USS Balao (SS/AGSS-285), was the lead ship of the United States Navy's Balao-class submarines during World War II and named for the balao. Balao's keel was laid down on 26 June 1942 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 27 October 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Theodore C. Aylward, wife of Lieutenant Commander Aylward, commissioned on 4 February 1943, Lieutenant Commander Richard H. Crane in command; and reported to the United States Pacific Fleet.