USS ''Slater'' (DE-766) is a that served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and later in the Hellenic (Greek) Navy. Following service during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the ship was transferred to Greece and renamed ''Aetos''. Decommissioned in 1991, the destroyer escort was returned to the United States. USS ''Slater'' is now a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

on the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. As of 2020, fewer than 12 destroyer escorts survive, with ''Slater'' the only one in its wartime configuration and the only one afloat in the United States. ''Slater'' was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

on 2 March 2012. USS ''Slater'' was struck by the Hudson River touring ship ''Dutch Apple'' on 10 September 2019. A mechanical problem aboard ''Dutch Apple'' was blamed for the collision.

Namesake

Frank Olga Slater was born on 19 December 1920 in Kennamer Cove, Alabama, one of twelve children of James Lafayette Slater, a

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

and Lenora (Morgan) Slater. He grew up in

Fyffe, Alabama Fyffe is a town in DeKalb County, Alabama, United States. It was incorporated in 1956.Claire Wilson,Fyffe" ''Encyclopedia of Alabama'', November 2, 2012. At the 2020 census, the population was 967. Fyffe is located atop Sand Mountain. History ...

. He enlisted in the

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

on 10 February 1942. Upon completion of his basic training, he was transferred to the Receiving Station at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

, and assigned to the heavy cruiser on 4 April 1942. On 12 November 1942 he was killed in action at his battle station during the

Naval Battle of Guadalcanal The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal took place from 12 to 15 November 1942 and was the decisive engagement in a series of naval battles between Allies of World War II, Allied (primarily American) and Imperial Japanese Armed Forces, Imperial Japan ...

. He was posthumously awarded the

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Naval Service's second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is equivalent to the Army ...

Construction and career

USS ''Slater'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 9 March 1943, she was christened on 20 Feb 1944 by Lenora Slater, mother of Frank Olga Slater and launched on 13 February 1944. The ship was commissioned on 1 May 1944. She was built at the Tampa Shipbuilding Company in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

for an estimated cost of $3,399,000 (adjusted for inflation, roughly $54,777,341.00 in 2022). After a shakedown cruise near

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

in June 1944, ''Slater'' assisted with the transfer of torpedoes from the captured German submarine U-505, from Bermuda to Maryland. She was then sent to

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

where she served as a sonar school ship. On 3 October 1944, ''Slater'' reported for convoy duty in Brooklyn, New York; she would spend the next 7 months alternating between convoy duty and additional training in Portland, Maine. By the end of the war in Europe, ''Slater'' escorted a total of five convoys to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, listed below: In June 1945 ''Slater'' headed for the Pacific, stopping at the

US Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a Territories of the United States, territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Isl ...

Guantánamo Bay Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO, pronounced Gitmo as jargon by the U.S. military) is a United States military base located on of land and water on the shore of Guant ...

and Coco Solo, Panama. She went through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

on 28 June 1945 and stopped at

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

before sailing to

. From there she joined Task Unit 33.2.4 at

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

in September and escorted it to

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

. ''Slater'' engaged in support operations in the Pacific through the remainder of the year. She made another passage through the Canal on her way to

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

for deactivation. ''Slater'' was placed in the reserve fleet at

Green Cove Springs, Florida Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. Green Cove Springs is a part of the Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,786 at the 2020 census, up from 6,908 at ...

in 1947.

Greek service

On 1 March 1951, ''Slater'' was transferred to the

Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; , abbreviated ΠΝ) is the Navy, naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independ ...

under the

Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine is a Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy that pledges American support for democratic nations against Authoritarianism, authoritarian threats. The doctrine originated with the primary goal of countering ...

, and renamed ''Aetos'' ("Eagle") (D01). Along with three other ''Cannon''-class ships, she made up what was known as the "Wild Beasts" Flotilla. The ship did patrol duty in the eastern Aegean and the

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; , ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger and 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. This island group generally define ...

and also served as a training vessel for naval cadets. ''Aetos'' was decommissioned in 1991, and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

donated the ship to the Destroyer Escort Sailors Association.

Museum ship

Destroyer escort sailors from around the nation donated more than $250,000 ($ today) to bring ''Slater'' back to the United States as a museum ship. In 1993, a Russian ocean-going tugboat towed the ship from

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where it was docked next to the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

. Volunteers began restoring the ship and seeking a permanent home for her; Albany, New York, was decided upon. On 26 October 1997, ''Slater'' arrived at the Port of Albany. In January 2006, a welder accidentally started a fire aboard ''Slater'' which caused some minor damage to the ship. Repairs were completed within a few months. Restoration of the ship remains an ongoing project. On 7 May 1998, ''Slater'' was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. ''Slater'' was refitted several times during her long service with two navies. One of her depth-charge racks and four "K-gun" depth charge launchers have been removed. Two twin Bofors 40 mm guns have been added, and the ten single 20 mm guns have been replaced with nine twin mounts.

Appearances in film

''Slater'' has been featured in three motion pictures. The ship was seen in '' The Guns of Navarone'' (1961) and ''I Aliki sto Naftiko'' (''Η Αλίκη στο Ναυτικό/Alice in the Navy'', filmed in 1961) while in Greek service. In August 2008 part of the Japanese film '' Last Operations Under the Orion'' (2009) was filmed on board. Although the film depicts a battle between a Japanese submarine and a US Navy destroyer, ''Slater'' was used instead despite being a destroyer escort. Scenes were filmed on board, and a to-scale model of the ship was built and used for CGI shots at sea.

References

External links

*
USS ''Slater'' website

* ttp://www.navsource.org/archives/06/766.htm NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive - USS ''Slater'' (DE 766)
Historical Naval Ships Association Ship Page: USS ''Slater''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Slater (De-766) Cannon-class destroyer escorts of the United States Navy Ships built in Tampa, Florida 1944 ships World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States Wild Beast-class destroyers (1951) Naval museums in the United States Museum ships in New York (state) Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Historic Landmarks in New York (state) USS Slater Military and war museums in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Albany, New York