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USS England (CG 22)

USS ENGLAND was the seventh ship in the LEAHY - class of guided missile cruisers and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name. ENGLAND was last homeported in San Diego, Ca.. After decommissioning the ship was laid up at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in Benicia, Ca., until sold to International Shipbreaking Corp., Brownsville, Tx., for scrapping.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS ENGLAND. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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• Click here to see which USS ENGLAND memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS ENGLAND Cruise Books:

• WestPac Cruise Book 1968
• WestPac Cruise Book 1972
• WestPac Cruise Book 1979
• Persian Gulf Cruise Book 1990

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Accidents aboard USS ENGLAND:

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USS ENGLAND History:

USS ENGLAND entered service during the last phase of the Navy's Cold War destroyer-leader era and finished her career as a modernized guided-missile cruiser after three decades of Western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf duty. Laid down at Todd Shipyards, San Pedro, California, on October 4, 1960, and launched on March 6, 1962, she suffered a pier-side construction accident on March 30, 1962: a machinery-space explosion and fire that injured civilian workers - before completing trials and commissioning at Long Beach Naval Shipyard on December 7, 1963.

In the mid-1960s she settled into the WestPac pattern: transiting from the U.S. West Coast to Seventh Fleet stations for Gulf of Tonkin air-war support, picking up plane-guard, radar picket (PIRAZ), and positive identification and radar advisory responsibilities while rotating through logistics hubs. ENGLAND's search-and-rescue and screen work from January 3 through June 6, 1966 earned a Navy Unit Commendation, capturing her role in managing dense air traffic and recovering downed aviators during the high-tempo phases of the Vietnam air campaign.

Following several Vietnam deployments, ENGLAND stood down for a deep maintenance period at the turn of the 1970s. She was decommissioned on April 10, 1970, to undergo overhaul and modernization and then recommissioned on June 26, 1971, returning to Seventh Fleet schedules as the combat phase in Vietnam wound down. The Navy's 1975 surface-combatant reclassification redesignated her from DLG-22 to CG 22 on June 30, 1975. In the same mid-1970s window she cycled through Pacific yard work - centered on Puget Sound/Bremerton - and refresher training before resuming routine forward presence. Through the later 1970s she operated across the Northwest Pacific and Indian Ocean, a period marked by frequent shadowing from Soviet Il-38 "May" maritime patrol aircraft and by the maturing of the Navy's layered air-defense doctrine that would define her missions in the 1980s.

The 1980s brought visible changes in both equipment and tasking. By 1983, ENGLAND was photographed with retrofitted Harpoon canisters aft and was regularly conducting underway replenishments and blue-water surveillance transits in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific. Her most consequential refit came with a fiscal-year 1987 regular overhaul at Long Beach Naval Shipyard: from October 1986 to October 1987 the ship received the New Threat Upgrade (NTU), a combat-systems modernization that integrated new air-search radars and combat direction improvements to fully exploit SM-2 missiles and manage multi-target engagements - vital for carrier-group air defense against high-speed saturation threats. Post-availability workups emphasized long-range air picture management and interoperability with carrier flagships and allied units, in line with late-Cold-War emphasis on sea control in the North Arabian Sea and western Indian Ocean.

As the regional security focus shifted from superpower rivalry to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, ENGLAND deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1990. During the first weeks of Operation Desert Shield, she assumed early maritime interception duties under U.N. sanctions. On August 18, 1990, she made the first documented U.S. Navy intercept of the campaign when she warned-off and boarded the Chinese freighter HENG CHUNG HAI en route to Iraq - an operation that became a template for the coalition's boarding procedures that autumn. Routine liberty and logistics stops bracketed the long patrols: crew imagery from the same deployment shows the cruiser off Phuket, Thailand, and sailors on liberty in Subic Bay/Olongapo, reflecting the way WestPac hubs underpinned long Gulf patrol cycles. Through late 1990, ENGLAND's watch bill alternated surface-picture compilation, queries and boardings (often with Coast Guard LEDET teams), and air-defense picket rotations on approaches to the Strait of Hormuz.

When Operation Desert Storm began on January 17, 1991, ENGLAND shifted to wartime rules while continuing surveillance and air-defense roles in support of carriers and joint strike packages. Her post-ceasefire months saw a return to maritime interception operations - inspecting and, when directed, diverting merchant traffic under extended sanctions. That 1990-1991 span brought campaign recognition alongside the usual unit and service awards associated with Gulf War duty. Between deployments she completed short selected-restricted availabilities and inspections to preserve propulsion reliability and electronics readiness as she aged into her third decade.

The cruiser's final years were professionally steady and largely uneventful at sea - underway periods for group workups and exercises, interspersed with short maintenance and training blocks. ENGLAND remained a familiar presence in Southern California as her last listed home port, and imagery from 1992 shows her still operating with a clean topside after the NTU refit. After the Cold War drawdown accelerated retirement of steam-powered, manpower-intensive ships, ENGLAND decommissioned on January 21, 1994. She entered the Suisun Bay reserve fleet, remained there for a decade, and was ultimately scrapped at Brownsville, Texas, the dismantling completed on October 20, 2004.

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USS ENGLAND's Commanding Officers:

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About the Ship's Name, about Ensign John Charles England, USNR:

John Charles England was born in Harris, Mo., on December 11, 1920. His family then moved to Alhambra, Ca. where he attended Alhambra High School. He later attended Pasadena City College, Pasadena, California, graduating in spring 1940.

He enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve as an Apprentice Seaman at Los Angeles on September 6, 1940 After active duty training on board the USS NEW YORK from November 25, to December 21, 1940 he attended Naval Reserve Midshipman's School, New York, N.Y., and was appointed Midshipman, USNR, March 6, 1941. He completed his training on June 5 and was commissioned Ensign, USNR, June 6, 1941.

He was next assigned duty under instruction at the Naval Radio School, Norton Heights, Connecticut, reposting June 20, 1941. Upon detachment from school, he reported on September 3, 1941 to the USS OKLAHOMA (BB 37) at Pear Harbor.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, just four days from his 21st birthday John C. England volunteered to work in the ships radio room for a friend so that he might have more time with his family when they arrived. That morning the Japanese attacked Pear Harbor and the USS OKLAHOMA was one of their first targets.

OKLAHOMA was moored Battleship Row 7, outboard alongside MARYLAND. USS OKLAHOMA took 3 torpedo hits almost immediately after the first Japanese bombs fell. As she began to capsize, 2 more torpedoes struck home, and her men were strafed as they abandoned ship. Within 20 minutes after the attack began, she had swung over until halted by her masts touching bottom, her starboard side above water, and a part of her keel clear.

Ensign England survived the initial attack and escaped topside as the ship was capsizing. He remembered the men still in the radio room. He returned three times to the radio room, each time guiding a man to safety. He left to go back below decks for the fourth time and was never seen again. He was one of twenty officers and 395 enlisted men who were killed on board USS OKLAHOMA that morning. Ensign England's gallant effort saved three, but cost him his own life.

His family would hear of his death by Postal Telegram sent by Rear Admiral Nimitz on December 16, 1941.

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USS ENGLAND Image Gallery:

The two photos below are from International Shipbreaking Corp., Brownsville, Tx. The photo on the left shows the ENGLAND arriving at Brownsville and the photo on the right shows the cruiser being scrapped.

The two photos below were taken and contributed by Michael Martin and show the ENGLAND being scrapped at International Shipbreaking Corp., Brownsville, Tx., on February 27, 2004.

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