George L. Street III

His Story

George Levick Street III was born in Richmond on July 27, 1913. He graduated from St. Christopher's School in 1931, enlisted in the Naval Reserve, and entered the U.S. Naval Academy two years later, graduating in 1937. In 1940 he volunteered for submarines. He earned two Silver Stars aboard USS Gar and took command of the new USS Tirante in July 1944.

On her first war patrol, before dawn on April 14, 1945, Street took Tirante into the harbor at Quelpart Island on the surface. The water was too shallow to dive. The harbor was mined and shoal-obstructed, patrolled by surface vessels and aircraft, and watched by five shore-based radar stations. Street went in with the crew at battle stations. Twelve hundred yards offshore, Tirante put two torpedoes into the Japanese ammunition ship Juzan Maru, and the explosion lit the submarine up for every gun in the harbor. Two escorts came after her. Street fired his last two torpedoes and sank them both. Tirante cleared the harbor at emergency full speed and dove deep as depth charges fell behind.

Word of President Roosevelt's death had reached the boat shortly before the attack. Street's report to Pacific command read: "Three for Franklin ... sank ammunition ship, two escorts." Truman presented Street's Medal at the White House on October 5, 1945. His executive officer on that patrol was Edward L. Beach, who later wrote the novel Run Silent, Run Deep.

Two months later Tirante entered Nagasaki Harbor, sank another ship, and wrecked the docking facilities. Street received the Navy Cross for that second patrol. He served twenty more years, taught naval science at MIT, and retired a captain in 1966. He settled in Andover, Massachusetts, and died there on February 26, 2000, at 86.