USS Parche (SSN-683), a Sturgeon -class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the parche / ˌpɑːrˈtʃeɪ /, a small, coral reef butterfly fish. Parche was launched on 13 January 1973, sponsored by Natalie Beshany, the wife of Vice Admiral Philip A. Beshany, and commissioned on 17 August 1974.

On a cold, rainy fall day in Bangor, USS PARCHE finished its chapter in U.S. Naval history. PARCHE accumulated an unprecedented nine Presidential Unit Citations and 13 Navy Expeditionary Medals.

Just a month later, the Navy would commission the lead ship of its class, USS LOS ANGELES (SSN 688) at Newport News, Virginia. PARCHE would later deploy on four separate North Pacific missions in support of CNO tasking, earning a Navy Unit Commendation and her first and second Presidential Unit Commendations.

It was the perfect setting for the final day in the top-secret career of the Bangor-based USS Parche, one of the world's most prolific spy submarines. By the time its life ended Tuesday in a decommissioning ceremony at the Bremerton naval base, the Parche was the most highly decorated ship in Navy history - even though most Americans have never ...

On 13 April Parche 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.

Oct 16, 2024 · What You Need to Know: The USS Parche II (SSN-683), a highly decorated Sturgeon-class submarine, played a crucial role in covert Cold War operations. It was, in fact the most highly decorated...

Mar 21, 2021 · The USS Parche—pronounced Par-chee—remains the U.S. Navy’s most decorated vessel ever in American service. The USS Parche , commissioned in 1974, originally began life as a Sturgeon-class...

Apr 26, 2018 · It's one of two U.S. Navy ships to be named after the butterflyfish. The vessel spent 30 years undertaking numerous missions, many of which were clandestine and are still considered classified....

USS Parche (SSN 683) - decommissioned - The keel of the USS PARCHE was laid in December 1970 at Ingalls Shipbuilding Division of Litton Industries, Pascagoula, Mississippi, and was the second ship in the Navy to bear the name.

At the center of the U.S. effort to collect top-secret intelligence was an unlikely hero: the USS Parche, a Sturgeon-class submarine initially designed to attack enemy ships.