and commenced providing services to TF 96, which conducted ASW training exercises and maintained preparedness for hunter-killer operations in support of the United Nations effort.

On 30 June, Sea Devil again got under way for Puget Sound where she provided services to Fleet Air Wing 4 before heading for San Francisco on 20 August to begin inactivation.

Three years later, Sea Devil was again activated; and, on 17 August 1957, she was recommissioned and assigned to SubRon 5 at San Diego, California.

For the next year, she conducted training operations off southern California and in the Puget Sound area, then prepared for deployment to the western Pacific.

On 1 July 1960, she was redesignated an auxiliary submarine with hull classification symbol AGSS-400; and, from that time through 1963, she was primarily engaged in training operations off the West Coast.

Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 April 1964, and she was sunk as a target off Southern California on 24 November 1964.