Rasher was a Gato-class submarine, SS-269, built by Manitowoc Shipbuilding on Lake Michigan. She was laid down on 4 May 1942, launched on 20 December 1942, and commissioned on 8 June 1943, with E. S. Hutchinson in command. After the lake trials she was decommissioned, put on a floating drydock, and towed down the Mississippi. She was recommissioned at New Orleans and went on to Brisbane.
Willard Ross Laughon relieved Hutchinson on 9 December 1943. Henry G. Munson relieved Laughon on 17 July 1944. Munson's patrol was the fifth. She sailed from Fremantle on 22 July with Bluefish for the South China Sea.
On the night of 18 August her radar picked up a convoy with destroyers and air cover. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships follows the torpedoes through that night. A gasoline tanker, Teiyo Maru, blew up. She sank the transport Eishin Maru, hit another ship, and then sank the transport Teia Maru and the escort carrier Taiyo. Bluefish took ships that were left. Rasher was out of torpedoes and went on to Midway. Munson was relieved on 3 September, the day that patrol ended.
The Naval History and Heritage Command gives her a Presidential Unit Citation and seven battle stars for the war. She was decommissioned on 22 June 1946 and struck on 20 December 1971.