On the Hudson River at Albany, N.Y., lies USS Slater (DE-766), the last of her kind still afloat in the United States. During World War II, 563 destroyer escorts fought German U-boats in the Atlantic, according to the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum, which runs the ship. Slater is the only one of them still afloat in the U.S.
The museum says destroyer escorts were built to escort Atlantic convoys and protect them from U-boat attack. Slater did that work in 1944 and 1945, sailed to the Pacific as the war ended, and then served under the Greek flag. She returned to the United States as a museum ship.
The museum puts its count on the USS Slater homepage: 563 destroyer escorts “battled Nazi U-boats on the Atlantic.” In the Pacific, it adds, they protected naval task forces from Japanese submarines and kamikaze attacks. The homepage then states: “Only one of these ships remains afloat in the United States, USS SLATER.”
That qualifier matters. The claim is about ships afloat in the United States, and the museum words it that way.
Built in Tampa, commissioned in 1944
Slater’s wartime record is set out in her entry in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, published by the Naval History and Heritage Command. Per that entry, Tampa Shipbuilding Co. of Tampa, Fla., laid her keel on March 9, 1943, and launched her on Feb. 13, 1944. Mrs. James L. Slater sponsored the ship.
The Navy commissioned Slater on May 1, 1944, with Lt. Cmdr. M. J. Blancq in command, according to NHHC. The museum’s history page identifies her as a Cannon-class destroyer escort, one of 563 built between 1943 and 1945. The ship is named for Frank O. Slater of Alabama, the museum says. He was a sailor killed aboard USS San Francisco at the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942.
Convoys to England and Wales
Slater finished her shakedown cruise off Bermuda on June 25, 1944, the NHHC entry says. After training at Key West, at Portland, Maine, and at New York, she escorted two convoys to England before the end of 1944. From January to May 1945 she escorted three convoys to Wales.
The museum’s history adds that after commissioning, Slater also served as a target ship and as a sonar school ship before she was assigned to Atlantic convoy duty from late 1944 into 1945.
When the war in Europe ended, the Navy sent her west. Per NHHC, Slater left New York for San Diego on June 8, 1945, and reached Pearl Harbor in July. On Sept. 5, 1945, she joined a task unit at Manila and escorted it to Yokohama. She went on to escort convoys to Japan, Biak and the Caroline Islands, and she operated in the Philippines until Jan. 31, 1946.
Aetos in the Greek navy
Slater reached Norfolk on March 26, 1946, to prepare for decommissioning, according to NHHC. In May 1947 she was placed in reserve, out of commission, at Green Cove Springs, Fla. On March 1, 1951, she was transferred to Greece under the Military Defense Assistance Program as Aetos (D-01). The Navy struck her from its list on March 7, 1951.
The museum says her Greek service began in July 1951. Decades later she was “awaiting disposal in Souda Bay, Crete,” in the museum’s words, when the Destroyer Escort Sailors Association took up her cause. In 1993 the association established the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum, and that year the ship was towed to New York City, where restoration began.
Moored at Albany
Slater moved to Albany in 1997, according to the museum. The museum says she has undergone an extensive restoration. The museum offers guided tours aboard her and overnight camping for youth groups, and the ship serves as a venue for naval reunions.
The ship also stands for a larger record than her own. The museum notes that surviving World War II destroyer escorts, along with the DER and APD types, went on to serve in the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War, for the U.S. and other navies.
Of the 563 destroyer escorts the museum counts in the Battle of the Atlantic, Slater is the one still afloat in the United States, moored on the Hudson at Albany.
Top image: USS Slater (DE-766), moored as a museum ship at Albany, N.Y. Image Credit: UpstateNYer — CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Combat Rated editors prior to publication.