He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in June 1925, served 3 years on the battleship USS Maryland, then qualified in submarines at New London, Connecticut.

Thereafter it conducted patrol and escort from Hawaii to the Samoan, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands and helped cover transports landing reinforcements on Guadalcanal on 18 September 1942.

As flagship of Destroyer Squadron 64, Harry E. Hubbard trained precommissioning crews destined for newly constructed warships until sailing for Hawaii on 16 January 1945.

She performed escort, mail, and communication service for the North China Occupation force until departing 16 March 1946, for the California seaboard.

Besides helping guard the fast carrier task force making repeated airstrikes against the enemy, she frequently joined in gunstrike missions to bombard coastal rail and communication centers and performed as seagoing artillery to support the advance of land troops.

Her bombardment missions were conducted against targets at Yongdae Gap, Wonsan, Songjin, Chingjin, Kyoto, Ohako, Bokuko, Chuminjin, and other enemy strongholds of supply and reinforcement.

She returned to the California coast in October 1951 for overhaul and completed a similar tour of duty with the 7th Fleet off Korea July to December 1952.

She returned to San Diego in January 1953 but again departed on 11 July to guard fast carrier task groups patrolling after the Armistice Agreement was signed in Korea.

She next joined in combined warfare exercises with SEATO Treaty nations to improve readiness in defending freedom in that part of the world.

The destroyer had drawn nationwide attention on 10 March 1966 when the ABC Television Network included scenes of one of her shore bombardments along the South Vietnamese coast.

Harry E. Hubbard shared in the Navy Unit Commendation awarded Task Group 77.5 for support operations in the Gulf of Tonkin 2–5 August 1964.