| Year | Date | Historical Events |
| 1935 | Jun 6 | Keel laid down by the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT. |
| 1936 | Oct 5 | Launched. |
| 1937 | Mar 17 | Commissioned with LT. Charles O. Humphreys in command. |
| | Nov 29 | Following shakedown, Permit operated out of Portsmouth, NH. She then got underway for the Pacific. |
| | Dec 10 | Transiting the Panama Canal, Permit continued up the West Coast. |
| | Dec 18 | Permit arrived at San Diego, CA., to join Submarine Squadron 6. For the next 22 months, she cruised the Eastern Pacific, ranging from southern California to the Aleutian Islands and Hawaiian Islands. |
| 1939 | Oct 1 | Permit got underway for the Philippines to join the Asiatic Fleet. Permit’s first cruises were conducted in Philippine waters during 1940 and 1941. The two-year period gave the submarine's crew valuable training for later war activity. |
| 1941 | Dec 11 | Permit, commanded by LCDR. Adrian M. Hurst, conducted her 1st war patrol off the West Coast of Luzon. |
| | Dec 20 | Permit ended her 1st war patrol. |
| | Dec 22 | Permit made her 2nd war patrol in the area. |
| | Dec 27 | Permit terminated her 2nd war patrol. |
| | Dec 28 | Permit embarked members of Admiral Thomas C. Hart's staff at Mariveles Harbor and evacuated them to the Netherlands' Submarine Base, Surabaya, Java, |
| 1942 | Feb 6 | Permit arrived at the Netherlands' Submarine Base, Surabaya, Java. Enroute, she completed a 3rd war patrol, scouting in waters of the Southern Philippines.
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| | Feb 22 | Permit departed Surabaya for her 4th war patrol, as the Japanese began to close on Java. |
| | Mar 13 | Permit sank the scuttled PT-32 of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three. |
| | Mar 16 | Permit rendezvoused off Corregidor with the aircraft carrier Ranger (CV-4) the night of 15 March – 16 March, took on board 40 officers and enlisted men and landed her ammunition. |
| | Mar 25 | Permit arrived at her new base, Fremantle, Australia, for repairs after minor damage suffered eluding three enemy destroyers on 18 March.
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| | May 5 | Permit departed Fremantle, Australia and was engaged in her 5th war patrol off Makassar, Celebes Island and in the enemy shipping route stretching towards Balikpapan, Borneo. |
| | Jun 11 | Permit ended her 5th war patrol. |
| | Jul 12 | Permit made her 6th war patrol enroute to Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Aug 30 | Permit ended her 6th war patrol at Pearl Harbor, HI. and shortly departed for the United States. |
| | Sep 9 | Permit entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo,CA., for overhaul. |
| 1943 | Feb 5 | Permit conducted her 7th war patrol off Honshu, Japan. |
| | Mar 8 | Permit attacked a 9 ship convoy with 2 escorts. Two hits sent the 2742 ton cargo ship Hisashima Maru to the bottom. |
| | Mar 16 | Permit ended her 7th war patrol at Midway Island. |
| | Apr 6 | Permit departed Midway Island for her 8th war patrol in the shipping lanes from the Mariana Islands to Truk Atoll and the Caroline Islands. |
| | May 25 | Permit returned to Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Jun 20 | On her 9th war patrol, Permit joined Lapon (SS-260) and Plunger (SS-179) at Midway Island for the first wartime penetration into the Sea of Japan, to attack shipping carrying raw materials from Manchuria and Korea. |
| | Jul 7 | Permit fired 2 torpedoes which sank the 787 ton cargo ship Banshu Maru Number 33. |
| | Jul 8 | Permit spotted a 2 ship convoy headed for the Korean coast, and with a salvo of 2 torpedoes, sank the 2212 ton cargo ship Showa Maru in 5 minutes.
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| | Jul 27 | After this highly successful patrol, Permit made her way via Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Aug 23 | On her 10th war patrol, Permit departed for photographic reconnaissance of several atolls in the Marshall Islands. |
| | Sep 3 | Permit evaded aerial bombs. |
| | Sep 9 | Permit evaded depth charges. |
| | Sep 24 | Permit made attacks on enemy vessels, damaging several, before returning to Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| 1944 | Jan 1 | Permit's 11th war patrol was in the Caroline Islands. |
| | Mar 15 | Permit ended her 11th war patrol. |
| | May 7 | Permit's 12th war patrol was in the same region, on lifeguard duty in support of the air strikes on Truk. |
| | Jun 1 | Permit ended her 12th war patrol at Majuro, Marshall Islands. |
| | Jun 30 | Permit commenced her 13th patrol with her departure from Majuro Atoll, Marshall, Islands. |
| | Aug 13 | Permit ended her 13th war patrol at Brisbane, Australia. |
| | Sep 21 | On her 14th and last war patrol, Permit departed Brisbane, Australia to relieve the Tarpon (SS-175) on lifeguard duty off Truk. |
| | Nov 11 | Permit ended her last war patrol at Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| 1945 | Jan 29 | After refit, Permit sailed for the United States. |
| | Feb 23 | Permit entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, PA. |
| | May 15 | Permit sailed to the Submarine Base, New London, CT., to serve as a schoolship. |
| | Oct 30 | Permit entered the Boston Naval Shipyard, Boston,MA. for inactivation. |
| | Nov 15 | Decommissioned. |
| 1956 | Jul 26 | Struck from the Naval Register. |
| 1958 | Jun 28 | Permit was sold for scrap to A.G. Schoonmaker, Inc., New York City, NY. |