DE-15 - Tin Can Sailors

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Hull Number: DE-15

Launch Date: 09/25/1942

Commissioned Date: 02/13/1943

Decommissioned Date: 12/21/1945

Call Sign: NPEQ

Class: EVARTS

EVARTS Class

Namesake: JOHN ARNOLD AUSTIN

JOHN ARNOLD AUSTIN

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, September 2022

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.

Disposition:

Stricken 8 January 1946. The Terminal Island Naval Shipyard completed scrapping her on 9 January 1947.

USS AUSTIN DE-15 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, September 2022

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.

Assigned to Escort Division (CortDiv) 14, the ship conducted shakedown training out of San Diego, Calif., between 23 March and 23 April 1943. On the latter day, she put to sea to escort a convoy to Cold Bay, Alaska. She returned to San Diego on 11 May and began convoy escort missions between the west coast and the Hawaiian Islands.

Between mid-May and early September 1943, Austin made two round-trip voyages between San Diego and Oahu and then a single, one-way run from the west coast back to Pearl Harbor. On 2 September, she stood out of that base; shaped a course for the Aleutian Islands; and, on 14 September, joined the Alaskan Sea Frontier. For just over one year, Austin plied the cold waters of the north Pacific escorting ships between Alaskan ports, conducting patrols, performing weather ship duties, and serving as a homing point for aircraft.

The warship departed Alaska on 23 September 1943; arrived in San Francisco, Calif., a week later, and received a regular overhaul which lasted until 17 November. On 3 December, she once more weighed anchor for Hawaii. Austin operated out of Pearl Harbor as a training vessel with the Pacific Fleet Submarine Training Command until 20 March 1944, when she set out for the Central Pacific. On 1 April, the destroyer escort reported for duty with forces assigned to the Commander, Forward Areas, and, for a little more than two months, conducted antisubmarine patrols and air/sea rescue missions out of Ulithi Atoll in the Western Caroline Islands. She finished that assignment on 10 June when she shaped a course for the Mariana Islands. For the next four months, Austin operated out of Guam and Saipan.

In addition to antisubmarine patrols and air/sea rescue missions, she escorted convoys to such places as Iwo Jima, Eniwetok, and Okinawa. Following the cessation of hostilities in mid-August 1945, she conducted search missions in the northern Marianas for enemy holdouts and for survivors of downed Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers. The warship also patrolled Truk Atoll briefly before occupation forces arrived there in strength.

On 12 October 1945 she departed Guam in company with the other ships of CortDiv 14, bound for San Pedro, Calif., and inactivation. On 17 November, she reported to the Commander, Western Sea Frontier, to prepare for decommissioning and, on 21 December 1945, was placed out of commission at Terminal Island Naval Shipyard. Austin was berthed with the Pacific Reserve Fleet until scrapped. On 8 January 1946, her name was stricken from the Navy list. The Terminal Island Naval Shipyard completed scrapping her on 9 January 1947.