Hull Number: DE-276
Launch Date: 07/08/1943
Class: EVARTS
EVARTS Class
Namesake: EUGENE FRANK GEORGE
EUGENE FRANK GEORGE
Wikipedia (as of 2024)
Eugene Frank George was born on 23 April 1925 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He enlisted in the Navy on 18 May 1942, aged 17, and reported for duty on board the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco at Pearl Harbor on 17 July. On 12 November, the San Francisco and other ships formed a protective screen off Lunga Point while troop reinforcements debarked from the transports and landed on Guadalcanal. During early afternoon, a force of enemy fighters and bombers attacked the ships, but effective anti-aircraft fire and air cover repelled the attack and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy planes. One torpedo-bomber, damaged by anti-aircraft fire from the screening ships, crashed into San Francisco, destroying the after control station and demolishing three 20 mm gun mounts. Seaman Second Class George refused to abandon his gun in spite of the onrushing plane, firing at the attacker until killed by the crashing aircraft. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
Disposition:
Stricken 22 May 1947 Transferred to the United Kingdom on 9 October 1943; and commissioned in the British Royal Navy as HMS Goodson. Damaged 25 June 1944 by U-984 commanded by Heinz Sieder, she was returned to the United States Navy on 21 October 1944. Stricken 22 May 1947. On 9 January 1947 she was sold to John Lee of Belfast, Northern Ireland.