Captain Emile Frank Verlaine Dechaineux, DSC

Date of birth	1902-10-03	Lanceston, TAS.
Date and unit at enlistment (ORs)	1915-12-31	Enlisted in the RAN.
Other	1916	Entered the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis Bay.
Other	1919	Graduated from the Royal Australian Naval College.
Date promoted	1920	Appointed midshipman.
Date returned to Australia	1924	Served on the HMAS Brisbane.
Date promoted	1925	Appointed lieutenant.
Other units	1925	Transferred to HMAS Melbourne.
Other	1926	Returned to England where he trained as a torpedo officer and naval air observor.
Date promoted	1932	Appointed lieutenant commander.
Other	1935	Appointed squadron torpedo officer in HMAS Canberra.
Other	1937	Attended the Royal Navy Staff College in England.
Date promoted	1937-06	Appointed commander.
Other units	1940-04	Given command of HMS Eglinton.
Date returned to Australia	1941	Returned to become director of operations at Navy Office, Melbourne.
Date of honour or award	1941-07-01	Awarded Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), for destorying German E boats after Dunkirk.
Other units	1942-11-23	Given command of HMAS Warramunga.
Date promoted	1942-12-31	Appointed captain.
Other	1943-06	Given command of Task Group 74.2 with tactical control of a destroyer formation that included United States Naval vessels.
Other	1944-03-05	Given comand of HMAS Australia.
Other	1944-10	Served in the Phillipines.
Date of death	1944-10-21	Died as of wounds incurred in an attack by a Japanese dive bomber during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Phillipines. Dechaineux was burried at sea.
Date of honour or award	1947-05-15	Posthumously awarded the American Legion of Merit in the Degree of Officer.
Other	1990	Collins Class submarine was named HMAS Dechaineux.