Ships
- USS Dayton (CL-105) Captain from 3 September 1947 · Relieved on 6 July 1948
Edward Robison Durgin commanded Dayton (CL-105) from 3 September 1947 to 6 July 1948. NavSource lists him as a captain and leaves the final-rank column blank. Uboat.net's career note calls him Admiral Edward R. Durgin and says he retired at the rank of admiral. The rank table on that page stops at temporary captain, 1 April 1943, and prints "Retired: Sep 1962."
He was born in Palmyra, New Jersey, on 14 January 1900. The Hall of Valor gives a home of Middle Haddam, Connecticut. No death date was on the pages fetched. His wife was the former Katherine B. Shaw of Maple Shade, New Jersey.
He joined the Navy at 18 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1922 as an ensign. He later earned a Master of Science at Columbia. In 1945 Franklin and Marshall College gave him an honorary doctorate. As a young officer he spent most of his time in submarines in the Atlantic and the Pacific. From 1934 to 1937 he commanded S-32 in the Pacific. From 1937 to 1940 he was assistant naval attaché in Berlin, as a lieutenant commander. Uboat.net dates him as a lieutenant commander from 23 June 1938, a temporary commander from 1 January 1942, a commander from 30 June 1942, and a temporary captain from 1 April 1943.
His first destroyer command was Niblack (DD-424), as a lieutenant commander, from 1 August 1940 to 31 July 1942. On 11 April 1941, while picking up survivors of the Dutch merchant Saleier, Niblack gained a sonar contact and he attacked it with three depth charges. Uboat.net says the episode is often mentioned as the first military action between Germany and the United States in the war, and that no U-boat reported being attacked that day in the area, so the contact was probably false. He then commanded Destroyer Division 26 and Destroyer Squadron 13. In 1943 and 1944 he served on the staff of the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, and returned to sea as commander of Destroyer Squadron 15. The career note says those sea commands included convoy duty and the assault forces at North Africa, Sicily, and Salerno.
The Hall of Valor prints a Legion of Merit, as a commander of a destroyer squadron, for the initial assault on Sicily: the squadron brought tanks to the beachheads on schedule and then gave fire support. The bulletin named is No. 321 of December 1943. A Gold Star in lieu of a second Legion of Merit, to a captain then a commander, is for a destroyer squadron at the assault in the Gulf of Salerno. The citation text says 9 September 1943. The page's action-date field says 9 September 1944. The printed citation, as saved, ends at the words "heavy enemy position." The bulletins named are No. 334 of January 1945 and No. 344 of November 1945. Uboat.net also lists a letter of commendation, a Bronze Star, and the British Distinguished Service Cross, and it prints "Gold Start" where the second Legion of Merit is the Gold Star. The career note does not mention Dayton.
Uboat.net says that after the war he was skipper of the cruiser Dayton from 1947 until 1948. NavSource is more exact: captain from 3 September 1947 to 6 July 1948. He relieved Captain James Merrill Fernald during the Mediterranean cruise and brought the ship back to Boston on 30 November 1947. Captain William Vincent O'Regan relieved him on 6 July 1948, after the second Mediterranean cruise had ended at Boston on 26 June. In 1958 he arrived at Brown University as a naval captain, in command of the Naval ROTC unit, and the same page says he retired from the Navy at the rank of admiral and, that same year, became dean of students. It then says he retired from that deanship in 1962, served briefly as acting director of athletics, and retired from that post in September 1962, remaining a short time as a consultant. The rank table's retirement date is September 1962. The page does not give a death date.