[1] Leary remained in the Navy following the war and held many important assignments, including command of cruiser USS Portland and later as Director of Fleet Training Division.

Following the United States' entry into World War II, he already held a flag rank and commanded the ANZAC Force based in Australia.

Due to disputes with General Douglas MacArthur, Leary was ordered back to the United States and served as commander, Eastern Sea Frontier in New York City until the end of the war.

He attended public schools in Washington, D.C., and later studied at the École cantonale d'art de Lausanne, Switzerland, before received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in May 1901.

[6] Leary graduated with distinction on January 31, 1905, with Bachelor of Science and joined the battleship USS Kentucky, then stationed at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba as Passed Midshipman.

While aboard Virginia, Leary was promoted to ensign on February 2, 1907, and appointed aide to the Commander Second Division, First Squadron, Atlantic Fleet, Rear Admiral Charles H.

He was promoted to lieutenant on January 31, 1910, and completed the instruction in April in that year, when he joined newly commissioned battleship USS North Dakota.

[4][7][8] Leary remained in command of Preston until December 1912, when he was transferred to the Bureau of Ordnance under Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss for duty as a member of the Joint Army and Navy Board on Gun Forgings.

Leary was appointed gunnery officer on the staff of Battleship Division Nine under Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman, operating in European waters with the British Grand Fleet.

While in this capacity, Leary served as technical advisor with the American delegation at the conference on the control of trade in arms, munitions and implements of war at the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, in April 1925.

[4] He returned to the United States in June 1926 and joined the staff of Commander Destroyer Squadrons, Battle Fleet and served as aide to Rear Admiral Frank H. Schofield until October 1928.

Leary served in that capacity until June 1934, when he was appointed Chief of Staff, Commander, Destroyers, Battle Force under Rear Admiral Edward C. Kalbfus.

[4][11] Upon promotion to the rank of rear admiral on June 1, 1938, Leary returned to Washington and assumed duty as director of fleet training, the position he held two years previously.

While in this capacity, his main responsibility was the training of the battleship crews, maintenance of the ships and to provide combat ready naval forces to the operational commanders within the Pacific Fleet.

[1][2][5][4] Following his return stateside, Leary reverted to his permanent rank of rear admiral and assumed duty as commandant, Fifth Naval District with headquarters at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia.

[4] At the end of the war, Leary accepted surrender of two German U-boats and also held additional duty as commander-in-chief, Sixteenth Fleet, an inactive reserve of 1,000 combatant ships.

[3][5][4] Leary resigned as president of the New York State Maritime College on June 1, 1951, upon reaching the age 66 and settled in Jamestown, Rhode Island, where he was active in golf and tennis and the Episcopal Church.

Vice Admiral Herbert F. Leary died following a long illness on December 3, 1957, aged 72, in Naval Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island.