COMMANDING OFFICER
USS Leahy (DLG-16)
4 May 1968 - 22 July 1969
CAPTAIN WILLIAM B. MURRAY, JR., U. S. NAVY
Captain Murray enlisted in the Navy, at the age of eighteen, on the 9th of September 1939. He served in Destroyer Force and Service Force ships until he was commissioned an ensign in 1944. Following amphibious training at Little Creek, Virginia he became executive officer of the USS LSM 233 and participated in the first day landings at Leyte and Lingayen Gulf. He left the Navy in 1945 to attend the University of Florida where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. Recalled to active duty in 1950, he joined the USS WHITE MARCH (LSD-8) as operations officer. He completed a tour in the Amphibious Branch, Office of Naval Research before he returned to sea as operations officer of the USS LAFFEY (DD-724). In 1955 he was transferred to the USS LOWRY (DD-770) where he served as executive officer until August of 1956, when he reported for instruction at the Armed Forces Staff College. He then served in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations before taking command of the USS HUSE (DD-145). He returned to sea, after tours with the Supreme Allied Commander and instruction at the Army War College, to command the USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (DD-823). He was assigned to the Joint Staff, Joint Chiefs of Staff before commanding the USS SALAMONIE (AO-26) - 9 September 1966 to 15 December 1967. The Captain comes to LEAHY directly from the SALAMONIE.
Many years ago I worked for a very fine Admiral in the Pentagon. I was about to leave for command of my first ship;
the Admiral had finished ship commands and said the following. “If I had to make a choice between command of a
cruiser and attaining flag rank I would choose the cruiser every time. There is nothing to compare with commanding
a cruiser in the United States Navy.
This discussion always remained in my mind until I retired and I will always be grateful to the Navy for entrusting
me with Command of the U.S.S. Leahy and I when I was relieved of command in July 1970 I considered that the high
water mark in my career.
When negotiating for my next assignment after the Leahy the captain detailer and I engaged in some heated discussions on where and what. I was basically completing back to back sea tours as a Captain having departed from the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in August 1966. The U.S.S. Salamonie AO 26, one of the oldest ships in the Navy, was a problem and re-commissioning the Leahy was no easy chore either. After almost four years I was tired and being ex-enlisted I really had no illusions about flag rank. The detail officer said it must be the Pentagon again if I had any hopes of promotion, I held out for staying in the Norfolk area. He finally said I could have the Plans Officer (J-5) at CINCLANT/CINCLANTFLT but that would be it! I said fine it was just what would be a fine end to my career. Big office, use of a car, and other perks, more than I would have in Washington as a Flag Officer. As it turned out I also had the use of a helicopter. Qualification was no problem since I had served in Strategic Plans in OPNAV and JCS staff. So I became the Assistant Chief of Staff Plans (J-5) CINCLANT, the Assistant Chief of Staff Plans (N-5) CINCLANTFLT, and the Assistant Chief of Staff Plans (W-5) CINCWESTLANT (NATO). A job now filled by a Major General Air Force, Rear Admiral USN, and a Captain USN. We still had 600 ships in the Fleet then also.
In preparation for the job I was given the “grand tour” of the Caribbean Islands. From Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti on to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Staying for several days at each place on the Islands. This was because CINCLANT was responsible for preparing all the contingency and evacuation plans for the Caribbean. This was a good start for a good job. The Joint Chiefs of Staff required that all Unified Commanders such as CINCLANT review and update all their General War and Contingency plans each year. This is a fairly large order and I had 140 Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Colonels and Lt. Colonels to accomplish the task.
My biggest accomplishment while I filled billet was digitizing all the plans and putting a computer monitor on each plans officer’s desk so he could revise his plan on the computer instead of tedious re-typing each year. This saved much yeoman typing and we could print the plan out right from the computer.
I made several trips to the Panama Canal Zone in place of Admiral Duncan and was given the same amenities and
courtesies as the Admiral would have received at USSOUTHCOM conferences. I also made a couple of trips to
Norway in the same capacity. I visited the Pentagon, OPNAV and JCS on a routine basis using the Admiral’s
helicopter to go direct from the CINCLANT compound to the Pentagon Helo pad. The trip took about an hour
or less and I could make the trip in less time than it took for many of the Pentagon people to commute in the morning.
I also traveled with the Admiral or his Deputy to visit various commands. We used special mission aircraft
that were as well fitted out as many “corporate aircraft”, food, drinks and the works. All in all I still believe
I had made the right choice. As I came near to the end of my tour and was ready to retire, Admiral Duncan asked
me to take the billet as Financial Controller for the Supreme Allied Command Atlantic. He had examined my record
and found I had a degree in Business Administration and had served a previous tour in SACLANT. I was nominated
to the NATO Council, accepted, and appointed to the command.
FINANCIAL CONTROLLER - SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER ATLANTIC
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) handles it’s funding somewhat differently that the United States
conducts the funding of the Military Services. Each year the major NATO Commanders submit a budget for the following
year, the NATO budget Committee works the budgets over and then submits the budgets to the NATO Council for approval.
On approval the NATO Countries then provide the cash and the cash is then given to the Financial Controllers. He
then invests the cash and in turn doles out cash to his subordinate financial controllers. In my case the subordinates
were Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic (CINCEASTLANT), Commander-in-Chief Iberian Atlantic (CINCIBERLANT), Commander-in-Chief
Western Atlantic (CINCWESTLANT), The Anti-Submarine Research Center in La Spezia Italy, and finally an office in
the Brussels NATO headquarters, manned by a Dutch Vice Admiral.
