USS Murray (DD-576)

History
United States
Name	Murray
Namesake	Capt. Alexander Murray and his grandson Rear Adm. Alexander Murray
Builder	Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas
Laid down	16 March 1942
Launched	16 August 1942
Commissioned	20 April 1943 to 27 March 1946; 16 October 1951 to May 1966;
Fate	Sold for scrapping to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1966
General characteristics
Class and type	Fletcher-class destroyer
Displacement	2,050 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam	39 ft 8 in (12.09 m)
Draft	17 ft 9 in (5.41 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45,000 kW); 2 propellers
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	336
Armament	5 × single 5 in (127 mm)/38 guns; 5 × twin AA guns; 7 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns; 2 × quintuple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 6 × single depth charge throwers; 2 × depth charge racks;

The third USS Murray (DD/DDE-576) was a Fletcher-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. Murray was named for Capt. Alexander Murray and his grandson Rear Adm. Alexander Murray

Murray (DD-576) was

launched on 16 August 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Frank T. Leighton. The ship was commissioned

on 20 April 1943.

After shakedown in the Caribbean, Murray served on escort duty in the Atlantic Ocean, then sailed to join Destroyer Squadron 25 at Pearl Harbor in September 1943. Sailing with a carrier task force, Murray took part in strikes on Wake Island 5–6 October, then voyaged to the South Pacific to support the landings on Bougainville 8–9 November, splashing three enemy aircraft. Two days later, while covering US 3rd Fleet aircraft carriers in a strike against Rabaul, Murray shot down two of a force of about 150 enemy aircraft attacking her formation.

Hewing to a demanding pace of operations, Murray was on

Eniwetok. Two months of escort duty in the western ocean routes followed, until she joined in the bombardment of Kavieng, New Ireland

, 20 March.

Joining the

Leyte

. On 20–21 October, she conducted shore bombardment, moving in as close as reefs would allow to fire over the landing force into enemy installations and at the same time aiding in repelling enemy air attacks.

Departing the

Okinawa

operation, during which she screened battleships from submarine attack during the initial preinvasion bombardment. Hit by a Japanese bomb 27 March, she retired to Pearl Harbor for repairs.

While returning to the forward areas by way of Eniwetok, Murray was ordered 2 July to locate, board, and search Japanese hospital ship Takasago Maru, bound for Wake Island and suspected of carrying arms or supplies, contraband for a hospital ship. She located the ship the next day, but search revealed nothing in violation of international law, so the hospital ship was allowed to proceed to Wake to embark sick and wounded Japanese.^[1]

Rejoining her force, now

Kyūshū through the last 2 months of the war. In one of the most daring raids of the war, Murray and others of her squadron penetrated Suruga Bay, Honshū, 30 July to bombard the city of Shimizu

, perhaps the deepest penetration of Japanese waters by any surface craft during the war.

After World War II

One of the initial occupation force, Murray became the first ship in empire waters to bring in a Japanese submarine when the enemy undersea fleet began to surrender. On 27 August, aircraft of TF 38, patrolling off Honshū, located a submarine flying the black flag designated as the surrender signal, and Murray was ordered to intercept and take the craft into Tokyo Bay for internment. Her boarding party received the swords of I-14's officers that same day, and the submarine was escorted to the mouth of Sagami Bay. Murray was present in Tokyo Bay for the formal Japanese surrender 2 September, then 3 days later sailed for the United States. Inactivated at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Murray decommissioned 27 March 1946, and went into reserve at Charleston, South Carolina.

Korean War years

In June 1951, Murray began conversion to an escort destroyer, for which she had been designated DDE-576 on 2 January 1951. She recommissioned at Charleston 16 October 1951.

Early in 1952, Murray began East Coast and Caribbean training operations from her home port,

Mediterranean, serving in the hunter killer force of the 6th Fleet. Her 1954 tour was marked by an extension to northern European ports. In 1956, Murray operated with Nautilus and participated in a NATO convoy escort exercise in European waters. During much of 1956 she underwent yard overhaul, then in 1957 sailed round Cape of Good Hope for patrol duty in the Persian Gulf, the usual access to which was blocked by the closing of the Suez Canal

the previous autumn. With the canal free later in the spring, she joined the 6th Fleet in Mediterranean operations through August.

Between March 1958 and May 1961 Murray formed part of

NROTC midshipmen training cruises, voyaging to Canadian ports and Bermuda

.

1960s

In late May 1961, Murray was one of the rescue ships stationed along the route of President John F. Kennedy's flight to Paris, then participated in that summer's midshipmen cruise. Redesignated DD-576 on 30 June 1962, Murray rejoined TG Alfa for its development operations, which were interrupted for participation in the Cuban Quarantine in October and November 1962 that forced Soviet missiles out of Cuba and averted grave international complications. At 1633 on 27 October 1962, the Murray Deck Log contains the following entry: "Sonar contact bearing 212 2,000 yards." The Murray sonar gang classified the contact as a possible submarine After several hours of "ping time" at 2050 hours the same date the Murray Deck Log contains the following additional entry: "Submarine surfaced bearing 080, 3,900 yards. 4 hours and 17 minutes after initial contact by this ship at LAT 27-36N, LONG 65-56.5W." Thus Murray was the first U.S. Navy destroyer to gain and hold contact with the first of three Soviet submarines forced to surface during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After training off New England early in 1963, Murray returned to Caribbean patrols then came north for the midshipmen cruise.

Murray sailed 29 November 1963 for her first 6th Fleet deployment in six years, visiting French, Spanish, and Italian ports before returning to Norfolk 23 May 1964. She cleared Norfolk again 8 September for NATO Arctic operations, crossing the Arctic Circle 21 September, and visiting Amsterdam before returning to Norfolk 23 October.

Decommissioned in May 1966 at Norfolk, Murray was struck from the Navy list 1 June 1966, and sold for scrapping to

Baltimore, Maryland

, in 1966.

Murray received 11

battle stars for World War II

service.