William J. Millican

William John Millican (April 24, 1904 – November 13, 1944) was a decorated submarine commander in the United States Navy during World War II. Commander Millican was twice awarded the Navy Cross, but was presumed killed in action when the submarine he was commanding, the , was overdue and presumed lost.

Early life Millican was born in 1904 to William J. Millican Sr. and Ellen Theresa Millican (née O’Shea) in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a Boston native and his mother was in Irish immigrant from New Ross, Wexford County, Ireland. Millican spent his first years in Brooklyn, attending Public School 153 and St. Brendan's parochial school. Around 1915 the Millican family moved to Norwalk, Connecticut, north of New York City.

Millican received his appointment from Connecticut to The United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 17, 1924. This was the first class to enter under the reduced appointee law following the Washington Naval Conference, designed to reduce the size of the navies of United States, Japan, China, France, Britain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Portugal. Millican was very active in sports at the naval academy. He was an Annapolis all-time letterwinner in the 1925 and 1926 football seasons. Millican, quarterback, was well known for his speed on the field, allowing him to play in two Army–Navy Games. Besides football, he played baseball, and was also an active boxer. and was promoted to lieutenant, junior grade in the summer of 1931. In January 1932, Millican reported to the Submarine Base at New London, Connecticut, for a course on submarine instruction. The following year, LTJG Millican reported for duty aboard the . On January 17, 1935, he was transferred to the .

On June 27, Millican was detached from the S-15 and returned to Annapolis to become qualified to command submarines. In 1936, while taking an engineering course at the Postgraduate School in Annapolis, Millican was promoted to lieutenant. On June 2, 1936, Millican married Sara Elizabeth Stevens at the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel. and joined the crew of the . On May 31, 1939, Millican took command of the . After the completion of the third war patrol on March 27, 1942, LCDR James H. Newsome took command of the S-18.

In June 1942, Millican was promoted to lieutenant commander and took command of the . On June 26, 1942, the USS Thresher, under command of Millican, commenced her fourth war patrol, patrolling the waters between the Palau and the Marshall Islands. On 6 July, Millican received the chance he didn't have on his first three war patrols: an enemy tanker was sighted entering the channel to the Maloelap Atoll. Millican fired two stern shots, one struck the stern, the ship was beached or began to slowly sink. Afterward, the USS Thresher was attacked by aircraft, but without any damage. Millican fired two torpedoes, both scoring a hit causing the ship to explode. The anti-submarine response was intense, the Japanese responded with aerial bombing, depth charges, and grappling hooks. The Millican had some other enemy encounters before ending the USS Thresher war patrol at Fremantle, Australia,

Millican conducted two more war patrols in command of the USS Thresher, ending his sixth war patrol on March 10, 1943. for his actions commanding the USS Thresher on her fourth and fifth war patrols.

On 2 June 1944 Millican took command of the newly commissioned . On September 18, 1944, the USS Escolar finished training based at Pearl Harbor and put out to sea on her first war patrol. After topping off fuel at Midway, she joined the and the for a coordinated war patrol in the Yellow Sea which she directed. Her last communication was with Perth on October 17; she was never heard from again. Since Japanese records consulted after the war show no antisubmarine action at that time in the area where Escolar is believed to have been, it is assumed that she struck a mine and sank with all hands.

Memory Millican Field, a baseball field at Hickam Air Force Base, was named in his honor. On April 16, 1952, a plaque at the field was presented by Admiral Charles Momsen, the inventor of the Momsen lung. While Millican's body was never recovered, he is listed on a memorial in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, in the Philippines.

Awards