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Street, George L., III

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Captain, USN, (1913-2000)

George Levick Street III was born on 27 July 1913 in Richmond, Virginia. He enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve from that state in 1931 and two years later was appointed to the Naval Academy. Commissioned an Ensign in June 1937, he served at sea in USS Concord and USS Arkansas during the following three years. Street was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade in June 1940 and a few months later began instruction at the Naval Submarine School, New London, Connecticut. He received orders in January 1941 to USS Gar (SS-206), then completing construction at Groton, Connecticut. While serving in that submarine during three years, and nine war patrols, he was promoted to Lieutenant in January 1942 and to Lieutenant Commander in July 1943. In February 1944, Street was assigned to the staff of Commander, Submarine Division Sixty-One. In July, he arrived at the Naval Base, Portsmouth, New Hampshire to fit out and command the new submarine Tirante (SS-420), which was placed in commission in November of that year.

Tirante's first war patrol, beginning in March 1945, cost Japan at least six ships. Most notably, during a daring night penetration of the harbor of Quelpart Island (also known as Cheju Do), southwest of the Korean peninsula, on 14 April Street's submarine sank the Japanese transport Juzan Maru and anti-submarine escorts Nomi and Kaibokan # 31. For his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" on this occasion, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Street was promoted to Commander in July 1945 and, in January 1946, left Tirante to become the Navy's technical advisor for the submarine documentary film The Silent Service. That summer, he transferred to the Office of Naval Research and assisted in organizing the first Undersea Symposium. His next assignment, as Commanding Officer of USS Requin (SS-481), lasted from November 1946 to June 1948. This included operations as a radar picket submarine supporting aircraft carrier task forces. Following instruction at the Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Virginia in 1949, Commander Street served on its faculty in the Research and Development Division. In 1951, after attending the Fleet Sonar School at Key West, Florida, he assumed command of the USS Holder (DDE-819), a destroyer modified for anti-submarine purposes. Street commanded Submarine Division Sixty-Two 1952-1953, evaluating the use of several radar picket submarines working as a team. He then returned to the Office of the Chief of the Naval Operations as Assistant for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Armed Forces Policy Council.

In July 1955, Street was promoted to Captain. Upon completion of classes at the National War College in Washington, D.C. in July 1956, he served on the Staff to the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Returning to sea in July 1958, he commanded the attack transport Fremont (APA-44). A year later, Captain Street became Commanding Officer and Professor of Naval Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge, Massachusetts. In October 1961, he took command of Submarine Squadron Five and, the next fall, joined the Staff of the Naval War College. His final assignment, beginning in December 1964, was as Commander Submarine Group, San Francisco Bay Area and Commander Mare Island Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet. Captain Street retired from active duty in August 1966. George L. Street III died on 26 February 2000 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.