USS England (DE-635)

USS England off San Francisco, 9 February 1944
History
United States
Name:	USS England
Namesake:	Ensign John C. England
Builder:	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down:	4 April 1943
Launched:	26 September 1943
Commissioned:	10 December 1943
Decommissioned:	15 October 1945
Struck:	1 November 1945
Honors and awards:	10 battle stars & Presidential Unit Citation (World War II)
Fate:	Sold and broken up, 26 November 1946
General characteristics
Class and type:	Buckley-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	1,400 long tons (1,422 t) standard 1,740 long tons (1,768 t) full load
Length:	306 ft (93 m)
Beam:	37 ft (11 m)
Draft:	9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) standard 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) full load
Propulsion:	2 × boilers General Electric turbo-electric drive 12,000 shp (8.9 MW) 2 × solid manganese-bronze 3,600 lb (1,600 kg) 3-bladed propellers, 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) diameter, 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) pitch 2 × rudders 359 tons fuel oil
Speed:	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Range:	3,700 nmi (6,900 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	15 officers, 198 men
Armament:	3 × 3"/50 caliber guns 1 × quad 1.1"/75 caliber gun 8 × single 20 mm guns 1 × triple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar 8 × K-gun depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks

USS England (DE-635), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Ensign John C. England (1920–1941), who was killed in action aboard the battleship Oklahoma during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Her sinking of six Japanese submarines in twelve days is a feat unparalleled in the history of antisubmarine warfare.

England was launched on 26 September 1943 at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard in San Francisco, California, sponsored by Mrs. H. B. England, mother of Ensign England; and commissioned on 10 December 1943, with Commander W. B. Pendleton in command.

England arrived at Espiritu Santo on 12 March 1944 from San Francisco, Pearl Harbor, Funafuti, and Guadalcanal. She took up escort duty between Espiritu Santo and Guadalcanal, occasionally sailing to Nouméa, and once to the Marshalls.

United States Pacific Fleet Military intelligence decoded a 13 May 1944 message from Japanese submarine I-16 including a scheduled delivery of rice for Japanese troops at Buin on the southern tip of Bougainville Island. England, George (DE-697) and Raby (DE-698) were ordered to intercept I-16. England detected I-16 during calm, sunny weather on the early afternoon of 18 May 1944. The first Hedgehog mortar attack at 1341 was a miss. A second Hedgehog attack scored one hit at a depth of 130 feet (40 m). A third Hedgehog attack at 1410 missed because depth was assumed to be 200 feet (61 m) rather than the 325 feet (99 m) revealed by the fathometer following the attack. I-16 outmaneuvered a fourth Hedgehog attack. The fifth Hedgehog attack at 1433 scored four to six detonations and was followed by a large underwater explosion which lifted Englands fantail and knocked men off their feet. Debris began floating to the surface twenty minutes later. The following day, a three by six-mile (5 by 10-kilometer) oil slick marked the location on the calm surface of the Pacific.