George Levick Street III

He took his submarine inside a mined enemy harbour at night.

George Levick Street III was born in Richmond, Virginia, on 27 July 1913. He joined the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1931 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1937. After surface assignments and submarine training, he served aboard USS Gar in the Pacific during the Second World War. His first Silver Star recognised his actions during Gar's attack on 13 March 1942. A second Silver Star followed for his role in the January 1944 convoy engagements. The precise number of Gar patrols credited to him remains under review.

Street fitted out and commanded USS Tirante, commissioned in November 1944. On 14 April 1945, as a lieutenant commander, he took Tirante into the shallow, mined anchorage off Quelpart Island, Korea. Under threat from shore radar and patrol craft, he attacked the ammunition ship Juzan Maru and the escorts Nomi and Kaibokan No. 31, then escaped despite counterattack. His leadership earned the Medal of Honor, and Tirante received the Navy Presidential Unit Citation for its first patrol.

On Tirante's second war patrol, Street made another daring incursion into the Hashima and Nagasaki harbour area on 12 June 1945. His attacks and withdrawal under enemy pressure earned the Navy Cross. Across Tirante's two completed wartime patrols, postwar assessment credited eight enemy ships sunk under his command.

After the war, Street commanded USS Requin, the destroyer escort USS Holder and the attack transport USS Fremont. He also led submarine divisions and squadrons, worked in naval research and directed the naval ROTC programme at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He retired as a captain in August 1966. Street died in Andover, Massachusetts, on 26 February 2000, leaving a record that linked exceptional submarine combat leadership with decades of naval service.