USS Austin (DE-15)

John Arnold Austin, born in Warrior, Alabama, on 30 August 1905, enlisted in the Navy on 20 November 1920. Between that time and 26 July 1935, he served four successive enlistments. On the latter day, Austin accepted an acting appointment as carpenter (warrant officer grade). That same day, he reported on board Canopus (AS-9) then serving as a unit of the Asiatic Fleet. On 8 August, he detached from temporary duty in the submarine tender and reported for duty in Augusta (CA-31). On 4 December 1935, Austin received a permanent warrant as a carpenter. He left the heavy cruiser on 13 July 1937 and reported on board Tennessee (BB-43) on 10 September 1937. He served in that battleship until detached on 14 June 1939 to proceed to further assignment to Rigel (AD-13) reporting on 18 July 1939. After 14 months in that destroyer tender, Carpenter Austin departed on 21 September 1940 bound for duty in Oklahoma (BB-37) and reported on board the battleship on 5 October 1940. In October 1941, Austin received a commission as chief carpenter (commissioned warrant officer).

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941, Chief Carpenter Austin was serving in Oklahoma. When the battleship capsized as a result of Japanese torpedoes, he was trapped below water with many of his shipmates. Austin searched for a means of escape and found a porthole which, though beneath the surface, offered just such an avenue. As a result of his efforts, 15 sailors escaped a watery grave. Chief Carpenter Austin, however, did not. As his citation reads, "He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country." Chief Carpenter Austin was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.

The second Austin (DE-15) was laid down on 14 March 1942 at the Mare Island Navy Yard as HMS Blackwood (BDE-15) for the United Kingdom under the terms of the Lend-Lease agreement; launched on 25 September 1942: sponsored by Mrs. W. C. Springer; taken over by the United States Navy on 25 January 1943 and redesignated DE-15; and commissioned on 13 February 1943, Lt. Cmdr. Herbert G. Claudius, D-V(G), USNR, whose submarine chaser PC-566 had sunk the German submarine U-166 ( Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Günther Kuhlmann, commanding) on 30 July 1942, in command. The destroyer escort was apparently commissioned as simply DE-15 for the name Austin was not assigned to her until 19 February 1943, six days after she went into commission.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Austin II (DE-15)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.