USS Torsk (SS-423) was built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. 
Her keel was laid on 7 June 1944, and she was launched on the afternoon of 6 September 1944.

Rear Admiral Thomas Withers, USN, Commandant of the Portsmouth Navy Yard stands with
Mrs Allen B Reed (on the right in the photo), Torsk's sponsor,  and Mrs Reed's daughters Mrs Lane C Kaley and
Miss Katherine Reed who acted as her assistants.

Admiral Withers presented a bouquet of roses to Mrs Reed and corsages to each of the daughters.






LT (JG) Paul P. Galliger, USNR, Navy Yard Chaplain, offers a prayer before Torsk is launched.






Mrs Allen B. Reed christens USS Torsk SS-423





C Earle Chick, chief clerk in the Disbursing Office at the Navy Yard, pulled the trigger that
sent Torsk down the launching ways into the Piscataqua River





Not fully complete, Torsk would be taken by tugs to the fitting out pier for more work before she
could be commissioned into the US Navy.

Launching the boats in an unfinished condition allowed the building ways to be cleared for new
construction to start. This allowed submarine construction to continue at a rapid pace.



   

A few souveniers of Torsk's launch (L-R):
Launch Tag
Souvenir Ribbon
Launch Cover postmarked 6 September 1944, Kittery, Maine