 USSParche in 1946 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Builder | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard,Kittery, Maine[1] |
| Laid down | 9 April 1943[1] |
| Launched | 24 July 1943[1] |
| Commissioned | 20 November 1943[1] |
| Decommissioned | 11 December 1946[1] |
| Stricken | 8 November 1969[1] |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 18 June 1970[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Balao classdiesel-electricsubmarine[2] |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 311 ft 6 in (94.95 m)[2] |
| Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2] |
| Draft | 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum[2] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | |
| Range | 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[6] |
| Endurance |
|
| Test depth | 400 ft (120 m)[6] |
| Complement | 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[6] |
| Armament |
|
The firstUSSParche (SS-384/AGSS-384) was aUnited States Navysubmarine. She bore the name (pronounced with two equal syllables:/ˌpɑːrˈtʃeɪ/) of abutterfly fish,Chaetodon capistratus.Parche was aBalao-class submarine that operated inWorld War II.
Parche was built by thePortsmouth Navy Yard atKittery,Maine. Herkeel waslaid on 9 April 1943 and she was christened on 24 July, when her sponsor, Betty Russell, smashed the traditional bottle ofchampagne across thebow asParche slid into the water for the first time. Russell was the daughter ofU.S. District Court JudgeRobert Lee Russell, formerlyJudge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy.Parche wascommissioned on 20 November 1943 withCommanderLawson P. Ramage commanding.
On 29 March 1944 the submarine left Pearl Harbor with two other submarines,USS Tinosa (SS-283) andUSS Bang (SS-385), for her first war patrol. After passingMidway Atoll, the three reached the sea lanes south ofFormosa 16 April 1944. On 29 AprilBang reported a large convoy 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) away, and thewolfpack attacked,Parche sinking one ship.
Tinosa reported a seven-ship convoy on the morning of 3 May andParche headed north at full speed to intercept. An hour after midnightParche was in position and scored three torpedo hits on the leading ship and two hits on the second freighter, sinking both.Parche scored two hits on the third freighter, which settled by the stern and began to list to port. Post-war records credited the trio of submarines with five sinkings and 30,542 tons,Parche getting credit forTaiyoku Maru andShoryu Maru.Parche returned to Midway 23 May 1944, after making a thorough photo reconnaissance of military installations on the island ofIshi Gaki Jima.
Parche's second patrol was again south of Formosa, forming a coordinated attack group withHammerhead andSteelhead.Parche went to sea 17 June, following her refit. A week later she sighted and sank a patrol vessel with gunfire. On 4 July a Japanese cruiser and destroyer bombarded and depth chargedParche.
Parche sighted a convoy, MI-11, 29 July 1944 and, cooperating withSteelhead, closed in, sinking 4,471-ton cargo shipManko Maru and 10,238-ton tankerKoei Maru. During this night surface actionParche barely avoided being rammed by one ship.Parche collaborated withSteelhead in sinking an 8,990-ton transport, theYoshino Maru (originally theKleist, built in Danzig, 1906 forNorth German Lloyd, surrendered to the British in 1919, and acquired by the Nippon Yusen Kaisha in 1922).Steelhead sank two other ships, a transport and a cargo vessel. Another tanker and a cargo ship were damaged. For this actionParche received thePresidential Unit Citation and her commander, CDR Lawson P. Ramage (later Vice Admiral), received theMedal of Honor. The attack became known asRamage's Rampage. On 1 August the sub departed forSaipan where she moored 5 August, arriving Pearl Harbor 16 August.[7]
On her third war patrol, 10 September to 2 December, one of the longest of the war,Parche did not encounter any targets.
After a refit, the ship got underway 30 December for rotating patrol in theNansei Shoto. She discovered a freighter and a tanker at anchor inNaze Ko 19 January, firing six bow tubes at the tanker for five distinct hits and four stern tubes at the freighter for two possible hits. On 7 FebruaryParche sighted and sank the 984-tonOkinoyama Maru. Fueling at Midway 16 February, the sub continued to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived 20 February.
Japanese shipping, decimated by continual submarine and air attacks, was becoming increasingly difficult to find. WhenParche left Pearl Harbor 19 March 1945, she headed directly for the east coast ofHonshū, Japan.Parche sank escorting 615-ton Minesweeper No. 3 offKobe Zaki 9 April. On 11 AprilParche made a gun attack, sinking a small freighter of about 800 tons. She torpedoed another small vessel the next day. On 13 AprilParche sank a fishing trawler. Two hours later she again opened fire on a small observation boat, leaving it blazing stem to stern. Two Japanese planes caused her to dive, leaving all her guns loose and much of her ammunition exposed. A heavy explosion shook her on the way down, but inflicted no damage.
On 22 AprilParche sighted three small tankers in column, proceeding north along the coast south ofOkama Saki.Parche launched three torpedoes at the second tanker and then shifted to the third, which was left down by the stern covered with a cloud of smoke. The sub sailed for Midway, arriving 30 April.
Parche got underway 25 May for her sixth patrol, the last of World War II, joining the "Lifeguard League" south of Honshū. She stayed on station off Honshū until 18 June, ready to pick up any aviators who might be forced down. No rescues were necessary, and on the 18th she proceeded toTsugara Strait.
Her first torpedo contact came 21 June when she sighted a gunboat roundingShiriya Saki. The gunboat was soon joined by a sub chaser and then by a freighter. Picking the freighter as the best target,Parche launched four torpedoes from her forward tubes for one hit, which threw up a veil of dense white smoke. Expecting counter-measures, the sub went under, accompanied by the breaking-up noises of freighterHizen Maru.
Parche attacked threeluggers escorted by a small flat vessel on the afternoon of the next day, and sank two. She sank severaltrawlers by gunfire on 23 June. Two days later she sighted three large ships and six escorts headed north along the coast, one of the most tempting convoys seen for some months in Japanese home waters. AfterParche's attack the escorts shook the sub up considerably with depth charges four and a half hours, before she managed to work away and resume her patrol, leaving an ex-Gunboat sunk and another ship badly damaged.
After another round of life guard duty for the carrier planes ofTask Force 38, on 17 July,Parche rendezvoused withCero to take aboard three fliers, and set course for Midway, arriving 23 July, and mooring Pearl Harbor 28 July.
One of the most highly decorated boats of the renownedWorld War II Pacific Submarine Force, USSParche made six war patrols, earning five battle stars and onePresidential Unit Citation award for 2 war patrols.
After World War IIParche, was assigned toOperation Crossroads as a target ship for theatomic bomb tests atBikini Atoll.Parche survived both the airburst and the underwater burst, coming through relatively undamaged.
After decontamination, she proceeded toMare Island Naval Shipyard atVallejo, California. She was then decommissioned on 10 December 1946 and moved to join the reserve fleetAlameda, California in March 1947. On 1 December 1962 her classification was changed to Auxiliary Submarine,AGSS-384 and assigned as a Naval Reserve Training Submarine inOakland, California.
Parche's name was stricken from theNavy List on 8 November 1969, and she was sold on 18 June 1970 for scrap. All that remains of her is the original bridge structure, shears, and upper gun from the war which remain enshrined at theNaval Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, and her conning tower barrel, which is on display atUSS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park,Pearl Harbor,Hawaii.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
