USS Snapper (SS-185), a Salmon-class submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy of the name and the second to be named for the snapper, any of numerous carnivorous, bass-like fishes, esteemed as food and as game fishes. Her keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard on 23 July 1936. She was launched on 24 August 1937, sponsored by Mrs. Stark, wife of Rear Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, and commissioned on 16 December 1937 with Lieutenant F. O. Johnson in command.