The Perch entered the war at the end of April 1944. The Balao were successors to the Gato class, and these two classes were responsible for most of the U.S. The Balao class, comprising 120 boats, almost all named after fish species, was the largest submarine class in U.S. SS-313 was one of 41 Balao-class fleet submarines built by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Conn. The first USS Perch (SS-176) was a Porpoise-class submarine scuttled in March 1942 after being severely damaged in action off the coast of Java, Indonesia. SS-313 was the second boat to carry the name Perch. While the new configuration attracted derisive nicknames, it was a pioneering step for special operations. The large cylindrical chamber on the afterdeck is a watertight storage space for the stowage of amphibious landing equipment. USS Perch (SSP-313) after being recently converted to a troop transport at Mare Island Navy yard, Calif. In the late 1960s, it served as a Naval Reserve training submarine and finally as a submarine transport. During the Vietnam War, the Perch helped train special operations units, participated in a variety of search and rescue and special operations missions, and conducted what is regarded as the last surface combat action by a U.S. Quinn, received the Bronze Star for actions during a special operations mission, the only submarine commander in that conflict to be awarded a combat decoration. In the Korean War, it earned one battle star and was one of only two submarines to be awarded the Submarine Combat Insignia. In World War II, the Perch earned four battle stars. During the course of its service, the many classifications of the submarine with pennant number 313 – submarine (SS), submarine transport (SSP), transport submarine (ASSP), submarine transport (APSS), transport submarine (LPSS), and finally, prior to being struck from the list, unclassified miscellaneous submarine (IXSS) – all-too-briefly summarize the wide range of roles of this boat. 1, 1977, when it was struck from the Naval Register. 7, 1944, it was finally, permanently decommissioned 27 years later, on Dec. Perch was one of the longest-serving submarines in the U.S. It entered the world of special operations on its fifth war patrol on March 12, 1945, when it was tasked with delivering 11 Australian commandos on a reconnaissance mission in the Dutch East Indies. Later, the Perch participated in wolf-pack patrols against enemy shipping and in lifeguard duty supporting B-29 raids off the Japanese coast, among other tasks. That submarine was the USS Perch (SS-313). But there is a lesser-known submarine that has the distinction of conducting special operations in not just one, but three wars: World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. ![]() Because they participated in the famous Makin Raid by Carlson’s Raiders in 1942, the USS Argonaut and the USS Nautilus are arguably the two most famous submarines that conducted special operations during this war. In a theater covering a third of the globe, with islands scattered from the Aleutians down to the Solomons, submarines were the ideal means to covertly transport supplies to guerillas and coast watchers and carry specially trained Amphibious Scouts and Raiders (or Navy Scouts and Raiders), Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs), Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs), and other special operations units to hostile beaches to conduct reconnaissance or sabotage missions. During World War II, it did not take mission planners in the Pacific theater of operations long to discover that special operations and submarines were made for each other.
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