John Collins (admiral)
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Vice Admiral Sir John Augustine Collins, KBE, CB, RAN (1899-1989) was an Australian naval officer who served in World War I and World War II, and who eventually rose to become the First Naval Member of the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board and Chief of Naval Staff. Collins was one of the first graduates of the Royal Australian Naval College to attain flag rank. During World War II, he commanded the cruiser HMAS Sydney in the Mediterranean.
Early life and education
John Augustine Collins was born in Deloraine, Tasmania, in 1899. In 1913, aged 14, Collins joined the first intake to the RAN College; he became a midshipman in January 1917, in time to see war service while attached to the Royal Navy.
World War II
Collins' career advanced steadily between the world wars. At the outbreak of war in 1939 he held the positions of Assistant Chief of Naval Staff and Director of Military Intelligence.
In the early war years Collins commanded HMAS Sydney in the Mediterranean. Australians celebrated a great naval victory when the Sydney sunk the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni in July 1940. Collins left Sydney before it was tragically sunk during November 1941.
In 1943 Collins commanded HMAS Shropshire and took part in operations at Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, the Admiralties, and Hollandia. He was later Commodore Commanding the Australian Naval Squadron, with HMAS Australia as his flagship. Badly wounded by a Japanese suicide attack at Leyte Gulf in October 1944, 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.
Post-war service and legacy
Collins was appointed Chief of Naval Staff in 1948 and held the position until 1955. He later served as Australia’s High Commissioner to New Zealand (1956–62).
The latest class of Australian submarine, the Collins class bears his name. The first of these, HMAS Collins, was launched by his widow in 1993.