He also commanded the United States Second Fleet, held numerous diplomatic, educational, and administrative staff positions, and a served a lengthy tour of duty as President of the Naval War College.
He attended The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, from 1918 to 1920[2] before his appointment to the United States Naval Academy on 17 July 1920.
He then trained until June 1927 on board the minesweeper USS Chewink (AM-39), which was the station ship at Submarine Base New London, Connecticut.
[3] The position lent itself to his interest in oral communications and allowed him to develop it as a professional skill, and during his tour he delivered speeches written for him by United States Secretary of the Navy Charles Edison and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Harold R. Stark.
[5] Austin remained in the press relations assignment until August 1940, when he was sent to the United States Embassy in London, England, as deputy to Rear Admiral Robert L. Ghormley who, as Special Naval Observer there, was charged with negotiating the operational and technical details of cooperation between the Royal Navy and U.S. Navy in the event that the United States entered World War II.
While he was in command, Woolsey operated in the Atlantic Ocean, escorting convoys from North America to Iceland, the British Isles, and Puerto Rico.
[8] She also took part in Operation Torch, the Allied amphibious invasion of North Africa in November 1942, by which time Austin was a commander.
He also received the Silver Star Medal for gallantry while in command during November 1943,[4][13] and was awarded the Ribbon for the Presidential Unit Citation given to Destroyer Squadron 23 – the only destroyer squadron to receive a Presidential Unit Citation during World War II – for "extraordinary heroism in action against enemy Japanese forces during the Solomon Islands Campaign from November 1, 1943 to February 23, 1944.
During this period, he performed a one-year special-duty assignment at the Office of the Naval Attaché, London, England, as a student at the British Imperial Defence College.
In July 1950, immediately after the outbreak of the Korean War, he was sent to the Western Pacific to organize Service Squadron 3 and command it in logistics operations in support of the United Nations combat effort in Korea.
[17] He received a Gold Star in lieu of a second award of the Distinguished Service Medal for service during his college presidency, the citation saying that "Vice Admiral Austin drew upon his great wealth of wisdom and experience in a dedicated effort to enrich the postgraduate education of students at the Naval War College in the field of maritime strategy and its relationship to overall national and allied objectives and strategy” and praising his role in developing a program of annual conferences of presidents and directors of the war colleges of the Americas, saying they were "highly beneficial to professional and diplomatic relationships among the participants.?
[13] He then was assigned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel at the Department of the Navy in August 1967, serving there until 17 October 1967, when he was released from active duty and entered retirement.
[3] Ordered to return to active duty in June 1968, Austin was attached until 15 August 1968 and again from November to December 1968 to the staff of the Commander in Chief, United States Atlantic Fleet, to serve as president of a board of inquiry investigating the May 1968 disappearance of the submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) in the North Atlantic Ocean.