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Street, who retired as a captain, became a legend in the submarine community. (U.S. Navy photo)
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Navy Capt. George L. Street
Submarine Skipper Earned More Than Medals With His WWII Exploits
By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Contributing Writer
On April 14, 1945, the skipper of the submarine Tirante brought his boat into the shallow, treacherous waters of Quelpart Island. Lt. Cmdr. George L. Street III knew well that the area was heavily mined, since the high, rocky island contained a Japanese air base, but he was determined to find and sink enemy ships. At 4 a.m., he gave orders to fire, and the Tirante's torpedoes hit a large ammunition ship. "A tremendous, beautiful explosion," he wrote in his report. "The jackpot, and no mistake!"
Yet Street gave credit for this success, as he always did, to his crew, claims retired Capt. Edward Beach, his former executive officer. "George Street was the type of leader the crew fell in love with," Beach said. "He never had to threaten anybody to get them to do something right; they did it because they knew he wanted it done that way." Street was such a model commander that Beach used him as the model for his hero in his book "Run Silent, Run Deep."
Street also claimed failures himself. "He would say, 'Well, it must have been my fault because I didn't make sure you had the right dope," recalls Beach. Street's self-effacing manner and quiet authority came from years of preparation during his Richmond, Va., youth and his schooling at the Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1937. He received the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman on Oct. 6, 1945, for the Tirante's April 14 exploits, which included sinking two Japanese frigates before the sub took full speed and dove to elude a patrol's depth charges.
But the postscript to Street's Medal of Honor citation is even more incredible. In June 1945, on the boat's second war patrol, Street again made a long, submerged approach in shallow waters off of Nagasaki to torpedo the 2,200-ton warship Hakuju Maru. When the Japanese gun crew took Tirante's protruding radar mast under fire, Street had to expend two more torpedoes and then surface to clear the area at high speed, under enemy gunfire. Yet both crew and ship lived to tell the tale -- only war's end in August 1945 cut short another patrol.
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