Archerfish was a Balao-class submarine, SS-311, the first ship of the name. Portsmouth Navy Yard laid her down on 22 January 1943, launched her on 28 May 1943, and the Navy commissioned her on 4 September 1943. George W. Kehl had her from that day until 18 May 1944, when William H. Wright relieved him. Joseph Francis Enright relieved Wright on 29 September 1944. Enright had commanded Dace. He had missed Shokaku on an earlier chance and had asked to be relieved of that boat.
Her fifth patrol began at Pearl Harbor on 30 October 1944. She was on lifeguard duty south of Japan for a bomber strike that was called off. On the evening of 28 November she sighted a large carrier leaving Tokyo Bay, screened by four escorts. She chased on the surface for about six and a half hours, got ahead, and fired six torpedoes. Shinano sank early on 29 November, ten days after commissioning. Four hits are the number carried against her. She was the largest warship sunk by a submarine. The escorts were not sunk.
The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships gives Archerfish the Presidential Unit Citation for that patrol. Enright's Navy Cross is for the same action. He stayed in command until 15 November 1945. NavSource counts seven battle stars for the boat.
She was decommissioned on 12 June 1946. She was struck on 1 May 1968 and sunk as a target off California later that year. The day of that sinking is given differently in the lists, so it is not pinned down here.