Ships
- USS Aylwin (DD-355) Captain, 7 January 1943 – 11 October 1943
- USS Robinson (DD-562) Captain from 19 March 1945
Lieutenant Commander Ray Edward Malpass was born on 23 July 1906 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1930. In the Pacific war he commanded two destroyers, the Farragut-class Aylwin and later the Fletcher-class Robinson.
He became captain of Aylwin on 7 January 1943. The ship was at San Francisco, just out of a repair period at the Mare Island Navy Yard after earlier wartime service that reached back to Pearl Harbor. On 8 January she sailed for Alaska with Bancroft and Dale and was at Dutch Harbor by the middle of the month. For about three months Malpass kept her on escort duty among the Aleutian bases. She then shifted south to work with the escort carrier Nassau while that ship trained an air group, and afterward returned north.
The next operation was Attu. American troops began landing on 11 May 1943, and Aylwin supported the assault. In July and August the focus moved to Kiska. On the night of 8 and 9 July the destroyer shelled Japanese antiaircraft positions, making two passes at the island. On the evening of 2 August she bombarded the main Japanese camp. The garrison had withdrawn on 28 July, and the camp was empty when the shells arrived. Soldiers who landed on 15 August occupied Kiska without opposition.
Aylwin left the Aleutians on 31 August 1943 and returned to San Francisco. Malpass remained her captain until 11 October 1943, while the ship was still on the California coast.
On 19 March 1945 he took command of Robinson. He stayed with that destroyer through the close of the Pacific war and the early months of peace, and left her on 1 April 1946.