| Year | Date | Historical Events |
| 1940 | Apr 3 | Keel laid down by the Electric Boat Co, Groton, CT. |
| 1941 | Jan 31 | Launched. |
| | Jun 30 | Commissioned. |
| | Jun 30 | Recommissioned. |
| | Sep 8 | In company with Grampus, Grayback departed New London, CT. for patrol duty in the Caribbean and Chesapeake Bay. |
| | Nov 30 | Graybak arrived at the Porstsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME. for overhaul. |
| 1942 | Jan 12 | Grayback sailed for the Pacific. |
| | Feb 8 | Grayback arrived at Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Feb 15 | Grayback departed on her 1st war patrol, which took her along the coast of Saipan and Guam. |
| | Feb 22 | A Japanese I-boat fired two torpedoes at Grayback, then continued to trail her across the Pacific. Grayback could not get into position to attack. After four nerve-wracking days, Grayback shook the other sub and continued on patrol. |
| | Mar 17 | Grayback sank a 3,291-ton cargo ship off Port Lloyd.
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| | Apr 10 | Grayback completed her 1st war patrol. |
| | Apr 20 | Grayback departed on her 2nd war patrol (exact date unknown)Grayback met a dearth of targets although she even took the unusual and risky measure of patrolling surfaced during the day. |
| | Jun 22 | Grayback arrived at Fremantle, Australia.(exact date unknown) |
| | Jul 10 | Grayback departed on her 3rd war patrol.(exact date unknown)Grayback damaged several freighters. |
| | Sep 1 | Grayback arrived at Fremantle, Australia. (exact date unknown) |
| | Sep 15 | Grayback departed on her 4th war patrol. (exact date unknown) She fired at a Japanese submarine. |
| | Nov 1 | Grayback returned to Fremantle, Australia. (exact date unknown) |
| | Dec 7 | Grayback sailed on her 5th war patrol. |
| | Dec 15 | Pharmacist's Mate Warry R. Hoby was called upon to perform an emergency appendectomy.The untutored Hoby successfully removed the infected appendix, and his patient was back standing watch by the end of the patrol. |
| | Dec 25 | Grayback sank four landing barges with her deck guns. |
| 1943 | Jan 3 | Grayback sent the Japanese submarine I-18 to the bottom. |
| | Jan 5 | Grayback rescued 6 survivors of a crashed B-26 from the island of Munda, for which the skipper, Edward C. Stephan, received the Navy Cross. |
| | Jan 17 | Grayback attacked a destroyer escorting a large maru, hoping to disable the escort and then sink the freighter with her deck guns. However, the destroyer evaded the torpedoes and dropped 19 depth charges on Grayback. |
| | Jan 23 | Returned to Brisbane, Australia after receiving damage from a depth charging by a Japanese destroyer. |
| | Feb 16 | Grayback departed on her 6th war patrol. Grayback again had a run of bad luck and returned empty-handed from the Bismarck Islands-Solomon Islands area. Her newly installed SJ radar had failed to function. |
| | Apr 4 | Grayback returned to Brisbane, Australia. |
| | Apr 25 | Grayback departed Brisbane, Australia on her 7th war patrol. |
| | May 11 | In a night surface attack Grayback fired a spread of 6 torpedoes at 7 freighters and their 3 escorts. She was credited with the sinking of the caro ship Yodogawa Maru. |
| | May 16 | Grayback torpedoed and seriously damaged a Japanese destroyer. |
| | May 17 | Grayback intercepted four mawrus with one escort and sank the freighter England Maru and damaged two others before she was forced to dive. |
| | May 30 | Grayback arrived Pearl Harbor, HI., then proceeded to San Francisco, CA. for a much needed overhaul.
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| | Sep 12 | Grayback returned to Pearl Harbor, HI. from San Francisco, CA. and prepared for her 8th war patrol. |
| | Sep 26 | Grayback sailed with Shad(SS-235, rendezvoused with Cero (SS-225) at Midway to form the first wolfpack. The 3 submarines under CAPT. C. B. Momsen in Cero, cruised the China Sea and returned to base with claims of 38,000 tons sunk and 63,300 tons damaged. |
| | Oct 14 | Geayback sank a passenger-cargo vessel. |
| | Oct 22 | Grayback sank athe former light cruiser Awata Maru. |
| | Oct 27 | Grayback sank a 9,000 ton transport, which had been damaged by the USS Shad. |
| | Nov 10 | Grayback returned to Midway Island. |
| | Dec 2 | Grayback departed Pearl Harbor, HI. on her 9th war patrol to the East China Sea,with almost a quarter of her crew untested in battle. |
| | Dec 18 | Grayback wreaked havoc on a convoy of four freighters and three escorts. She sent freighter Gyokure, Maru and escort Numakaze to the bottom and damaged several others in a surface attack. |
| | Dec 20 | Grayback sank 2 freighters. |
| | Dec 27 | Grayback sank a good sized fishing boat withher deck guns. |
| 1944 | Jan 4 | Grayback arrived at Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Jan 28 | Grayback sailed from Pearl Harbor,HI. to the East China Sea on her 10th and final war patrol. |
| | Feb 19 | Grayback sank 2 cargo ships and damaged 2 others. |
| | Feb 25 | Grayback sank the tanker Toshin Maru and severely damaged another. |
| | Feb 27 | Grayback used her last two torpedoes to sink the freighter Ceylon Maru. |
| | Feb 27 | Sunk by Japanese aircraft in East China Sea. All 80 crewmen lost. |
| | Mar 30 | Decommissioned. |