He served aboard the schooner Grampus in the West Indies Squadron in 1836–38, and on the steamer Poinsett off the Atlantic coast in 1839–41, receiving promotion to passed midshipman on June 22, 1841.

On 13 September 1861, Louisiana and the frigate Savannah engaged the Confederate steamer CSS Patrick Henry off Newport News, but shot from both sides fell short.

[1] In May 1862 Murray commanded a combined Army-Navy operation on Virginia's York and Pamunkey Rivers, destroying twenty-seven enemy vessels, including two large steamers, and approaching to within 11 miles (18 km) of Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy.

The purpose of the cruise was threefold; firstly to convey Fox to Russia as President Andrew Johnson's personal representative to Tsar Alexander II, secondly to demonstrate the monitor's ability to operate in the open sea, and thirdly to cultivate friendly international relations.

After a month's stay in Russia, during which the Tsar and members of the royal family visited the ships, they called at Stockholm, Sweden, Kiel, Germany, and ports in France, Portugal, and Spain.