Bernard L. Austin Papers
Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm84061725
General International Standard for Archival Description
Manuscript Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2008
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Bernard L. Austin Papers 1916-1979 (bulk 1937-1968)
Austin, Bernard L. (Bernard Lige), 1902-1979
Biographical History for: Bernard L. Austin Papers 1916-1979 (bulk 1937-1968)
Biographical Note Date Event 1902, Dec. 15 Born, Wagener, S.C. 1918-1920 Attended The Citadel, Charleston, S.C. 1924 Graduated, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. 1924-1926 Served aboard New York (battleship) 1925 Married Isabella Murray Leith 1927-1931 Served aboard submarines R-10 and R-6 1931-1934 Taught physics and chemistry, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. 1934-1937 Commanded R-11 (submarine) 1937-1941 Press relations officer, Navy Department; special naval observer, Ghormley mission to Great Britain 1942 Commanded Woolsey (destroyer) in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters; assisted in the sinking of German submarine off Casablanca, Morocco 1943 Commanded Foote (destroyer), Destroyer Division 46, and Destroyer Squadron Fourteen in South Pacific; participated in battles off Bougainville, British Solomon Islands 1944-1945 Assistant chief of staff for administration to Chester Nimitz, commander in chief Pacific (CINCPAC) 1946-1947 Attended United States National War College, Washington, D.C. 1949 Attended Imperial Defense College, London, England 1950 Commanded Service Squadron Three in Korean waters 1951-1954 Assistant director and director, International Affairs Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations 1954-1955 Commanded Cruiser Division Two 1956-1958 Director, joint staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1958-1959 Commanded Second Fleet 1959-1960 Deputy chief of naval operations for plans and policy 1960-1964 President, Naval War College, Newport, R.I. 1963 President, court of inquiry investigating the loss of the Thresher (submarine) 1964-1967 Chairman, Inter-American Defense Board 1968 President, court of inquiry investigating loss of the Scorpion (submarine) 1979, Aug. 21 Died, Bethesda, Md.
Scope and Content Note The papers of Bernard Lige Austin (1902-1979), a naval officer who achieved distinction as a commander of submarines and destroyers and as an administrator, educator, military diplomat, and press officer, span the years 1916-1979, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1937-1968. The collection is organized into series of Correspondence, Speeches and Writings, Subject File, Classified, Top Secret, and North American Treaty Organization. Austin attended The Citadel at Charleston in his native South Carolina before matriculating at the United States Naval Academy, from which he was graduated in 1924. His first independent command was as captain of the submarine R-11 during 1934-1937. In the late 1930s, while serving as a press officer for the Navy Department, Austin wrote articles on submarine warfare for the Encyclopedia Britannica and the World Book Encyclopedia. His submarine expertise was again called on late in his career when he presided over courts of inquiry investigating the loss of the nuclear powered submarines Thresher (1963) and Scorpion (1968). Despite his many years in submarines, Austin's principal achievements came during his command of destroyers. His submarine experience proved useful in his first destroyer command, the Woolsey, in 1942 when he participated in the sinking of a German U-boat off Casablanca during Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa. In 1943, Austin commissioned the destroyer Foote and sailed it to the South Pacific, where he assumed the command of Destroyer Division Forty-Six, which with Destroyer Division Forty-Five comprised Destroyer Squadron Twenty-Three, Arleigh Burke's famed "Little Beavers", the only World War II destroyer squadron to be awarded a presidential citation. In November 1943, Austin participated in two battles off the coast of Bougainville, British Solomon Islands, which resulted in the sinking of at least nine Japanese warships. He was awarded the Navy Cross and promoted to commodore, making him the youngest flag officer in the Navy at that time. His postwar commands included the supply ships of Service Squadron Three in Korean waters during 1950 and Cruiser Division Two (1954-1955) and the Second Fleet (1958-1959) in the Atlantic. Most of Austin's sea duty is well documented in the correspondence series. Included in the