BULLETIN 38

January, 2005

SAYING GOOD-BY TO THE PARCHE (SSN-683)

Although Parche was decommissioned in October of 2004 and her demise has been signaled on the internet a review of her history is in order at this late date since her life was spent during the Cold War and her accomplishments are still shrouded in secrecy. News articles covering the decommissioning in Bremerton, Washington which can be seen circulating on the internet simply record the comments of crew members who were constrained to give vague answers to specific questions.

Since SRC is located on the submarine base in Bangor, Washington and since Parche was home ported here for the latter years of her life there is a sort of personal interest in making sure that her story is as complete as possible. Sailors in uniform with Parche inscribed baseball caps were to be seen at noon heading for the Trident Mess Center. Not seeing them around the base is a reason for melancholy.

At the boat's decommissioning eight of the nine commanding officers showed up for the ceremony. Even Adm. Benjamin Wachendorf traveled from Moscow to attend the boat's last rights. It's always difficult to see the end of a ship that one has served on, but at least Parche had a good send-off, which is more than can be said for nearly all the old Guppies that simply vanished in the junk yard or foreign fleets.

While stationed here in Bangor she performed a variety of electronic surveillance missions in the Persian Gulf relative to Iran and Iraq. She made many three-month patrols into the Pacific keeping an electronic eye on North Korea and China. Her hay-day of electronics surveillance was in the late 1970's and early 80's. John Craven, the Navy's super intellect of the Cold War had reasoned that if America had marine communication cables under its waters the Soviets must have the same thing. He and others of the Navy were pleasantly surprised to find that not only did the Soviets have such cables they had sign-posted them just as they were in America: "No Anchoring - Submerged Cable". A succession of eaves-dropping equipment was then laid over the cables in the Sea of Okhotsk by converted versions of the Seawolf and Halibut.

At the same time Parche went into the Mare Island Naval Shipyard to receive a conversion that would make her a special-mission boat of the future. She was one of the last nine Sturgeon class boats to be built and she had an additional length added to her for electronic surveillance gear as did her sister ships, the Archerfish (SSN-678), the William Bates, (SSN-680) and the Batfish, (SSN-681). She was equipped for deep sea diver support and retrieval.

Her first mission into the Sea of Okhotsk was to pick up recordings from the pod which had been laid by the Halibut. When divers exited the boat and dropped down to where they thought the pod should be they were astonished at what they saw- a sun-bleached steer skull sitting beside the pod. It had been placed there by the mischievous crew of the Seawolf. The 575 boat had taken lessons from Halibut which had been converted to electronic surveillance work, but before that had gained a serious reputation for being the biggest prankster in the submarine fleet, having uprooted and stolen the Adak officer's club totem pole on at least two occasions. What happened to the skull remains a mystery, but the Parche retrieved it along with the recordings and brought both back to the States.

Parche made preparations for its next mission which was far more difficult than the Sea of Okhotsk adventure. She was to enter the Barents Sea and lay a communications pod on a cable that ran from Murmansk, along the Kola peninsula coast north to Severodvinsk. The Barents Sea was and is the primary training area for the Soviet and now the Russian Navy. The probability of discovery was high and so the Parche was to enter the Barents Sea from the north. This meant she would have to traverse the Bering Sea and run submerged under uncharted ice fields almost to the north pole, then to head south into the Barents Sea. Parche left Mare Island in August of 1979 and assumed a northerly heading. The boat was equipped with forward, upward and downward sensing sonar, but even with the best of equipment the going was extremely tricky. Under the command of John H. Mauer, Parche searched for the cable that was assumed to be somewhere off the coast, probably well within the 12 mile limit.

The forward torpedo room had been redesigned to accommodate the spooks and their equipment. They sat for long watches with earphones and intent faces monitoring Soviet frequencies. The television cameras finally found the cable and technicians then set the most opportune times for recording and the most favorable lines to be tapped. After the work was done the Parche then made its way out of the area via a more comfortable route.

For this mission the boat received the Presidential unit Citation for Extraordinary Heroism. Parche also received two more such citations in 1993 and 1994. Its latter years were spent in picking up military litter from the ocean's floor as well as electronic surveillance.

At the decommissioning ceremony ComSubPac, Admiral Paul Sullivan said, "Parche has had a career unmatched in the annals of submarine history." Those of us who made northern runs during the cold war in both diesel and nuclear boats can share the Parche's pride in doing our jobs well.

You can now tell your story by taking part in a joint USSVI and Turner Publishing Company enterprise that intends to publish a comprehensive Cold War anthology of personal experiences, and photographs. Find out more about how you can participate in this worthwhile endeavor by contacting your USSVI representative or calling the national office. SRC will be happy to assist you in getting further information on the subject.