The first USS Permit, named for a food fish, often called "round pompano," found in waters from North Carolina to Brazil, was laid down on 6 June 1935 by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut, as USS Pinna (SS-178). Her name was changed to USS Permit (SS-178) on 13 August 1935. Mrs. Harold G. Bowen christened the Plunger Class submarine...and she was launched on 5 October 1936. Commissioning took place on 17 March 1937 with Lieutenant Charles O. Humphreys in command.

When commissioned, the Fleet Type submarine, designed by the Bureau of Construction and Repair...and...the Electric Boat Company, was 300'7" in length overall; had a beam of 25'1"; had a surface displacement of 1,330 tons, 1,335 tons standard, 1,515 tons normal, and 1,997 tons submerged (listed as 2,020 tons submerged in 1945); could dive safely to 250 feet; had a partial double all-welded hull; had seven watertight compartments plus the conning tower; had 25# mild steel pressure hull plating approximately 5/8ths of an inch thick; was specified to be manned by 5 officers and 45 men...but...by 1945, was manned by 8 officers and 65 men; and was armed with one 3-inch/50-caliber deck gun, four bow 21-inch and two stern 21-inch torpedo tubes (two bow deck 21-inch torpedo tubes were added in 1942-1943). The maximum torpedo load was eighteen. The submarine could make 20.1 knots on the surface and 8 knots submerged. At ten knots her cruising range on the surface was 11,000 nautical miles. Her submerged endurance was ten hours at 5 knots and 36 hours at minimum speed (about 1 3/4ths knots). USS Permit could carry 92,801 gallons of diesel fuel. This amount gave her a patrol endurance of 75 days.

Propulsion was diesel-electric reduction gear drive with 4 main generator engines and 2 auxiliary generator engines...all contained in one engine room...for a total of 4,300 shaft horsepower. Eight main motors provided a maximum of 2,366 shaft horsepower. Two 120-cell storage batteries provided the electricity for submerged propulsion.

Following shakedown, USS Permit operated out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, until 29 November 1937, when she got underway for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal on 10 December, she continued up the west coast, and arrived at San Diego, California, on the 18th, to join Submarine Squadron Six. For the next 22 months, she cruised in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, ranging from southern California to the Aleutian and Hawaiian Islands. During October of 1939, she got underway for the Philippine Islands to join the United States Asiatic Fleet.

USS Permit's first patrols were conducted in Philippine waters during 1940 and 1941. The 2-year period of peace time activity gave the submarine's crew valuable training for later war activity. The submarine conducted her first World War II war patrol off the west coast of Luzon from 11 to 20 December 1941. From 22 to 27 December, she made a second war patrol in that area. USS Permit embarked members of Admiral Hart's Asiatic Fleet staff at Mariveles Harbor on the 28th, and evacuated them to the Netherlands' Submarine Base at Soerabaja in Java...arriving on 6 February 1942. Enroute, she completed a third war patrol...scouting in waters off the southern Philippine Islands.

The submarine departed Soerabaja for her fourth war patrol on 22 February...as the Japanese began to close in on Java. On the 19th, USS Swordfish (SS-193) got through to Corregidor...which was still holding out against the Japanese. It was now USS Permit's turn to penetrate the blockade of Corregidor...and run in to the "Rock." She rendezvoused off Corregidor with several United States vessels on the night of 15-16 March, took on board 40 officers and enlisted men, and landed ammunition on Corregidor. She headed for repairs at her new base in Fremantle, Australia...after receiving minor damage while eluding three enemy destroyers on the 18th.

USS Permit departed Fremantle on 5 May, and, until 11 June, was engaged in her 5th war patrol off Makassar, Celebes Island...and in the enemy shipping route stretching towards Balikpapan, Borneo. The submarine made her 6th war patrol enroute to Pearl Harbor from 12 July to 30 August, and, shortly thereafter, departed for the United States. She entered the Mare Island Navy Yard on 9 September 1942 for overhaul and modifications.

USS Permit conducted her 7th war patrol off the coast of Honshu, Japan, from 5 February 1943 to 16 March 1943. Towards sunset on 8 March, she attacked a 9-ship convoy guarded by two escorts. Two hits sent 2,742-ton cargo ship "Hisashima Maru" to the bottom. USS Permit departed Midway on 6 April for her 8th war patrol in the traffic lanes leading from the Marianas to Truk Atoll in the Caroline Islands...and ...after several encounters, returned to Pearl Harbor on 25 May 1943.

On 20 July 1943, she joined submarines USS Lapon (SS-260) and USS Plunger (SS-179) at Midway for the first wartime penetration into the Sea of Japan to attack shipping carrying raw materials to the Japanese war plants from Manchuria and Korea. On 7 July, USS Permit fired two torpedoes which sank 787-ton cargo ship "Banshu Maru Number 33." Just after midnight, she spotted a 2-ship convoy headed for the Korean coast-line, and, with a salvo of two torpedoes, sank 2,212-ton cargo ship "Showa Maru" in five minutes.

After this patrol, USS Permit made her way, via Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to Pearl Harbor...arriving on the 27th. On 23 August, she departed for photographic reconnaissance of several atolls in the Marshall Islands. While off Kwajalein, she evaded aerial bombs on 3 September and depth charges on the 9th. She made attacks on enemy vessels, damaging several, before ending the patrol at Pearl Harbor on the 24th. Her next war patrol was in the vicinity of the Caroline Islands...from early January of 1944 until mid-March. Her 12th war patrol was in the same region...on lifeguard station in support of the air strikes on Truk Atoll. She remained on station...standing by to pick up downed aviators...from 7 May until 1 June. USS Permit commenced her 13th war patrol with her departure from Majuro Atoll on 30 June...and ended it with her arrival at Brisbane, Australia, on the 13th of August. On 21 September, she departed to relieve submarine USS Tarpon (SS-175) on lifeguard duty off Truk...and on 11 November, ended her 14th and last war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

After refit, she sailed for the United States on 29 January 1945. She entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 23 February. During mid-May, she transited to the United States Naval Submarine Base at New London/Groton, Connecticut...to serve as a school boat for the Submarine School...until 30 October; when she entered the Boston Navy Yard for inactivation.

USS Permit decommissioned on 15 November 1945.

Subsequently, the submarine was towed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard and moored in the Reserve Basin. There, on 24 January 1947, she was placed "In Service, In Reserve" and became the dockside training submarine for the Submarine Naval Reservists that drilled at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Robert Loys Sminkey drilled with those Reservists from 1948 until 1952. USS Permit (SS-178) was his first submarine...and he learned much about submarines during the several years he crawed through her innards...tracing out piping, wiring, and systems that made up that boat...as required for "Qualified in Submarines (Enlisted)" designation...which was the goal of all new enlisted submariners.

On 26 July 1956, her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register (the "Navy List")...and her duties at Philadelphia were terminated (she was replaced by a newer submarine).

On 28 June 1958, the submarine was sold for scrapping to A. G. Schoonmaker Company of New York City, New York, for $162,850. She was subsequently towed to New York City and scrapped.

For her service during the Second World War, USS Permit (SS-178) received ten battle stars.