THE TERRIBLE STORY OF GEORGE LEVICK STREET III OF RICHMOND, HONORING HIM FOR HIS HEROIC ACTIONS WWII.

George Levick Street III of Richmond, VA, a submariner in the U.S. Navy was awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary actions off the coast of Korea on April 14, 1945.

Street graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1937. In 1941, Street served in a fleet submarine, USS Gar, after graduating from the Submarine School. He then commanded the USS Tirante, patrolling waters south of Japan, the South China Sea, and the Yellow Sea and targeting shipping between Korea and Japan.

With information derived from broken Japanese naval codes, Tirante was vectored to intercept a small convoy from Shanghai, bringing Japanese soldiers and sailors back to the homeland.

 Street maneuvered into position for an ambush and fired six torpedoes at two ships, successfully sinking the Nikko Maru.  As the Japanese escorts turned to attack, Tirante countered with a homing torpedo at one of them, and although “breaking-up” noises were heard, the sinking was never confirmed after the war.

Tirante had resumed patrolling the East China Sea between Shanghai and Quelpart Island, south of Korea, when new intelligence reported that a transport had anchored with its escorts in a confined harbor on the island's northern coast.

 With Japanese shipping virtually driven from the seas, Street realized he would have to take the fight into the harbor to score a kill. On the night of April 13, Tirante headed in on the surface through miles of shallow water guarded by patrol vessels, shore-based radar, and minefields. Inside the harbor, Street fired three torpedoes at the transport,  which disintegrated in a blinding explosion.

 With Tirante illuminated by the burning transport, the Japanese frigate, Nomi, and a small coastal defense vessel turned to the attack as Street maneuvered to escape. Pausing only long enough to launch three torpedoes at his pursuers, Street headed back out to sea at flank speed as the two Japanese escorts became his 2nd and 3rd victims that night and blew up. 

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