USS MURRAY DD-97

THE ALEXANDER MURRAYS

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, May 2022

While the first Murray retained the name she carried at the time of her acquisition during the Great War [World War I]; the second two U.S. Navy ships named Murray hoinored  for Capt. Alexander Murray and Rear Adm. Alexander Murray, his grandson.

The elder Alexander Murray was born on 12 July 1755 in Chestertown, Md. During the Revolution, he served as captain in the 1st Maryland Regiment, commanded several privateers, and was commissioned lieutenant in the Continental Navy on 20 July 1781, returning to private life in 1785. Upon the organization of the U.S. Navy, Murray was commissioned captain on 1 July 1798, and commanded Montezuma, Insurgente, and Constellation during the Quasi‑War with France; Constellation against the Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean 1801‑1803; and Adams in home waters in 1805. From 1808 until his death 6 October 1821, Murray was superintendent of gunboats at Philadelphia, and from 8 July 1813 also was first commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

His grandson, born on 2 January 1816 in Pittsburgh, Pa. , was appointed midshipman 22 August 1835 and participated in the capture of Alvarado, Tobasco, Tuxpan, Vera Cruz, and Tampico during the Mexican War. In the Civil War he commanded a combined Army‑Navy operation up the York and Pamunky Rivers in February 1862, destroying 27 Confederate vessels while cruising within 11 miles of Richmond. He served in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the rest of the war. In 1866‑67 he commanded a special squadron cruising to Russia, then, as his grandfather before him had done, served as commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, then on the Lighthouse Board, and in command of the Pacific Station. He died on 10 November 1884 in Washington, D.C.