USS Angel Shark, a fictitious submarine apparently named for the angel shark

Angel shark

The angel sharks are an unusual genus of sharks with flattened bodies and broad pectoral fins that give them a strong resemblance to rays. The more than 16 known species are in the genus Squatina, the only genus in its family, Squatinidae, and order Squatiniformes. They occur worldwide in temperate...

, was the subject of an season 8 episode "Need to Know" of the television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 show JAG

JAG (TV series)

JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...

. Her "SSGN" designation indicates a cruise-missile submarine with a nuclear propulsion plant. In the JAG story, Angel Shark was lost while on a cable-tapping espionage

Espionage

Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...

 mission in the Sea of Okhotsk

Sea of Okhotsk

The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the far south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and...

 reminiscent of those actually carried out by Parche (SSN-683)

USS Parche (SSN-683)

USS Parche , a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the parche , a small, coral reef butterfly fish.-Construction and commissioning:...

, under mysterious conditions reminiscent of the loss of Scorpion (SSN-589)

USS Scorpion (SSN-589)

USS Scorpion was a Skipjack-class nuclear submarine of the United States Navy, and the sixth ship of the U.S. Navy to carry that name. Scorpion was declared lost on 5 June 1968 with 99 crew members dying in the incident. The USS Scorpion is one of two nuclear submarines the U.S...

, and involving a secret recovery operation reminiscent of Project Jennifer

Project Jennifer

"AZORIAN" was the code name for a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency project to recover the sunken Soviet submarine K-129 from the Pacific Ocean floor in the summer of 1974, using the purpose-built ship Hughes Glomar Explorer...

.

No vessel of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 has ever been named Angel Shark and no vessel has ever been designated SSGN-559. The number indicates an extremely early vessel — first nuclear submarine was Nautilus (SSN-571)

USS Nautilus (SSN-571)

USS Nautilus is the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine. She was the first vessel to complete a submerged transit beneath the North Pole on August 3, 1958...

 and the first American SSGN was Halibut (SSGN-587)

USS Halibut (SSGN-587)

USS Halibut , a unique guided missile submarine turned special operations platform, later redesignated as an attack submarine SSN-587, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the halibut.-Operational history:...

. Construction of SS-559 was authorized during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, but was cancelled on 7 January 1946 before the vessel was named.