High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Chopper (SS/AGSS/IXSS-342), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the chopper, a fish common in the rivers of the Mississippi Valley. Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 4 February 1945 sponsored by Mrs. G. S. Beebe, and commissioned on 25 May 1945 with Lieutenant Commander S. Filipone in command.