Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description		Contributed By And/Or Copyright
0601501	22k	John Arnold Austin was born in Warrior, Ala. on 30 August 1905. He 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 08 August, he detached from temporary duty in the submarine tender and reported for duty in Augusta (CA 31). On 04 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 05 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 07 December 1941, Chief Carpenter Austin was in Oklahoma. When the battleship capsized as a result of Japanese bombs and 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. USS Austin (DE 15) (1943-1945) was the first ship to be named in his honor. (Photo from War History Online)		Mike Smolinski Clifton, N.J. Archive Manager DE / FF / LCS Archive Navsource
0601502	135k	25 September 1943: Mare Island Naval Shipyard - USS Austin (DE 15) is being launched.		Darryl Baker PNCM, USNR (ret.) Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum
0601506	47k	Austin of the 'Evarts' type shown in camouflage measure 32/9D. She has four single hand-worked Bofors, for Pacific service. This gave her a close-range armament of six Bofors and ten Oerlikons. [U.S. Navy photo from the book "Allied Escort Ships of World War II (A Complete Survey)" by Peter Elliott]		Edib Krlicbegovic Bosnia - Hercegovina
0601503	77k	undated wartime image, shown in camouflage measure 32/9D		Jerry Church
0601510	331k	07 September 1944: USS Austin (DE 15) photographed off Dutch Harbor, Alaska		David Wright Geneva, N.Y. Manager, Navsource Destroyer Archive Yard / District Craft Archive
0601504	200k	07 November 1944: Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard		Pieter Bakels Wehl, The Netherlands
0601505	124k
0601507	459k	07 November 1944: San Francisco, Cal. - Two views of Austin's stern taken while she was at Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard		Ed Zajkowski Narvon, Pa.
0601508	208k
0601509	195k	January 1945: Pearl Harbor, Hi. - The U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Austin (DE 15) at Pearl Harbor, circa in January 1945.  She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 9D.  From 01 to 28 January, Austin conducted submarine training exercises south of the island of Oahu.  Note the South Dakota-class battleship in the background.  Per Bill Fessenden; It should be noted that DANFS mentions only one ship of that class in Pearl Harbor at the time, namely USS Indiana (BB 58).  BB 58 is stated to have been in Pearl Harbor from 12 Dec 44 until 10 Jan 45.  Of the other units in the class, USS South Dakota (BB 57) and USS Massachusetts (BB 59) were operating with Task Force 38 in the Western Pacific, while USS Alabama (BB 60) was enroute Puget Sound, having left Ulithi on 24 Dec 44.  BB 60 entered drydock on 18 Jan 45. (U.S. Navy photo from the USS Texas (BB 35) World War II cruise book)		Bob Hurst Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom

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Additional Resources

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Tin Can Sailors
The U.S. Navy Memorial
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