Submarine Parche (SS-384)

Parche

Country	United States
Ship Class	Balao-class Submarine
Hull Number	SS-384
Builder	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, United States
Laid Down	9 Apr 1943
Launched	24 Jul 1943
Commissioned	20 Nov 1943
Decommissioned	11 Dec 1946
Displacement	1,550 tons standard; 2,429 tons submerged
Length	312 feet
Beam	27 feet
Draft	17 feet
Machinery	Four Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-? 10-cyl diesel engines (5,400shp), four high-speed Elliott electric motors (2,740shp), two 126-cell Sargo batteries, two propellers
Bunkerage	116,000gal fuel oil
Speed	20 knots
Range	11,000nm at 10 knots surfaced, 48 hours at 2 knots submerged
Crew	66
Armament	6x533mm forward torpedo tubes, 4x533mm aft torpedo tubes, 24 torpedoes, 1x127mm 25cal gun, 1x40mm gun, 1x20mm gun, 2x .50cal machine guns
Submerged Speed	8.75 knots

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseUSS Parche was commissioned into service in late 1943 and embarked on her first war patrol in Mar 1944 out of Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii as a member of a wolfpack with USS Tinosa and USS Bang. Her first war patrol saw her sinking a number of Japanese transports, but it was her second war patrol that would be her best, during which, in Jul 1944, she aggressively attacked a Japanese convoy in coordination with USS Steelhead and gained credit for two sinkings and sharing a third with Steelhead. She would embark on a total of six war patrols before the Pacific War drew to a close, and she was successful in five of them, earning two Presidental Unit Citation awards and one Medal of Honor medal (commanding officer Commander Lawson Ramage). After the war, she was used as a target ship for the Operation Crossroads atomic weapons testing. Surviving both the air burst and the underwater burst, she was decommissioned in Dec 1946 at Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, California, United States. In Mar 1947, she was placed in reserve at Alameda, California. In Dec 1962, she was reclassified an auxiliary submarine and was made a training submarine based at Oakland, California. She was sold to Zidell of Portland, Oregon, United States for scrap in 1970. Parts of her structure were removed and now preserved at the Naval Submarine Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia

Last Major Revision: Oct 2012

Submarine Parche (SS-384) Interactive Map

Photographs

Launching ceremony of submarine Parche, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, United States, 24 Jul 1943

USS Chivo, USS Skipjack, and USS Parche at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, 1945

USS Parche and another submarine at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, United States, 19-23 Oct 1945

See all 11 photographs of Submarine Parche (SS-384)

