The Sartwelle Family - George Tucker Sartwelle, Jr.
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George Tucker Sartwelle, Jr. (1925 - 1945)
The following was received from Dennis O'Brien on July 7, 2000:
I run the web site for the USS Englands, both DE-635 and the ship on
which I served, CG-22. I thought you might find the following
interesting:
DE-635 was a Buckley class destroyer escort laid down by Bethlehem San
Francisco on 4/4/43, launched 9/29/43 and commissioned 12/10/43. She was
named in honor of John C. England who died while rescuing men from the
capsized USS Oklahoma, Pearl Harbor 12/7/41. In May of 1944 she
distinguished herself by sinking 6 enemy submarines in two weeks! A
5/29/44 message from Admiral Halsey to the USS England read "May there
always be an England". Chief of Naval Operations E. J. King reiterated
this with "There'll always be an ENGLAND in the United States Navy."
ENGLAND earned the Presidential Citation.
SARTWELLE, George T., Jr., S1c, USNR, died on DE-635 during an attack on
the ship by a Val bomber. At the aircraft approached the ship, ENGLAND
opened fire and commenced an evasive turn to port. The pilot of the Val
steered the plane for ENGLAND's bridge as kamikazes had been trained to
do. The gunners on ENGLAND killed the pilot and as the ship turned the
Val nearly missed her, but a wing caught the boat davit and hurled the
aircraft into ENGLAND, starboard at the bridge. 36 men died in the
attack which took the mighty ENGLAND out of the war. The ship was
damaged and slated for conversion to APD in preparation of the invasion
of Japan. She returned to Philadelphia for repair and conversion.
USS England Pictures (Naval Historical Center)
Official USS
England Web Site
There is an England Hall at the antisubmarine Warfare Training Center
Base in San Diego as well as a Prock Hall, named for the sonar man at
the instruments for most of the runs on the six submarines. As for
"There'll always be an ENGLAND in the United States Navy." In 1963 the
USS England DLG-22, later called CG-22, hit the seas and served the
United States for over 30 years. She is now in the MARAD reserve fleet
awaiting scrapping.