USS Thornback

USS Thornback (hull numberSS-418) is a Tench-class submarine, the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the thornback, a slender member of the shark family with a long pointed snout and a sharp spine at the end of each dorsal fin, native to northern Atlantic waters ranging from the temperate to the Arctic.

Her keel was laid down on 5 April 1944 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 7 July 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Peter K. Fischler, and commissioned on 13 October 1944 with Commander Ernest P. Abrahamson in command.

Struck from the U.S. Navy's register in 1973, Thornback was transferred to the Turkish Naval Forces and renamed TCG Uluçalireis (S 338), serving until 2000. She is now a museum ship at the Çanakkale Naval Museum.