| Year | Date | Historical Events |
| 1943 | Jul 14 | Keel laid down by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery. ME. |
| | Oct 27 | Launched. |
| 1944 | Mar 4 | Commissioned with CDR. O. C. Robbbins in command.
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| | May 1 | Following fitting out and shakedown training, Sterlet departed Key West, FL., to join the Pacific Fleet. |
| | Jun 13 | Sterlet arrived at Pearl Harbor, HI. to join the Pacific Fleet. |
| | Jul 4 | Sterlet departed Pearl Harbor, HI. for her 1st war patrol to prey on Japanese shipping. She patrolled for 53 days near the Bonin Islands. She claimed to have sund 4 enemy ships and brought in 1 prisoner. |
| | Aug 26 | Sterlet put in to Midway Island for refit. |
| | Sep 18 | On her 2nd war patrol, Sterlet headed to patrol in the Nansei Shoto. |
| | Oct 9 | Sterlet sank a small fishing boat. Sterlet rescued 6 downed airmen off Okinawa. |
| | Oct 25 | After Sterlet's unsuccessful attempts to fire on a convoy, 4 of 6 fish she launched scored. 3 hit a gasoline tanker and the 4th plowed into a freighter. The tanker Jinei Maru, is known definitely to have gone down. |
| | Oct 29 | Sterlet attacked a small freighter with 4 torpedoes, but had to surface and sink it with her deck gun. |
| | Oct 31 | Sterlet made a night surface attack on a tanker previously damaged by Trigger (SS-237) and apparently sank it with a spread of 6 torpedoes. Sterlet then joined Trigger in escorting the damaged Salmon (SS-182) into Saipan.
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| | Nov 10 | Sterlet put to sea from Saipan, Marianas Island with six other submarines in a coordinated attack group. |
| | Nov 16 | Sterlet sank an enemy sub chaser. |
| | Nov 30 | Sterlet returned to Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| 1945 | Jan 25 | Sterlet departed for her 3rd war patrol to Honshu, Japan to stand lifeguard duty for the 5th Fleet pilots attacking Tokyo. |
| | Mar 1 | Sterlet sank a freighter. |
| | Mar 5 | Sterlet sank a tanker. |
| | Apr 4 | Sterlet ended her patrol at Midway Island. |
| | Apr 29 | Sterlet's 4th war partol took her North of Japan to the Sea of Okhotck, near Kuril Islands. Being near Russian territory complicated her mission in identificting potential targets. |
| | May 29 | Sterlet encountered a large and a small freighter, escorted by 3 patrol frigates. She launched 6 torpedoes, 3 at each freighter. 2 torpedoes plowed into each of the two targets. 4 explosions within 20 seconds. The smaller of the 2 targets sank by the ster |
| | Jun 10 | Sterlet returned to Midway Island. |
| | Jul 15 | Sterlet departed Midway for her final war patrol for Kii Suido and Bungo Suido. Most of the partol ws lifeguard duty for crews of carrier planes and B-29's pummelling Japan. |
| | Aug 23 | Sterlet returned to Midway Island. |
| | Sep 6 | Sterlet sailed for the United States. |
| | Sep 16 | Sterlet entered San Diego, CA. |
| 1946 | Feb 26 | Sterlet headed back to the Western Pacific for Tsingtao, China. She participated in the Navy's show of force along the Northern China Coast. |
| 1947 | Nov 15 | Sterlet headed West to Brisbane, Australia. |
| | Dec 1 | Sterlet arrived at Brisbane, Australia. |
| | Dec 6 | Sterlet sailed for Guam, Marianas Island. |
| | Dec 14 | Sterlet arrived at Guam, Marianas Island. |
| 1948 | Jan 2 | Sterlet departed Guam, Marianas Island. |
| | Jan 12 | Sterlet arrived in the Sasebo, Japan operating area.For the rest of the month, she operated in the vicinity of Sasebo and Yokosuka, visiting both ports. |
| | Jan 28 | Sterlet sailed for the California coast. |
| | Apr 30 | After a brief stop at Midway and a 6 week layover in Pearl Harbor, HI., Sterlet reached San Francisco, CA. |
| | Sep 18 | Sterlet was placed out of commission, "In Reserve" and berthed at Mare Island, CA. in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. |
| 1950 | Aug 26 | Sterlet was recommissioned with LCDR. George W. Kittredge in command. |
| | Sep 25 | Sterlet headed for San Diego, CA. where she conducted a month of training. |
| | Dec 1 | Sterlet shifted to Long Beach, CA., were she became on of the stars in the motion picture "Submarine Command". |
| 1953 | Jan 1 | Sterlet deployed to the Far East to join in hunter-killer exercises and conducted photographic reconnaissance on Marcus Island. On this cruise, she visited Chichi Jima, Atami, Japan, and Buckner Bay, Okinawa |
| | Jun 23 | Sterlet returned to San Diego, CA., and resumed West Coast operations.
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| 1954 | Aug 1 | Sterlet exchanged crews and homeports with Besugo (SS-321). |
| | Sep 13 | Sterlet reported for duty to Submarine Squadron 1 at Pearl Harbor, HI. For the remainder of her Navy career, Sterlet was home ported at Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Sep 13 | (Cont'd.) Between 1954 and 1968, she alternated operations in the Hawaiian Islands with deployments to the Western Pacific with the Seventh Fleet. |
| 1968 | Jun 1 | After her return from her final deployment in the summer of 1968, Sterlet was found to be unfit for further naval service. |
| | Aug 1 | Struck from the Naval Register. |
| | Sep 30 | Sterlet was decommissioned. |
| 1969 | Jan 31 | Sterlet was sunk as a target by the nuclear powered submarine Sargo (SSN-583). |