View source for John Augustine Collins

{{Short description|Royal Australian Navy officer (1899–1989)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Use Australian English|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = [[Vice admiral (Australia)|Vice-Admiral]]
| name          = Sir John Augustine Collins
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|KBE|CB}}
| image         = John Collins 28AWM P00444 093 29.jpg
| alt           = 
| caption       = Captain John Collins in 1943
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1899|01|07|df=yes}}
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1989|9|3|1899|1|7|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Deloraine, Tasmania|Deloraine]], Tasmania
| death_place   = [[Sydney]], New South Wales
| placeofburial = 
| nickname      = 
| allegiance    = Australia
| branch        = [[Royal Australian Navy]]
| serviceyears  = 1913–1955
| rank          = [[Vice admiral (Australia)|Vice-Admiral]]
| servicenumber = 
| unit          = 
| commands      = [[Chief of Navy (Australia)|Chief of Naval Staff]] (1948–1955)<br/>[[Commander Australian Fleet|HM Australian Squadron]] (1944, 1945–1946)<br/>[[Task Force 44|Task Force 74]] (1944–1945)<br/>{{HMAS|Shropshire|73|6}} (1943–1944)<br/>China Force (1942)<br/>{{HMAS|Sydney|1934|6}} (1935–1937, 1939–1941)
| battles       = {{Tree list}}
* [[First World War]]
* [[Second World War]]
** [[Battle of the Mediterranean]]
*** [[Battle of Cape Spada]]
** [[Dutch East Indies Campaign]]
** [[Bougainville Campaign]]
** [[Battle of Cape Gloucester]]
** [[Battle of Noemfoor]]
** [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]]
{{Tree list/end}}
| awards        = [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]<br/>[[Companion of the Order of the Bath]]<br/>[[Mentioned in Despatches]]<br/>[[Order of Orange-Nassau|Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau]] (Netherlands)<br/>[[Legion of Merit|Officer of the Legion of Merit]] (United States)
| relations     = 
| laterwork     = High Commissioner to New Zealand (1956–1962)
}}
[[Vice admiral (Australia)|Vice-Admiral]] '''Sir John Augustine Collins''', {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|KBE|CB}} (7 January 1899 – 3 September 1989) was a [[Royal Australian Navy]] (RAN) officer who served in both [[World Wars]], and who eventually rose to become a vice admiral and [[Chief of Navy (Australia)|Chief of Naval Staff]]. Collins was one of the first graduates of the [[Royal Australian Naval College]] to attain flag rank. During the Second World War, he commanded the cruiser {{HMAS|Sydney|1934|6}} in the [[Battle of the Mediterranean|Mediterranean campaign]]. He led the Australian Naval Squadron in the [[Pacific War|Pacific theatre]] and was wounded in the first recorded [[kamikaze]] attack, in 1944.

==Early life and education==
John Augustine Collins was born in [[Deloraine, Tasmania]], to English parents in 1899.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.navy.gov.au/biography/vice-admiral-sir-john-augustine-collins|title=Vice Admiral Sir John Augustine Collins|publisher=Royal Australian Navy}}</ref> In 1913, at age 14, Collins joined the first intake to the [[Royal Australian Naval College|RAN College]].<ref name=bio/> He became a [[midshipman]] in January 1917, in time to see war service while attached to the [[Royal Navy]].<ref name=bio/>

==Second World War==
In the early [[Second World War]], Collins commanded {{HMAS|Sydney|1934|6}} in the [[Battle of the Mediterranean]].<ref name=bio/> ''Sydney'' led Allied ships which sank an [[Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni|Italian cruiser, ''Bartolomeo Colleoni'']], in the [[Battle of Cape Spada]], in July 1940. For this action, in 1940 he was appointed a [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34907 |supp=y|page=4653|date=26 July 1940}}</ref><ref>{{Cite It's an Honour |ausawardid=1064401 |date=26 July 1940 |recipient=Vice Admiral John Augustine COLLINS |award=The Order of the Bath – Companion (Military) (Imperial) |postnominal=CBE |citation=HMAS Sydney-Colleoni action |postscript= |access-date=24 December 2022 }}</ref>

Relations between the RAN and [[Royal Navy|British Royal Navy]] were close at the time, with frequent exchanges of officers between the two and in June 1941, Collins was transferred to [[Singapore]], as Assistant Chief of Staff to the British Naval Commander in Chief, [[China Station]], Vice Admiral [[Geoffrey Layton]].<ref name=bio/>

Following the outbreak of [[Pacific War|war with Japan]], Collins was appointed [[Commodore (RN)|Commodore]] Commanding China Force, the RN-RAN cruiser and destroyer force based in [[Jakarta|Batavia]], [[Dutch East Indies]], under the [[American-British-Dutch-Australian Command]].<ref name=bio/>

[[File:Members Australian Mission Group Japanese surrender P00046.051.JPG|thumb|left|Members of the Australian Mission Group at the Japanese surrender talks. Left to right: Commodore John Collins; Lieutenant General [[Frank Berryman]]; Captain [[Roy Dowling]]; Air Commodore [[Raymond Brownell]].]]

