USS Charles Ausburne (DD-570), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Charles L. Ausburne, a sailor in World War I who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
Charles Ausburne was launched 16 March 1942 by Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Tex.; sponsored by Mrs. W. H. Cotten; and commissioned 24 November 1942.
Charles Ausburnes first mission which took place between 1 April and 8 May 1943 was to escort a convoy from New York to Casablanca, returning with another. At Boston on 11 May, she joined Destroyer Squadron 23 upon its activation, and was assigned as flagship for Destroyer Division 45.
Guadalcanal and Solomon Islands campaigns
Sailing to the Pacific she arrived at Nouméa, New Caledonia, 28 June 1943 to begin a summer of patrol and escort duties supporting the conquest of Guadalcanal, guarding convoys to that island, and between such ports as Efate and Espiritu Santo. From 27 August, she was based at Port Purvis on Florida Island, in the Solomons, where she was part of a striking force designed to interrupt the passage of the "Tokyo Express", the nightly runs of Japanese destroyers evacuating troops from the Solomons to Bougainville and New Britain. Her first patrol "up the Slot" on the night of 27–28 August, was uneventful, and her first contact with the enemy came on 7 September, when her group came under enemy air attack. During this time, she guarded the movement of transports and LSTs redeploying men in the Solomons, and took part in experiments with night fighters.
It was on the night of 27–28 September 1943 that the enemy first felt Charles Ausburnes accurate fire, when she sank two barges in the waters off Vella Lavella. Early in October, she returned to Espiritu Santo for replenishment and training, and here on 23 October the squadron's most famous Commander, Captain Arleigh A. Burke, broke his pennant in Charles Ausburne. Under his command, the "Little Beavers", as he nicknamed the squadron, were to win an immortal place in naval history, recognized by the awarding of the Presidential Unit Citation. Their continual series of operations against Japanese naval forces and shore installations played a large part in the winning of the Solomon Islands, and Charles Ausburne was in the thickest action from 31 October 1943 to 23 February 1944.
Her support of the invasion of Bougainville began on the night of 31 October 1943, when her task force sortied from Port Purvis to neutralize the Japanese airfields at Buka with heavy gunfire. Charles Ausburne fired on shore batteries here and on the Shortlands, which the task force passed on its way south to refuel. In the early morning of 1 November, troops stormed ashore at Empress Augusta Bay, and word was received of the movement of four Japanese cruisers and six destroyers south from Rabaul to attack the transports off Bougainville. Immediately, Charles Ausburne and her force put north to meet and engage the enemy. First contact was made at 02:27, 2 November, when the targets were clear on the flagship's radar, and Charles Ausburne and three other "Little Beavers" maneuvered for a torpedo attack, which the Japanese evaded. Next, they finished off , already blazing from the attack of American cruisers, then sped at 32 knots to close on . With joining in the attack, Charles Ausburne sank the enemy destroyer, then dashed to the assistance of torpedo-damaged whom she escorted back to Purvis Bay at the close of this Battle of Empress Augusta Bay.