Subject File is a substantial amount of material on his World War II destroyer commands, "R" class submarines, submarine warfare in the early part of World War II, and the Thresher and Scorpion inquiries. During 1944-1945, Austin served as assistant chief of staff for administration to Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of Allied naval forces in the Pacific (CINCPAC). Other administrative postings included stints on the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee (1945-1946) and the staff of the National Security Council (1947-1948). During 1956-1958 he was director of the joint staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and during 1959-1960 he served as deputy chief of naval operations for plans and policy. All of these administrative and policy billets are well represented in the correspondence, and there are subject files on the National Security Council, State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee, and the reorganization of the armed services after World War II. From 1960 to his retirement as vice admiral in 1964, Austin served as president of the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., where he emphasized the coordination of curricula among armed forces graduate institutions. Approximately one-fourth of the correspondence results from Austin's years as president of the Naval War College, and several folders on the college, such as minutes of the academic board, are included in the Subject File. Austin's first foray into military diplomacy was as a member of the Ghormley mission to Great Britain 1940-1941. The task of Admiral Robert Lee Ghormley, "special naval observer," was to negotiate the policy and technical details of naval cooperation between the United States and Great Britain in the event of United States entry into World War II. Austin, as Ghormley's deputy, was the only mission member other than the admiral to participate in all of the meetings with the British political and naval leadership, which included Winston Churchill and Admiral Sidney Bailey. Other postings involving foreign relations were as assistant director and eventually director of the Navy's International Affairs Division (1951-1954) and as chairman of the Inter-American Defense Board (1964-1967). Correspondence from the 1940-1941 period includes letters from Robert Ghormley. Austin corresponded with many South American naval officers during his service on the Inter-American Defense Board and maintained substantial contact through the 1970s with the Brazilian admiral Levy A. Reis. Subject files also includes material on the Ghormley mission and United States-British naval relations during the World War II period. Austin felt that his role as Navy Department press relations officer during the period 1937-1940 was a major factor in his achieving flag rank. As a press officer, he developed his interest in oral communication into a professional skill. Some of the speeches in the Speeches and Writings File were ghostwritten by him for key naval civilian officials and admirals, such as secretary of the navy Charles Edison and chief of naval operations Harold R. Stark. Austin's correspondents during the period 1937-1940 included Hanson Baldwin, military correspondent of the New York Times. The Subject File contains detailed material on Austin, including biographical sketches, orders, and personnel records. Prominent correspondents not previously cited include George Whelan Anderson, Richard W. Bates, Wallace M. Beakley, Arleigh A. Burke, Richard G. Colbert, Richard L. Conolly, Robert L. Dennison, Neil K. Dietrich, Henry Effingham Eccles, Ernest McNeill Eller, Philip D. Gallery, Anthony Harrigan, John Tucker Hayward, Edwin Palmer Hoyt, Dennys W. Knoll, Leland Pearson Lovette, K. M. McManes, Charles L. Melson, Thomas H. Moorer, Chester W. Nimitz, Howard E. Orem, Robert C. Peniston, Paul H. Ramsey, W. R. Smedburg III, A. B. Vosseller, and Frank T. Watson.
series
Correspondence, 1924-1979
Letters sent and received with attached related matter.
file
Family, 1936-1979, undated
General
1924, Sept.-1943, Dec.
1944, Jan.-1951, Aug.
1951, Sept.-1954, Dec.
1955, Jan.-1958, Mar. See also Classified , Top Secret , and North Atlantic Treaty Organization
1958, Apr.-1959, Aug. See also Classified and North Atlantic Treaty Organization
1959, Sept.-1961, July
1961, Aug.-1962, Aug.
1962, Sept.-1963, Dec.
1964, Jan.-Oct.
1964, Nov.-1967, May See also Classified
1967, June-1979, Aug., undated See also Classified
Speeches and Writings, 1924-1967
Speeches, statements, articles, article outlines, and poems by Austin and others.
