Ships
- USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Captain from 14 October 1937
Harry Raymond Thurber was born in Hoquiam, Washington, on 24 October 1895. He entered the Navy as a midshipman on 17 June 1915. In the First World War he held a temporary appointment as lieutenant (junior grade) from 21 September 1918. He became a permanent lieutenant (junior grade) on 1 July 1920, a lieutenant on 3 June 1922, and a lieutenant commander on 1 November 1932.
On 14 October 1937 he commissioned the destroyer Ralph Talbot (DD-390) at the Boston Navy Yard and became her first commanding officer. The yard had laid the ship down on 28 October 1935 and launched her on 31 October 1936. She carried the name of Second Lieutenant Ralph Talbot, a Marine aviator from South Weymouth, Massachusetts, who received the Medal of Honor for air fighting over Belgium in October 1918 and died in a crash later that month. His mother, Mary Talbot, sponsored the ship.
Ralph Talbot was a Bagley-class destroyer, built for fleet work with four 5-inch guns, twelve torpedo tubes, and a speed of about 35 knots. Thurber took her through her first years in commission. She was still off the Boston yard in March 1938, and she then joined Destroyers, Battle Force, for duty in the eastern Pacific. He was promoted to commander on 1 October 1938 and stayed in command until 10 June 1940, while the ship was still on peacetime service.
He next commanded the destroyer Balch (DD-363), leaving her on 15 July 1940. On 19 June 1941 he took the fleet oiler Guadalupe (AO-32) and kept her until 24 May 1942. Those months placed him in the tanker force that fueled the Pacific Fleet in the opening year of the war. A temporary promotion to captain followed on 17 June 1942.
From 25 March 1944 to 20 January 1945 he commanded the light cruiser Honolulu (CL-48). The cruiser was back in the western Pacific that year. On 20 October 1944, while she supported the landings at Leyte, a Japanese aerial torpedo struck her and carried away much of the bow. She remained afloat and was ordered home for heavy repair. Thurber left the ship in January 1945.
His other assignments included operations officer for the South Pacific command, chief of staff to the commander of the Third Fleet, and director of public relations for the Navy Department. On 7 August 1947 he was promoted to rear admiral. His decorations included the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, and the Legion of Merit, together with the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. He died on 15 September 1967, at the age of seventy-one.