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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

ex-HMS Blackwood (BDE-15)
USS Austin (DE 15)


Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - P - E - Q
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
American Campaign Medal - Asia-Pacific Campaign Medal - WWII Victory Medal
Specifications:
Class: Evarts
Type: GMT (diesel-electric tandem motor drive, short hull, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1,140 tons (light), 1,430 tons (full)
Length: 283' 6" (wl), 289' 5" (oa)
Beam: 35' 0" (extreme)
Draft: 11' 0" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 4 GM Model 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, 6000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 19 kts
Range: 4,150 nm @ 12 knots
Armament: 3 - 3"/50 Mk22 (1x3), 1 - 1.1"/75 cal. Mk2 quad AA (4x1), 9 x 20mm Mk 4 AA, 1 Hedgehog Projector Mk10 (144 rounds), 8 Mk6 depth charge projectors, 2 Mk9 depth charge tracks
Complement: 15 / 183
Austin (DE 15) Building and Operational Data:
  • 14 March 1942: Keel laid as BDE-15 by the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, Cal.
  • 25 September 1942: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. W. C. Springer
  • 25 January 1943: Retained by U.S. Navy, redesignated DE 15
  • 13 February 1943: Commissioned as DE 15, Lcdr H. G. Claudius, USNR, in command
  • 19 February 1943: assigned the name Austin
  • 21 December 1945: Decommissioned at Terminal Island, Cal.
  • 8 January 1946: Struck from the NVR
  • 9 January 1947: Scrapping completed at the Terminal Island Naval Facility
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    Austin 128k Artist's conception of Austin by the renowned graphic illustrator John Barrett, with the text written by naval author and historian Robert F. Sumrall. Their company, Navy Yard Associates, offers prints of most destroyers, submarines and aircraft carriers in various configurations during the ship's lifetime. ALL the destroyer escorts ARE available in their WWII configuration. The prints can be customized with ship's patches, your photograph, your bio, etc. When you purchase artwork from them, please indicate that you heard about their work from Navsource. Navy Yard Associates
    Austin 135k 25 September 1943: Mare Island Naval Shipyard - USS Austin (DE 15) is being launched. Darryl Baker
    Austin 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
    Austin 77k undated wartime image, shown in camouflage measure 32/9D Jerry Church
    Austin 200k 7 November 1944: Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard Pieter Bakels
    Wehl, The Netherlands
    Austin 124k
    Austin 459k 7 November 1944: San Francisco, Cal. - Elevated view of Austin's stern taken while she was at Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard Ed Zajkowski
    Austin 208k 7 November 1944: San Francisco, Cal. - Another stern view taken from a lower elevation.
    View the USS Austin (DE 15) DANFS history entry
    located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    View a short article on the design and development of the Evarts Class DE submitted by Bob Sables.
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    None
    Note About Contacts

    Contact information is compiled from various sources over a period of time and may, or may not, be correct. Every effort has been
    made to list the newest contact. However, our entry is only as good as the latest information that's been sent to us. We list only
    a contact for the ship if one has been sent to us. We do NOT have crew lists or rosters available. Please see the Frequently Asked
    Questions section on Navsource's Main Page for that information.

    Additional Resources
    Destroyer Escort Sailors Association
    Tin Can Sailors
    The Destroyer History Foundation
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    This Page Created And Maintained by Mike Smolinski
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    by Paul R. Yarnall, All Rights Reserved.
    Page Last Updated 20 January 2012