USS England ( DE - 635 ) USS " England " ( DE - 635 ) , a of the United States Navy , was named in honor of Ensign John C . England ( 1920 – 1941 ) , who was killed in action aboard the battleship during the Japan ese 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 . Anti - submarine record . I - 16 . United States Pacific Fleet Military intelligence decoded a 13 May 1944 message from including a scheduled delivery of rice for Japanese troops at Buin on the southern tip of Bougainville Island . " England " , and 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 . A third Hedgehog attack at 1410 missed because depth was assumed to be rather than the 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 " England " s 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 . RO - 106 . A 20 May 1944 message was decoded revealing Japanese plans for a submarine trap north of the Admiralty Islands to intercept an anticipated movement of United States aircraft carriers . , , , , , , and of the Japanese seventh submarine squadron formed a patrol line across a route Admiral Halsey had used twice before . " George " detected " RO - 106 " on radar at 0350 on 22 May , saw the submarine dive when located by searchlight , and missed with a Hedgehog attack at 0415 . " England " regained contact at 0425 , missed with one Hedgehog attack , and scored at least three detonations on a second attack at 0501 . A large underwater explosion was detected as " England " prepared to conduct a third attack , and a heavy oil slick with debris was evident after sunrise . RO - 104 . The three destroyer escorts formed a search line with a scouting interval of 16 , 000 yards during hours of darkness . " Raby " detected " RO - 104 " on radar at 0600 on 23 May , made sonar contact at 0610 , and missed with four Hedgehog attacks beginning at 0617 . " George " missed with a Hedgehog attack at 0717 . " George " then missed with four more Hedgehog attacks between 0730 and 0810 . " England " then missed with a first Hedgehog attack and scored an estimated ten or twelve detonations on a second Hedgehog attack at 0834 . The hits were followed by noises of the submarine breaking up and a large underwater explosion three minutes later . Debris and oil appeared on the surface at 1045 . RO - 116 . " George " detected " RO - 116 " on radar at 0120 24 May . " England " made sonar contact at 0150 , and scored three to five detonations on the first Hedgehog attack at 0214 . Breaking - up noises were not followed by the major explosions noted on earlier sinkings . A small quantity of oil and debris was evident after sunrise at 0702 and the oil slick had expanded to cover several square miles the following day . RO - 108 . A hunter - killer group consisting of the escort carrier with destroyers , , , and arrived on 26 May so the three destroyer escorts could leave to refuel and rearm . The destroyer escorts maintained their search formation en route to Manus . " Raby " detected " RO - 108 " on radar at 2303 26 May . " England " made radar contact at 2304 , sonar contact at 2318 , and scored four to six detonations with the first Hedgehog attack . There was no major explosion following the breaking - up noises , but a fountain of oil was observed rising to the surface at dawn . RO - 105 . The three destroyer escorts reached Manus at 1500 on 27 May . After taking on fuel , provisions , and ammunition , they sailed at 1800 28 May with to rejoin the search . " Hazelwood " detected " RO - 105 " on RADAR at 0156 on 30 May and missed with a depth charge attack . " George " and " Raby " joined " Hazelwood " and made sixteen Hedgehog and depth charge attacks over a period of 25 hours . " RO - 105 " came up for air at 0310 on 31 May and was immediately detected by " George " and " Raby " . " RO - 105 " stayed directly between the two destroyer escorts for five minutes before submerging so neither " Raby " nor " George " could fire without endangering the other . Sequential Hedgehog attacks were then made by " Raby " , " George " , " Raby " , and " Spangler " . All missed . Division Commander Hains then radioed , " Oh , hell . Go ahead , " England " . " " England " then scored six to ten detonations in a Hedgehog attack at 0736 . A major explosion followed at 0741 and a fountain of oil and debris appeared on the surface . This anti - submarine warfare performance was never matched in World War II , and won for " England " a Presidential Unit Citation , and the assurance from the Chief of Naval Operations , Admiral E . J . King , " There ' ll always be an England in the United States Navy . " His pledge was fulfilled on 6 October 1960 , when DLG - 22 was assigned the name " England " . Subsequent service . Through the summer of 1944 , " England " sailed throughout the northern Solomons , providing the escort services necessary for the building up of bases , preparations for the renewed assaults on Japanese territories to the north , and provision of supplies to garrison forces on the islands of the southwest Pacific . In August , she underwent repairs at Manus , and between 24 September and 15 October voyaged from the Treasury Islands to Sydney , Australia . From the Treasuries , she sailed guarding a convoy to Hollandia , where she arrived on 18 October , and on the 26th got underway on the first of two voyages to escort reinforcement convoys to newly invaded Leyte . She returned to Manus and local escort duty on 2 December . From 2 January 1945 , " England " escorted convoys between Manus and Ulithi , the major base for operations of the carrier task forces , and later to be the staging point for the assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa . The escort vessel sailed to Kossol Roads in February , bringing in a convoy later routed on to the Philippines , then resumed her duty on the Manus - Ulithi sealanes . She sailed from Ulithi on 23 March for the pre - invasion bombardment of Okinawa , returned to Ulithi to join the screen of two cruiser s , guarding them back to Okinawa to join the 5th Fleet just after the initial assault on 1 April . Between 6 and 17 April , she voyaged to Saipan screening unladen transports , then took up a screening and patrol station north of the Kerama Retto . On 9 May 1945 , while on station , " England " was attacked by three Japanese dive bomber s . Her anti - aircraft fire set the first of these flaming , but the plane crashed " England " on her starboard side , just below the bridge . The kamikaze pilot had remembered his instructions to knock out the ship ' s nerve center and kill as many as possible of her officers . With the bomb of the plane exploding just after the crash , " England " s men began a dangerous race against time , to quench the fires and save their ship , while the combat air patrol shot down the two other attackers . One of these men was Walter L . Kabis ( 1914 - 2009 ) , a gunnery officer on board . England was able to make Kerama Retto under tow , with 37 of her men killed or missing and 25 wounded . " England " sailed on to Leyte , where she received temporary repairs to put her in shape for the long voyage home . On 16 July 1945 she arrived at Philadelphia for permanent repairs and conversion to a High speed transport . The end of the war , however , halted this work . Because of her extensive damage and a surplus of ships of her type , it was decided not to repair her . She was decommissioned on 15 October 1945 and sold for scrapping on 26 November 1946 .