The rusty old warship, like a gray ghost from another era, slowly made its way north on New York’s Hudson River in October 1997. The USS Slater, its engines now silent, once faced down Hitler’s U-boats and Japan’s dreaded kamikazes, but today it was being towed like a damaged old war relic to a place far from the Atlantic and Pacific, where it had so valiantly served her nation.
But this was not the end of the USS Slater. In fact, it was the beginning of a third chapter in the destroyer escort’s remarkable life. Built in only ninety days at the height of World War II, it was about to be reborn, not as the fighting warship it once was but as a floating museum—a legacy that forever would remind Americans of the sacrifices made by so few on behalf of so many, as Winston Churchill observed. People from small towns and villages lined the shores of the Hudson River, waving and cheering as they witnessed history in the making. After all, it is not every day an American warship travels through the upper Hudson River.
When the ship arrived in Albany, the city’s mayor, Gerald D. Jennings, was on hand to greet it. But he was not alone. Hundreds of veterans, state and local officials, and scores of residents from all around the capital gathered at the Port of Albany to welcome the American warship. With flags flying and uniformed sailors manning the port rail, the ship neared the dock as the band struck up “Anchors Aweigh” and “Semper Paratus.” The USS Slater, the last World War II destroyer escort still afloat in the United States, had found a new home.
But the ship’s trip had not been an easy one. In fact, the voyage to Albany had begun far from New York City, where the Slater had been temporarily docked at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on the Hudson River at Forty-sixth Street. The long journey began in Greece, where the vessel had been transferred following World War II under terms of President Truman’s Mutual Defense and Assistance Program. From 1951 until it was decommissioned in 1991, the Slater, renamed the Aetos by the Greeks, served with honor and distinction in the Greek navy. Now it faced the scrap heap.
The United States built 563 destroyer escorts in World War II. By the time the Greeks decided to scrap Slater, most of the trim but deadly little warships were long gone. But there was hope the Slater might survive—at least in the hearts of destroyer escort veterans around the country. The Destroyer Escort Sailors Association, a group of DE veterans assisted by historian Martin Davis, who served as a pharmacist’s mate on board the USS Pettit, opened negotiations with Greece to see if the DE could be returned to the United States.
Those negotiations proved fruitful. If the DE sailors wanted the rusty old ship, the Greeks said, they could have her, provided they paid to have her towed from the Isle of Crete to the United States. So the aging veterans went right to work and raised $275,000 to pay for a Finnish-built towboat with a Ukranian crew to bring the Slater home. They raised the money within a few months, with contributions coming from Navy and Coast Guard veterans who had served on board the “speedy and dangerous” ships, as President Roosevelt called them. The Destroyer Escort Historical Foundation was formed and received title to the ship.
“Operation Homeport USA” was a success, the USS Slater, a bit worse for the wear, arriving at the museum in New York City. “Seeing this relic of World War II coming up the Hudson was a dream come true,” declared emotional foundation president Sam Saylor, who had served as a gunner’s mate on board the USS Connolly. Misty-eyed DE veterans, now in the twilight of their lives, watched in awe as the ship took her berth in New York City. Now the real work to restore the vessel would begin.
As restoration was under way, the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum decided it no longer could accommodate the Slater, so once again the DE sailors had to look for a new home. This time they looked north—in fact, all the way to New York state’s capital city. But would Albany want this rusty old war relic along its waterfront, a waterfront that Jennings, the city’s new mayor, was trying to revitalize? Much to their delight, Mayor Jennings, a former high school history teacher, jumped at the opportunity and agreed to make his city the Slater’s permanent new home.
Gazing at the vessel with its peeling paint and silent engines as it was towed to the Port of Albany, Mayor Jennings must have wondered for a moment whether he had made the right decision. But once he saw the excited reaction of the World War II veterans assembled to greet the Slater, the mayor knew his decision had been correct. And thousands and thousands of visitors who tour the warship—now fully restored to its original wartime configuration and listed on the National Register of Historic Places—agree.
Teams of volunteers, many World War II veterans who served on board DEs, began the restoration process. Led by acclaimed ship restoration expert Tim Rizzuto, they went to work and transformed the vessel into one of the most visited attractions along Albany’s revitalized waterfront. More than 15,000 visitors walk the decks and peer into the compartments of the World War II ship every year, experiencing the thrill of learning just what it was like to live, eat, sleep, and fight on board these tiny warships.
The story of the Slater, though, is more than a story about a ship. It is a remarkable tale about the resolve of World War II veterans, a generation of Americans whose determination and courage helped the Allies achieve victory in the greatest conflict this world has ever seen. These same men, determined to leave a permanent monument to their sacrifices, once again defied the odds, saving a ship from the scrap heap, raising enough funds to bring it home, and then transforming it into a living legacy so Americans will never forget.
As Harold Poulson, executive officer of the Slater, observed in speaking about his 1945 teenage crew, “We gave them a job. They did their job and didn’t ask any questions. They were pretty adaptable.” Today, although they may be older and a little grayer, it doesn’t sound like these resolute sailors have really changed much over the years.