August 17, 1974

As Dad’s cousin Bob was Asst Secretary of the Navy, we got invited to the commissioning of the USN Parche SSN-683 at Ingalls Pascagoula, MS yard.  Here are my photos before the commissioning.  Dad had a house in Gautier (that I later sold to the Port Royal cruiser captain) and we took his boat over to the ceremony.

Longfellow House was swankier place than that tent in the first photo.  While the ‘old’ folks went off to hear someone talk, an ensign and I did cork popping duels with the tables of champagne bottles until someone responsible came out to tell us to settle down and drink the stuff.

Sotted, it was then back over for a tour of the sub.  Most consoles were covered, except one that a helpful mate said showed fish outside a discharge port.  One piece of equipment was identical to one back at our house:  a Sony entertainment console mounted to the ceiling, but lacking the phonograph of the one at home.