Willis Ashford Lent, nicknamed "Pilly", was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. Serving as commanding officer of the Tambor-class submarine USS Triton during the Second World War, Lent made the first torpedo attack against the Japanese of the war.

USS Triton (SS-201) was the fourth Tambor-class submarine to be commissioned in the United States Navy in the years leading up to the country's December 1941 entry into World War II. Her wartime service was in the Pacific Ocean. She completed five patrols in the following 14 months, and is credited with the sinking of over 20,000 tons of Japanese shipping and warships. She was lost with all hands on or around March 15, 1943. Of the twelve Tambor-class submarines, only five survived the war.