We were all supposed invest our cash each year and get at least 8% a year on the deal. In Italy it sometimes
went as high as 18%, which caused problems in keeping tabs on it. The biggest problem for me was the ASW
center in Italy. It was a very expensive laboratory to support and had a large civilian payroll with workers from
many NATO COUNTRIES. Except for United States employees it was a very good deal because they were exempt from National
income taxes. I was responsible for all pay and allowances for all but U.S. Nationals, they came under U.S. Civil
Service.
Because of my responsibilities to keep a “handle on affairs” I normally made a weeklong, round trip to London,
Brussels, La Spezia, and Lisbon almost every three months. I usually took my Deputy (a CPA) or a couple of auditors
along to sort out problems. European finances are much more devious and difficult that ours, particularly when
hard cash is involved. These were difficult trips and I often returned to Norfolk in sad condition. No pleasure
trips here.
I did make many friends among the various NATO commands and did enjoy various perks. When it came time for me to
retire, Admiral Cousins, then Supreme Commander suggested that he could easily convert my job to civilian, as the
other two NATO Financial Controllers were and I could continue. I declined saying it was hard enough getting “action”
with four stripes on my sleeves.
In December 1973, the Rear Admiral serving as Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations Plans and Policy was transferred
to the European Command before his relief arrived. So I was appointed to this billet also. The rational being that
since I had successfully filled the job for Commander in Chief Atlantic I could fulfill the same for the NATO counterpart.
It worked out OK but the ASW laboratory in La Spezia didn’t like it too much because they the came directly under
me for Operations as well as financial considerations.
The four years turned out to be very interesting and productive and I resurrected many business and financial principles
I had forgotten. Also by the time I retired on 1 May 1974 both my daughters had finished school and were well launched
on their separate ways so there were only the two of us.
My retirement was a simple affair conducted in Admiral Ralph Cousin’s office. I received my second Legion of Merit and left quietly. I could have had the full ceremony with parade of the Marine Guard and CINCLANFLT band but I was afraid the ceremony would cause me to break down and weep. Just the playing of the Star Spangled Banner can bring me close to tears. Part of my job at SACLANT was to occasionally take the morning parade and that always gave me great inspiration.
After retirement from the Navy I half-heartedly looked for a civilian job but I definitely didn’t want to be
a stockbroker or insurance peddler so I found nothing that interested me. After a year in Virginia Beach we decided
to move to Florida close to my wife’s parents in Sun City Center, FL. It was a retirement community of modest homes
with two 18-hole golf courses and more building. We purchased a nice 3-bedroom house, joined the social activities
including square dancing, bridge, and golf. For about 12 years I played 4 to 5 rounds of golf a week, swam in the
pool every day, and square-danced 2 or 3 times a week. After a while it began to seem more like work than
play! In the early 1980s the first affordable personal computers began to appear and I bought a Commodore
64. Then came video cameras and I was hooked and spending much more time with the computer and video camera than
on the golf course. About the same time both my wife and I began to realize that the only people we saw and dealt
with were old retirees like ourselves, there were no young people to interact with. We decided first to get out
of any retirement communities. We took a detailed look around Florida and found nothing we liked. On our yearly
trip back to see me relatives in Connecticut we both decided the Groton/New London area was for us. Many of our
long standing friends and all my relatives still lived in the area and we both had grown up in New London.
We made our move in 1989 and we were swept up in the activities just as if we had never left 50 years before. I
found I was qualified to join the Society of Mayflower Descendants and became quite involved both in the Connecticut Society and the General
Society based in Plymouth, MA. A few years later I was appointed to be Chairman of the Computer Committee of
the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.
This voluntary occupation kept me exceedingly busy until I had two heart attacks several years later. I still serve
as a member of the committee and adviser to the Connecticut Society but have severely limited my activities. I
don't travel well anymore. However, I do get around and try to get in my daily walks. It is particularly gratifying
to be here in Groton and I can get down to Eastern Point Beach almost daily and see the traffic here in Long Island
Sound. Not many of my kind of ships come and go but occasionally we get an Arleigh Burke type destroyer in for
a few days. The Coast Guard sailing ship "Eagle" is our most visible resident and a beauty to see under
full sail. I get to see all the most recent type submarines going in and out from the Sub Base and Electric Boat
yard here in Groton.
As I have previously noted, I don't think many of the people that re-commissioned the Leahy in 1968-69 realized
what a miracle they had accomplished in the reinstalling of the combat systems by a whole new method and the engineers
shifting
from black oil to distillate fuel. Also we brought the ship up to a high standard of readiness without the assistance
of the training command at Guantanamo Bay. When we fired the first SM-1 missiles on the range at Roosevelt Roads
and completed the acceptance INSURV inspection enroute from San Juan to Norfolk it was a first! I'm afraid I was
so busy keeping ADM. Bulkeley happy that I didn't give enough credit to many of the crew who contributed so heavily
to our success. They were all especially picked for the job and it showed in their performance.
I have often said that the Leahy was my "gift Cadillac" after a long career in the Navy.
Thanks to all of the people who made it perform so well.
At age 82 I still have all my physical facilities and am able to drive and get around to various activities I am interested in. I don’t travel far and move slowly but still enjoy life. My biggest activity at the moment is transferring all my family videotapes to DVD disks for preservation. I keep contact with old shipmates and friends via e-mail exchanging info and pictures. (Groton, Connecticut - 27 August 2003)
Further biographical info is here
Captain William B. Murray Jr.
CO - USS Leahy (DLG-16)
4 May 1968 - 22 July 1969