The second USS England (DLG/CG-22), a Leahy-class

Leahy class cruiser

Leahy class cruisers were a class of guided missile cruisers built for the United States Navy. They were originally designated as DLG destroyers, but in the 1975 cruiser realignment, they were reclassified as guided missile cruisers .-Description:...

 guided missile

Guided Missile

Guided Missile is a London based independent record label set up by Paul Kearney in 1994.Guided Missile has always focused on 'the underground', preferring to put out a steady flow of releases and developing the numerous GM events around London and beyond....

 cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

, was a ship of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 named in honor of Ensign John C. England

John C. England

Ensign John Charles England was an officer in the United States Navy.-Biography:John Charles England was born in Harris, Missouri, on December 11, 1920. His family then moved to Alhambra, California. He attended Alhambra High School, as did his sister Lennie England...

. Originally called a "destroyer leader" or frigate, in 1975 she was re-designated a cruiser in the Navy's 1975 ship reclassification

United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification

The United States Navy reclassified many of its surface vessels in 1975, changing terminology and hull classification symbols for cruisers, frigates, and ocean escorts.- Classification prior to 1975 :...

.

Ensign John Charles England was born in Harris, Mo., on December 11, 1920. He attended Pasadena City College, in Pasadena, California and was on the pep-squad there. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve on September 6, 1940 and was commissioned ensign on June 6, 1941. On September 3, 1941 he reported for duty on the and was killed while saving others on board during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 on December 7, 1941.

CG/DLG-22 was the second USS England. The first was , the ship that sunk six enemy submarines in 12 days in May 1944. That act caused the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Ernest King

Ernest King

Fleet Admiral Ernest Joseph King was Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations during World War II. As COMINCH, he directed the United States Navy's operations, planning, and administration and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the U.S...

, to declare "There’ll always be an England in the United States Navy." DE-635 was decommissioned in 1945.

To fulfill Admiral King’s promise, USS England DLG-22 was built by Todd Shipbuilding. The keel was laid on October 4, 1960, launched March 6, 1962, and commissioned on December 07, 1963. Her designation was changed in 1976 to CG-22 at Bremerton Naval Shipyard during an overhaul.

The USS England served in every major Pacific engagement from Vietnam to Desert Storm, from rescuing pilots, performing as plane guard or picket, to showing force around the globe. The USS England was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation

Navy Unit Commendation

The Navy Unit Commendation of the United States Navy is an award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944...

 Ribbon for supporting search and rescue operations in the Gulf of Tonkin

Gulf of Tonkin

The Gulf of Tonkin is an arm of the South China Sea, lying off the coast of northeastern Vietnam.-Etymology:The name Tonkin, written "東京" in Hán tự and Đông Kinh in romanised Vietnamese, means "Eastern Capital", and is the former toponym for Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam...

 from January 3rd to June 6th 1966. . She was decommissioned on January 21, 1994, mothballed in the Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay is a shallow tidal estuary at in northern California, USA. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, forming the entrance to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta...

for ten years and scrapped in 2004.

External links

• http://www.ussengland.org/
• Naval Vessel Register - CG-22
• USS England (CG 22)