USS Pargo (SSN-650)

USS Pargo (SSN-650), a Sturgeon-class attack submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pargo, also known as the red snapper, a fish of the genus Lutjanus found in the West Indies.

Construction and commissioning
The contract to build Pargo was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 26 March 1963 and her keel was laid down there on 3 June 1964. She was launched on 17 September 1966, sponsored by Mrs. James L. Holloway, Jr., the wife of retired Admiral James L. Holloway, Jr. (1898–1984), and commissioned on 5 January 1968 with Commander Steven A. White in command.

1960s
Assigned to Submarine Development Group 2 with her home port at New London, Connecticut, Pargo conducted acoustic trials followed by repairs and alterations at Groton, then participated in the search for the missing attack submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) from 27 May to 7 June 1968. She spent the rest of 1968 conducting various trials in the Caribbean Sea and off New London.

1970s
The Pargo made her 650th dive on 29 March 1978.

Decommissioning and disposal
Pargo was decommissioned on 14 April 1995 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. Her scrapping via the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, began on 1 October 1994 and was completed on 15 October 1996.