USS Parche (SSN-683)

USS Parche (SSN-683) off Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sometime prior to October 1985. The structure on the after part of her casing is a permanently attached swimmer lock-out chamber, although described under its cover story as Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle. Her ship's insignia is at lower right.
History
Name:	USS Parche (SSN-683)
Namesake:	The parche, a type of butterfly fish
Ordered:	25 June 1968
Builder:	Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Laid down:	10 December 1970
Launched:	13 January 1973
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Philip A. Beshany
Commissioned:	17 August 1974
Decommissioned:	19 October 2004
Struck:	18 July 2005
Motto:	Par Excellence
Honors and awards:	9 Presidential Unit Citations 10 Navy Unit Commendations 13 Navy Expeditionary Medals
Fate:	Scrapping via Ship and Submarine Recycling Program completed 30 November 2006
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Sturgeon-class attack submarine
Displacement:	As built: 3,978 long tons (4,042 t) light 4,270 long tons (4,339 t) full 292 long tons (297 t) dead
Length:	As built: 302 ft 3 in (92.13 m) After 1987–1991 lengthening: 401 ft (122 m)
Beam:	31 ft 8 in (9.65 m)
Draft:	28 ft 8 in (8.74 m)
Installed power:	15,000 shaft horsepower (11.2 megawatts)
Propulsion:	One S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one screw
Speed:	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) surfaced 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) submerged
Test depth:	1,300 feet (396 meters) As built: 112 (14 officers, 98 enlisted men) After 1987–1991 modifications: 179 (22 officers, 157 enlisted men)
Armament:	4 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes

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 Mrs. Philip A. Beshany, and commissioned on 17 August 1974 with Commander Richard N. Charles in command.

Attributed as being a key resource of the National Underwater Reconnaissance Office, Parche is said to be "the most highly decorated vessel in U.S. history."

Parche served as a unit of the United States Atlantic Fleet Submarine Force from 1974 until 1976, before transferring to the United States Pacific Fleet in October 1976. Once arriving at her new home port at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California, Parche received ocean engineering modifications. Parche deployed on a shakedown training cruise in August and September 1978.

In the book Blind Man's Bluff, it is claimed that Parche successfully tapped into Soviet underwater military communication cables in the Sea of Okhotsk in 1979 as part of Operation Ivy Bells.