![]() USS Slater during World War II | |
History | |
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Name | USS Slater |
Namesake | Frank O. Slater |
Builder | Tampa Shipbuilding Company, Tampa, Florida |
Laid down | 9 March 1943 |
Launched | 20 February 1944 |
Commissioned | 1 May 1944 |
Decommissioned | 26 September 1947 |
Stricken | 7 March 1951 |
Identification | DE-766 |
Fate | Transferred to Greece, 1 March 1951 |
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Name | Aetos |
Acquired | 1 March 1951 |
Decommissioned | 5 July 1991 |
Identification | D01 |
Fate | Returned to US and preserved as memorial in Albany, New York |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Cannon-class destroyer escort |
Displacement | 1,240 long tons (1,260 t) |
Length | 306 ft (93 m) |
Beam | 36 ft 8 in (11.18 m) |
Draft | 8 ft 9 in (2.67 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
Range | 10,800 nmi (20,000 km; 12,400 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement | 15 officers, 201 enlisted |
Armament |
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USS Slater (Destroyer Escort) | |
Location | Port of Albany, Albany, New York |
Coordinates | 42°38′34.6″N73°44′58.3″W / 42.642944°N 73.749528°W |
Built | 1944 |
Architect | Tampa Shipbuilding |
NRHP reference No. | 98000393 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | 7 May 1998 |
Designated NHL | 2 March 2012 |
USS Slater (DE-766) is a Cannon-class destroyer escort that served in the United States Navy and later in the Hellenic (Greek) Navy. Following service during World War II, 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 on the Hudson River in Albany, New York, the only one of its kind afloat in the United States. As of 2020, fewer than 12 destroyer escorts survive, with Slater the only one in its wartime configuration. [2] [3] Slater was designated a National Historic Landmark on 2 March 2012. [4]
USS Slater was struck by the Hudson River touring ship Dutch Apple on 10 September 2019. A mechanical issue aboard Dutch Apple was to blame for the collision. [5]
Frank Olga Slater was born on 19 December 1920 in Kennamer Cove, Alabama, one of twelve children of James Lafayette Slater, a sharecropper and Lenora (Morgan) Slater. He grew up in Fyffe, Alabama. [6] He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on 10 February 1942. Upon completion of his basic training, he was transferred to the Receiving Station at Pearl Harbor, and assigned to the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco on 4 April 1942. On 12 November 1942 he was killed in action at his battle station during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
USS Slater was laid down on 9 March 1943, she was christened on 20 Feb 1944 by Lenora Slater, mother of Frank Olga Slater and launched on 20 February 1944. The ship was commissioned on 1 May 1944. She was built at the Tampa Shipbuilding Company in Tampa, Florida for an estimated cost of $3,399,000 (adjusted for inflation, roughly $54,777,341.00 in 2022). [7]
After a shakedown cruise near Bermuda in June 1944, Slater assisted with the transfer of torpedoes from the captured German submarine U-505, from Bermuda to Puerto Rico and on to Maryland. She was then sent to Key West 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, listed below:
Dates | Ports |
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17–20 October 1944 | Brooklyn, New York to Liverpool, England |
21 October 1944 | Milfordhaven, Wales |
14–19 December 1944 | Glasgow, Scotland (Greencock) |
22–28 January 1945 | Cardiff, Wales |
10–14 March 1945 | Cardiff, Wales |
28 April - 4 May 1945 | Cardiff, Wales |
In June 1945 Slater headed for the Pacific, stopping at the US Virgin Islands, Guantánamo Bay Naval Base and Coco Solo, Panama. She went through the Panama Canal on 28 June 1945 and stopped at San Diego before sailing to Pearl Harbor. From there she joined Task Unit 33.2.4 at Manila in September and escorted it to Yokohama. 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 for deactivation. Slater was placed in the reserve fleet at Green Cove Springs, Florida in 1947.
On 1 March 1951, Slater was transferred to the Hellenic Navy under the Truman Doctrine, 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 and also served as a training vessel for naval cadets. [8] Aetos was decommissioned in 1991, and Greece donated the ship to the Destroyer Escort Sailors Association.
