About Leonard W. Murray
Rear Admiral Leonard Warren Murray, CB, CBE (22 June 1896 – 25 November 1971) was an officer in the Royal Canadian Navy who played a central role in the Battle of the Atlantic, and was the only Canadian to command an Allied theatre of operations during World War II. Murray was in the inaugural cohort at the Royal Naval College of Canada, and entered naval service in 1913 on the British armoured cruiser HMS Berwick. He served as a junior officer throughout World War I on Canadian and British ships, and witnessed the surrender of the German fleet at Scapa Flow. Between the wars, at a time when the Canadian navy had few ships of its own, Murray moved steadily up the ranks serving on British ships and studying at the Royal Naval Staff College in the United Kingdom. He commanded the Canadian destroyer HMCS Saguenay, as well as naval bases on Canada's east and west coasts. Commencing his World War II service as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Murray played a key role in negotiations with the United States and the UK on rapidly expanding the Canadian Navy. He was a founding member of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence and helped negotiate the destroyers-for-bases deal. In late 1940, Murray was placed in command of a fleet of five Canadian ships dispatched to defend the UK. From there, he was reassigned to command positions on Canada's east coast, initially in command of the Newfoundland Escort Force, then Commanding Officer Atlantic Coast. Following the Atlantic Convoy Conference of March 1943, Murray was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Canadian Northwest Atlantic, and successfully led Canadian, British, American and other Allied naval and air forces to victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. Murray was controversially blamed for allowing sailors to take shore leave in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on VE Day, a decision that is believed to have contributed to the Halifax Riot of 7–8 May 1945. Following the riot, Murray retired from the Royal Canadian Navy and moved to the UK, where he practiced law and became active in local politics. At 14 years of age, Murray left Pictou Academy to join the first intake of 21 recruits into the Royal Naval College of Canada in Halifax, which had just been created by the Naval Service Act of 4 May 1910. Upon return to Canada in January 1929, Murray was promoted to commander and became the senior naval officer at CFB Esquimalt on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. From there, Murray became a founding member of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence (PJBD).
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