Parche Operational Timeline

9 Apr 1943	The keel of submarine Parche was laid down at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, United States.
24 Jul 1943	Submarine Parche was launched at Kittery, Maine, United States, sponsored by Miss Betty Russell, daughter of US District Judge and former US Navy Judge Advocate General Robert Lee Russell.
20 Nov 1943	USS Parche was commissioned into service with Commander Lawson Ramage in command.
29 Mar 1944	USS Parche departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol.
29 Mar 1944	Submarines USS Parche, Bang, and Tinosa departed Pearl Harbor as a three-submarine wolfpack. This would be the first war patrol for Parche and Bang and Tinosa’s sixth.
16 Apr 1944	USS Parche reached waters south of Taiwan.
29 Apr 1944	USS Parche attacked a Japanese convoy south of Taiwan and damaged one transport with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired.
29 Apr 1944	Submarine USS Bang sighted a Japanese convoy northwest of Luzon in South China Sea and sank cargo ship Takegawa Maru and tanker Nittatsu Maru while also damaging cargo ship Yashima Maru. Parche and Tinosa also attacked. Tinosa was officially credited with no ships sunk but recorded torpedo hits on three ships with one believed to be sunk.
3 May 1944	Submarines USS Parche, Bang, and Tinosa attacked one Japanese convoy in the South China Sea and then another the following day for a total of five ships sunk.
3 May 1944	USS Parche began pursuing a seven-ship Japanese convoy south of Taiwan spotted by wolfpack mate USS Tinosa.
4 May 1944	USS Parche attacked a Japanese convoy south of Taiwan, sinking Taiyoku Maru and Shoryu Maru and damaging a third, hitting them with 7 of 10 torpedoes fired.
19 May 1944	USS Parche attacked a Japanese trawler in the Pacific Ocean with her deck gun, scoring no hits.
23 May 1944	USS Parche arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her first war patrol.
17 Jun 1944	USS Parche began her second war patrol.
24 Jun 1944	USS Parche sank a Japanese patrol vessel with her deck gun.
4 Jul 1944	USS Parche was attacked by a Japanese cruiser and a destroyer, but Parche was able to escape.
31 Jul 1944	USS Parche attacked a Japanese convoy off Taiwan and sank cargo ship Manko Maru and tanker Koei Maru; she also shared the credit with USS Steelhead for sinking another transport. She expended 19 torpedoes during this attack. Parche's commanding officer, Commander Lawson Ramage would later be awarded the Medal of Honor for this attack while the crew received the Presidental Unit Citation.
1 Aug 1944	USS Parche set sail for Saipan, Mariana Islands.
5 Aug 1944	USS Parche arrived at Saipan, Mariana Islands.
16 Aug 1944	USS Parche arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her second war patrol.
10 Sep 1944	USS Parche began her third war patrol.
2 Dec 1944	USS Parche ended her third war patrol.
30 Dec 1944	USS Parche began her fourth war patrol.
11 Jan 1945	USS Parche attacked a Japanese gunboat east of Taiwan with her deck gun, causing no damage.
19 Jan 1945	USS Parche attacked two Japanese ships east of Taiwan, damaging a tanker and a freighter with 1 torpedo each; 10 torpedoes were expended during this attack.
7 Feb 1945	USS Parche sank Japanese transport Okinoyama Maru east of Taiwan, hitting her with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired.
16 Feb 1945	USS Parche received fuel at Midway Atoll.
20 Feb 1945	USS Parche arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her fourth war patrol.
19 Mar 1945	USS Parche departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her fifth war patrol.
9 Apr 1945	USS Parche fired 7 torpedoes at a Japanese Minesweeper No. 3 and a transport off Kobe, Japan, damaging the minesweeper with 1 hit.
11 Apr 1945	USS Parche sank a small Japanese freighter off Japan with her deck gun.
12 Apr 1945	USS Parche sank a Japanese transport off Japan, hitting her with 1 of 3 torpedoes fired.
13 Apr 1945	USS Parche damaged a Japanaese fishing trawler and a small boat with her deck gun east of Kamaichi, Japan; as two Japanese aircraft closed in on a counterattack, Parche dove in a hurry, causing her ammunition to detonate, though causing little damage.
18 Apr 1945	USS Parche attacked a Japanese transport east of Kamaichi, Japan; all 3 torpedoes missed.
22 Apr 1945	USS Parche sank a tanker and damaged another east of Kamaichi, Japan, hitting them with 3 of 6 torpedoes fired.
24 Apr 1945	USS Parche attacked a Japanese transport east of Kamaichi, Japan; all 3 torpedoes missed.
30 Apr 1945	USS Parche arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her fifth war patrol.
25 May 1945	USS Parche began her sixth war patrol, the first half of which would be on lifeguard station south of Japan.
18 Jun 1945	USS Parche was relieved from her lifeguard station south of Japan.
21 Jun 1945	USS Parche sank a Japanese freighter Hizen Maru in the Tsugara Strait between Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, hitting her with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired.
22 Jun 1945	USS Parche sank two small Japanese boats and damaged a third in the Tsugara Strait between Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan.
23 Jun 1945	USS Parche sank three small Japanese trawlers with her deck gun in the Tsugara Strait between Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan.
25 Jun 1945	USS Parche attacked a large Japanese convoy off northern Japan, sinking one transport and damaging another with a total of 5 torpedo hits before before being driven off by counterattacks; she expended 7 torpedoes in this attack.
1 Jul 1945	USS Parche sank three small Japanese trawlers with her deck gun in the Tsugara Strait between Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan.
17 Jul 1945	USS Parche made rendezvous with USS Cero and took on three rescued aviators, then set sail for Midway Atoll.
23 Jul 1945	USS Parche arrived at Midway Atoll.
28 Jul 1945	USS Parche arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her sixth war patrol.
7 Aug 1945	USS Parche entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, United States for an overhaul.
2 Jan 1946	After overhaul at Mare Island and training operations out of San Francisco Bay, USS Parche departed San Francisco, California United States for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
1 Jun 1946	USS Parche arrived at Bikini Lagoon, Marshall Islands as one of the target ships for the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests.
7 Sep 1946	USS Parche arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii from Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands where she survived two atomic bomb explosions in Operation Crossroads tests and underwent a decontamination process.
7 Oct 1946	USS Parche departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California, United States.
14 Oct 1946	USS Parche entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, United States for inactivation overhaul
11 Dec 1946	USS Parche was decommissioned from service at Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, California, United States.
1 Dec 1962	Submarine Parche was reclassified an auxiliary submarine and received the new designation AGSS-384.
8 Nov 1969	Submarine Parche was struck from the US Navy Register.
18 Jun 1970	Submarine Parche was sold for scrap.

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Steve Voorhees says:
12 Nov 2015 12:25:19 PM

Check the bunkerage, the number seems high, 116,000 tons.

C. Peter Chen says:
12 Nov 2015 03:01:40 PM

Thank you Steve, the fuel capacity information has been corrected.

3. Alan Williams says:
8 Feb 2017 08:13:19 PM

Battle Surface by Stephen L Moore, War Patrols of the USS Parche is a must read.

Best Regards to All,

Alan Williams, son of Ronald "Red " Williams.

w.alan@sbcglobal.net

All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB.

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