USS Austin (DE-15)

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USS Austin (DE-15), circa in 1944.jpg
History
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Name: USS Austin
Namesake: John Arnold Austin
Laid down: 14 March 1942
Launched: 25 September 1942
Commissioned: 13 February 1943
Decommissioned: 21 December 1945
Struck: 8 January 1946
Fate: Scrapped by the Terminal Island Naval Shipyard, 9 January 1947
General characteristics
Type: Evarts-class destroyer escort
Displacement:
  • 1,140 long tons (1,158 t) standard
  • 1,430 long tons (1,453 t) full
Length:
  • 289 ft 5 in (88.21 m) o/a
  • 283 ft 6 in (86.41 m) w/l
Beam: 35 ft 2 in (10.72 m)
Draft: 11 ft (3.4 m) (max)
Propulsion:
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range: 4,150 nmi (7,690 km)
Complement: 15 officers and 183 enlisted
Armament:

USS Austin (DE-15), was an Evarts-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy during World War II. The ship was named for Chief Carpenter John Arnold Austin (1905-1941) who was killed in action on board USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941, and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

<i>Evarts</i>-class destroyer escort class of destroyer escorts launched in the United States of America

The Evarts-class destroyer escorts were destroyer escorts launched in the United States in 1942–44. They served in World War II as convoy escorts and anti-submarine warfare ships. They were also known as the GMT or "short hull" DE class, with GMT standing for General Motors Tandem Diesel drive.

Destroyer escort United States Navy mid-20th century ship classification

Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a 20-knot (23 mph) warship designed with endurance to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Kaibōkan were designed for a similar role in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Royal Navy and Commonwealth forces identified such warships as frigates, and that classification was widely accepted when the United States redesignated destroyer escorts as frigates (FF) in 1975. Destroyer escorts, frigates, and kaibōkan were mass-produced for World War II as a less expensive antisubmarine warfare alternative to fleet destroyers. Other similar warships include the 10 Kriegsmarine escort ships of the F-class and the two Amiral Murgescu-class vessels of the Romanian Navy.

United States Navy Naval warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations. with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, and two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the Navy is the third largest of the service branches. It has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the second largest and second most powerful air force in the world.

Contents

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. Comdr. H. G. Claudius, USNR, 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.

United Kingdom Country in Europe

The United Kingdom, officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but more commonly known as the UK or Britain, is a sovereign country lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi), the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world. It is also the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.

Lend-Lease United States foreign policy during World War II

The Lend-Lease policy, formally titled An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States, was an American program to defeat Germany, Japan and Italy by distributing food, oil, and materiel between 1941 and August 1945. The aid went to the United Kingdom, China, and later the Soviet Union, Free France, and other Allied nations. It included warships and warplanes, along with other weaponry. The policy was signed into law on March 11, 1941, and ended overnight without prior warning when the war against Japan ended. The aid was free for all countries, although goods in transit when the program ended were charged for. Some transport ships were returned to the US after the war, but practically all the items sent out were used up or worthless in peacetime. In Reverse Lend Lease, the U.S. was given no-cost leases on army and naval bases in Allied territory during the war, as well as local supplies.

Service history

Assigned to Escort Division (CortDiv) 14, the ship conducted shakedown training out of San Diego between 23 March and 23 April. 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, 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.

San Diego City in California, United States

San Diego is a city in the U.S. state of California. It is in San Diego County, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, approximately 120 miles (190 km) south of Los Angeles and immediately adjacent to the border with Mexico.

Cold Bay, Alaska City in Alaska, United States

Cold Bay is a city in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 108.

Convoy group of vehicles traveling together for mutual support and protection

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support. It may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas. Arriving at the scene of a major emergency with a well-ordered unit and intact command structure can be another motivation.

The warship departed Alaska on 23 September 1944; arrived in San Francisco, California, 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 ship with the Pacific Fleet Submarine Training Command until 20 March 1945, 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 anti-submarine 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 anti-submarine 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, she conducted search missions in the northern Marianas for enemy holdouts and for survivors of downed B-29's. The warship also patrolled Truk Atoll briefly before occupation forces arrived there in strength.

San Francisco Consolidated city-county in California, United States

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. San Francisco is the 13th-most populous city in the United States, and the fourth-most populous in California, with 884,363 residents as of 2017. It covers an area of about 46.89 square miles (121.4 km2), mostly at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second-most densely populated large US city, and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is also part of the fifth-most populous primary statistical area in the United States, the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area.

United States Pacific Fleet Pacific Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy

The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a Pacific Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to the United States Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Pearl Harbor Naval Station, Hawaii, with large secondary facilities at North Island, San Diego Bay on the Mainland.

Anti-submarine warfare Branch of naval warfare

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines.

On 12 October, she departed Guam in company with the other ships of CortDiv 14, bound for San Pedro, California, 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 struck from the Naval Vessel Register. The Terminal Island Naval Shipyard completed scrapping her on 9 January 1947.

Long Beach Naval Shipyard

The Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which closed in 1997, was located on Terminal Island between the city of Long Beach and the San Pedro district of Los Angeles, approximately 23 miles south of the Los Angeles International Airport. The primary role of NSY Long Beach at the time of its closure was overhaul and maintenance of conventionally-powered US Navy surface ships, but it also had served as the homeport for several auxiliary ships during its operating history.

The Naval Vessel Register (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and disposal. It also includes ships that have been removed from the register, but not disposed of by sale, transfer to another government, or other means. Ships and service craft disposed of prior to 1987 are currently not included, but are gradually being added along with other updates.

Awards

American Campaign Medal ribbon.svg American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal ribbon.svg Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal ribbon.svg World War II Victory Medal

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References

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<i>Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships</i> book

The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS) is the official reference work for the basic facts about ships used by the United States Navy.

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