After the [[Battle of Singapore|fall of Singapore]] and the Allied defeat in the [[Battle of the Java Sea]], it became clear that the Dutch East Indies would be occupied by Japan. Collins organised the evacuation of Allied civilians and military personnel from Batavia, and was on one of the last ships to leave, before the [[Battle of Java (1942)|city fell]], in March 1942.<ref name=bio/> As a result, he was [[Mentioned in Despatches]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35823 |supp=y|page=5461|date=11 December 1942}}</ref> and was later made a Commander of the Dutch [[Order of Orange-Nassau]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Klemen |last=L |url= https://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/collins.html |title=Commodore John Augustine Collins |date=1999–2000 |work=Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942}}</ref>

Collins was then appointed Senior Naval Officer, Western Australia, based at [[Fremantle, Western Australia|Fremantle]].<ref name=bio/>

During 1943, Collins commanded {{HMAS|Shropshire|73|6}} and took part in the [[Bougainville campaign]], the [[Battle of Cape Gloucester]], and operations off the [[Admiralty Islands]] and [[Jayapura|Hollandia]] ([[Dutch New Guinea]]).<ref name=bio/>

In mid-1944, Collins was made commander of the Australian-[[United States Navy|US Navy]] [[Task Force 44|Task Force 74]], and commander of the Australian Naval Squadron, with {{HMAS|Australia|1927|6}} as his flagship. He became the first graduate of the RAN College to command a [[Squadron (naval)|naval squadron]] in action, during the [[Battle of Noemfoor|bombardment of Noemfoor]], on 2 July 1944.

Collins was badly wounded in the first kamikaze attack in history, which hit ''Australia'' on 21 October 1944, in the lead up to the [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]].<ref name=bio/> He did not resume his command until July 1945. When the war ended Collins was the RAN's representative at the surrender ceremony in [[Tokyo Bay]].<ref name=bio/>

==Post-war service and legacy==
Collins was appointed [[Chief of Navy (Australia)|Chief of Naval Staff]] in 1948, succeeding [[Louis Keppel Hamilton|Sir Louis Keppel Hamilton]], and held the position until 1955. He was knighted as a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in the 1951 [[New Year Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=39105 |supp=y|page=35|date=29 December 1950}}</ref><ref>{{Cite It's an Honour |ausawardid=1082346 |date=1 January 1951 |recipient=Vice Admiral John Augustine COLLINS, CB |award=The Order of the British Empire – Knights Commander (Military) (Imperial) |postnominal=KBE |citation= |postscript= |access-date=24 December 2022 }}</ref> He later served as [[List of Australian High Commissioners to New Zealand|Australia's High Commissioner to New Zealand]] (1956–1962).<ref name=bio/>

The latest class of Australian submarine, the [[Collins class submarine|''Collins'' class]] bears his name. The lead submarine, {{HMAS|Collins|SSG 73|6}}, was launched by his widow on 28 August 1993. Collins Road, a street in the north Sydney suburb of St Ives, and another in the town of Narooma was also named in his honour.<ref>{{cite book |author= |title=Australia's Argonauts: The remarkable story of the first class to enter the Royal Australian Naval College |publisher=Echo Books |location=Canberra |year=2016 |page=580 |isbn= }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |first= Klemen |last= L |date= 2000 |title= Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942 |url= https://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/index.html |access-date= 30 March 2021 |archive-date= 26 July 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110726053035/http://www.dutcheastindies.webs.com/index.html |url-status= dead }}

==External links==
{{commons}}
*[https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/fiftyaustralians/10 "Vice Admiral John Augustine Collins, KBE, CB", Australian War Memorial]

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box|
 title=[[Chief of Navy (Australia)|First Naval Member & Chief of Staff]]|
 before=Admiral [[Louis Keppel Hamilton|Sir Louis Hamilton]]|
 after=Vice Admiral [[Roy Dowling|Sir Roy Dowling]]|
 years=1948–1955|
}}
{{succession box|
 title=[[Commander Australian Fleet|Rear Admiral Commanding HM Australian Squadron]]|
 before=Commodore [[Harold Farncomb]]|
 after=Rear Admiral Harold Farncomb|
 years=1945–1946|
}}
{{succession box|
 title=Rear Admiral Commanding HM Australian Squadron|
 before=Rear Admiral [[Victor Crutchley]]|
 after=Captain [[Charles Nichols (Royal Navy officer)|Charles Nichols]]|
 years=June – October 1944|
}}
{{s-dip}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Peter Heydon]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Australian High Commissioners to New Zealand|Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand]]|years=1956–1962}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Donald Alastair Cameron]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Chief of Navy (Australia)}}
{{Fleet Commander of the Royal Australian Navy}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, John Augustine}}
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Tasmania]]
[[Category:Australian Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Australian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Australian Naval College]]
[[Category:High commissioners of Australia to New Zealand]]
[[Category:Officers of the Legion of Merit]]
[[Category:People educated at Parade College]]
[[Category:Royal Australian Navy admirals]]
[[Category:Royal Australian Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:People from Deloraine, Tasmania]]