Destroyer escort sailors from around the nation donated more than $250,000 ($537,137 today [9] ) to bring Slater back to the United States as a museum ship. In 1993, a Russian ocean-going tugboat towed the ship from Crete to New York City, where it was docked next to the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid. 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.
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.
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. [10]
In August 2008 part of the Japanese film Last Operations Under the Orion (2009) was filmed on board. [11] 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.
USS Fairfax (DD-93) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I, later transferred for World War II service first to the Royal Navy as HMS Richmond (G88), a Town-class destroyer, and then to the Soviet Navy as Zhivuchy.
USS Crowninshield (DD–134) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy between World War I and World War II. She was named for Benjamin Williams Crowninshield. In World War II she was transferred to the Royal Navy where she was named HMS Chelsea, and subsequently to the Soviet Navy where she was named Derzky.
USS Buckley (DE-51) was the lead ship of her class of destroyer escorts in the service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. After spending 23 years in reserve, she was scrapped in 1969.
USS Craven (DD-70), later renamed USS Conway (DD-70), a Caldwell-class destroyer, was in commission in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1922 and briefly in 1940, and later in the Royal Navy as HMS Lewes from 1940 to 1945.
USS Edison (DD-439), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Thomas Alva Edison, an inventor and businessman who developed many important devices and received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for his contributions to the Navy during World War I. Edison was one of the few U.S. Navy ships to be named for a civilian.
USS Eberle (DD-430) was a Gleaves-class destroyer of the United States Navy. The ship is named for Rear Admiral Edward Walter Eberle, who commanded the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets and was Chief of Naval Operations from 1923 to 1927. The destroyer entered service in 1940 and spent the majority of her career in the Atlantic Ocean. Placed in reserve following the war, the ship was transferred to the Hellenic Navy in 1951. Renamed Niki, the destroyer remained in service until 1972 when she was scrapped.
The John C. Butler class were destroyer escorts that originated during World War II. The lead ship was USS John C. Butler, commissioned on 31 March 1944. The class was also known as the WGT type from their Westinghouse geared turbine drive. Of the 293 ships originally planned, 206 were canceled in 1944 and a further four after being laid down; three were not completed until after the end of World War II.
USS Hopping (DE-155) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1947. In 1944, she was converted to a Charles Lawrence-class high speed transport and redesignated "APD-51". She was sold for scrap in 1966.
USS Hubbard (DE-211/APD-53) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1966.
USS Solar (DE-221), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Boatswain's Mate First Class Adolfo Solar (1900–1941), who was killed in action during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
The Cannon class was a class of destroyer escorts built by the United States primarily for antisubmarine warfare and convoy escort service during World War II. The lead ship, USS Cannon, was commissioned on 26 September 1943 at Wilmington, Delaware. Of the 116 ships ordered, 44 were cancelled and six were commissioned directly into the Free French Forces. Destroyer escorts were regular companions escorting vulnerable cargo ships.
USS Gage (APA-168) was a Haskell-class attack transport in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1947. Gage was the sole remaining example of the 117-ship Haskell-class and was scrapped in 2009.
USS Stewart (DE–238) is an Edsall-class destroyer escort, the third United States Navy ship so named. This ship was named for Rear Admiral Charles Stewart, who commanded USS Constitution during the War of 1812. Stewart is one of only two preserved destroyer escorts in the U.S. and is the only Edsall-class vessel to be preserved. She is on display in Galveston, Texas as a museum ship and is open to the public.
USS Holder (DE-401) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Lieutenant Randolph Mitchell Holder, she was the first of two U.S. Naval vessels to bear the name.
USS Snyder (DE-745) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Pacific Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
USS Garfield Thomas (DE-193) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
USS Stanton (DE-247) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
Alice in the Navy is a 1961 Greek comedy film directed by Alekos Sakellarios.
At least two ships of the Hellenic Navy have borne the name Aetos :