| Year | Date | Historical Events |
| 1935 | Mar 25 | Keel laid down by the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT. |
| 1936 | Jul 7 | Launched. |
| 1937 | Jan 26 | Commissioned with LT. Leon J. "Savvy" Huffman in command.
|
| | Oct 26 | Pickerel got underway from New London, CT. and headed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. |
| | Nov 9 | Pickerel transited the Panama Canal. Joining the Pacific Fleet, Pickerel operated out of San Diego, CA., along the West Coast, and in Hawaiian waters. |
| | Nov 9 | (Cont'd.) Subsequently transferred to the Asiatic Fleet, Pickerel prepared for war with a vigorous training schedule in the Philippines.
|
| 1941 | Dec 8 | Upon receiving word of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Pickerel, under LCDR. Barton E. Bacon, Jr., sped to the coast of Indo-China and conducted her 1st war patrol off Cam Ranh Bay and Tourane Harbor. |
| | Dec 19 | Pickerel missed a small Japanese patrol craft with five torpedoes. |
| | Dec 29 | Pickerel returned to Manila Bay after her 1st war patrol. |
| | Dec 31 | Pickerel departed on her 2nd war patrol, which was conducted between Manila and Surabaya. |
| 1942 | Jan 20 | Pickerel sank the 2,929 ton ex-gunboat Kanko Maru. |
| | Jan 29 | Pickerel returned to Manila Bay. |
| | Feb 7 | Pickerel departed on her 3rd war patrol to patrol along the Malay Barrier. |
| | Mar 19 | Pickerel returned to Manila Bay without scoring. |
| | Apr 15 | Pickerel departed on he 4th war patrol to patrol in the Philippines. |
| | Jun 6 | Pickerel returned from her 4th war patrol, without scoring. |
| | Jul 10 | Pickerel's 5th war patrol, was a voyage from Brisbane, Australia, to Pearl Harbor, HI. for refit, with a short patrol in the Mariana Islands enroute, during which she damaged a freighter.
|
| | Aug 26 | Pickerel arrived at Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| 1943 | Jan 22 | Pickerel departed Pearl Harbor, HI. on her 6th war patrol. She searched among the Kuriles on the TokyoKiska traffic lanes. In 16 attacks, she sank the 1,990 ton Japanese cargo ship Tateynina Maru and two 35 ton sampans. |
| | Mar 3 | Pickerel returned to Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Mar 18 | Pickerel departed Pearl Harbor, HI., and after topping off with fuel at Midway, Island on 22 March, and headed for the Eastern Coast of Northern Honshu and was never heard from again. |
| | Aug 19 | Struck from the Naval Register. |