Speeches
By Austin
1963-1967, undated See also Classified
Undated
By others
1952-1964, undated
Ghostwritten by Austin, 1939-1948, undated
Writings
By Austin, 1924-1953, undated
Poems, 1955, undated
Prose, 1931-1940, undated
Subject File, 1916-1974
Correspondence, awards, citations, newspaper clippings, drawings, cartoons, ship logs, maps, nautical charts, battle reports, press releases, notes, research material, orders, biographical sketches, resumes, personnel records, chronologies, administrative histories, minutes of meetings, records related to courts of inquiry, lectures, and transcripts of telephone conversations.
Aircraft carriers
Constellation fire, 1961
Forrestal christening, 1954
Awards, certificates, and citations, 1942-1964, undated
Biographical material, 1946-1960, undated
Burke, Arleigh, 1955, 1961, undated
Cartoons and drawings, undated
Charts and maps, 1916-1946, undated
Cruiser Division Two, 1951-1955, undated
Destroyers
Battles and operations, 1943-1963, undated
Converse, 1945
Destroyer Division Forty-Six, 1943
Destroyer Squadron Fourteen, 1944
Foote, 1943-1945, undated
Woolsey, 1942, undated
Imperial Defense College, London, England, 1948-1949
Inter-American Defense Board, 1964-1967, undated
International Affairs Division, United States Navy (OP-35), 1952-1953, undated
Miscellaneous, 1941-1959, undated
National Security Council, 1951-1953, undated
National War College, Washington, D.C., 1949, undated
Naval War College, Newport, R.I.
Academic Board Meetings, 1960-1964
Global strategy discussions, 1959
Miscellaneous, 1961-1963, undated
Lectures, 1952-1963
Second Conference of the War Colleges of the Americas, 1963
Reference cards, 1960-1963, undated
Navy News, Guam edition, Orders and personnel records, 1924-54 (5 folders) 1945
Orders and personnel records,
1955-1968, undated
Press Relations Department, Navy Department, 1939, 1974, undated
Press releases,
Reorganization of armed services, 1944-1960, undated
Service Squadron Three, 1951-1953, undated
State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee, 1945, undated
Submarines
Encyclopedia articles by Austin, 1938-1940, undated
Miscellaneous, 1927-1940, undated
"R" class submarines, 1930-1937, undated
Scorpion
Correspondence, 1968-1969, undated
Miscellaneous, 1968, undated
Squalus, 1939, undated
Thresher
Correspondence
Miscellaneous, 1963
Official, 1963
Summary of events, 1963 See also Classified
Telephone conversations, 1963
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE),. 1955-1956, undated
United States-British naval relations
Administrative History of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe, 1940-46, 1947
ComNavEu monograph, United States-British Naval Relations 1939-1942, 1947, undated
Ghormley mission
Interview with Austin, 1966
Memoranda and notes, 1940-1941
Miscellaneous, 1940-1941, undated
U.S.-British Naval Cooperation 1940-45, undated
Classified, 1955-1967
Documents containing national security information removed from the collection.
1955, Jan.-June (Container 4)
1955, July-Aug. (Container 4)
1955, Sept.-Dec. (Container 4)
1958, Apr.-May (Container 5)
1958, June-July (Container 5)
1958, Oct.-Dec. (Container 5)
1959, Jan.-May (Container 5)
1965, Mar.-Aug. (Container 10)
1965, Sept.-Dec. (Container 10)
1966, Jan.-Apr. (Container 10)
1966, Aug.-Dec. (Container 10)
1967, Jan.-May (Container 10)
1967, June-Dec. (Container 11)
Speeches and Writings
By Austin, 1966 (Container 14)
Subject File
Thresher, summary of events, 1963 (Container 23)
Top Secret, 1955
General, 1955, Jan.-June, undated (Container 4)
North American Treaty Organization, 1955-1959