War Record

After its shakedown cruise in June 1944, the SLATER was ordered to Norfolk to deliver a torpedo captured from the German U-boat 505. The SLATER completed its shakedown cruise off Bermuda on 25 June and sailed to Boston for post-shakedown availability. It then sailed for Key West, Florida, on 11 July, where the ship acted as a target ship for torpedo plane squadrons and as a sonar school ship until departing for New York on 15 September. The escort moved to Portland, Maine, for training and returned to New York on 3 October. Operating out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the SLATER was then assigned Atlantic convoy duty for the remainder of 1944 and into the spring of 1945. USS SLATER escorted two convoys to England during the remaining months of 1944. From January to May 1945, the ship escorted three convoys to Wales.

The Tampa Shipbuilding Company in Tampa, Florida laid the keel of the USS SLATER on 9 March 1943. The ship was launched on 20 February 1944, sponsored and christened by Mrs. James L. Slater, Frank Slater's mother. The SLATER was commissioned on 1 May 1944 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Marcel J. Blancq in command.

As the Battle of the Atlantic drew to a conclusion, the SLATER underwent modifications to its armament in preparation for battling a new threat in the Pacific Theater, where the menace of kamikaze aircraft was taking a heavy toll on US and Allied vessels. Following an overhaul at Brooklyn in which the SLATER received augmentation of her antiaircraft armament in preparation for the invasion of Japan, the escort sailed from New York for San Diego via Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Panama. It transited the canal on 28 June and arrived at San Diego on 6 July. Three days later, the ship sailed for Pearl Harbor.

The SLATER's arrival in the Pacific coincided with the dropping of the atomic bombs and the Japanese surrender. The ship was routed to the Philippine Islands via Eniwetok, where it joined Task Unit 33.2.4 at Manila on 5 September and escorted it to Yokohama, Japan. The SLATER picked up another convoy there and returned to Manila on the 21 September. During the remainder of the year, the SLATER escorted convoys to Japan and to the Caroline Islands. The ship operated in the Philippine Islands until 31 January 1946 when it sailed for the United States.

The SLATER arrived at San Pedro, California, on 24 February 1946 and received orders routing it to Norfolk, via the Canal Zone, for inactivation. The ship arrived there on 26 March and prepared for decommissioning. On 25 April 1946, the SLATER sailed for Green Cove Springs, Florida, for its final berthing place. However, the ship was towed to Charleston, South Carolina, on 13 February 1947 and, in May, back to Green Cove Springs, where it was placed in reserve, out of commission.

USS SLATER TIMELINE

Photos are property of the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum

9 March 1943

Keel Laid at the Tampa Shipbuilding Company in Tampa, Florida.

20 February 1944

Tampa, Florida - Launched

1 May 1944

Tampa, Florida - Commissioned, Lcmdr Marcel J. Blancq in Command.

8-10 May 1944

Key West Florida - Supplies

11-26 May 1944

Tampa, Florida - Supplies

29 May - 25 June 1944

Bermuda - Shakedown Cruise - Sea Trials

29 June - 11 July 1944

Bermuda to Puerto Rico to Maryland - U-505 Torpedo Transfer

14 July - 14 September 1944

Key West, Florida - Ship School

17-25 September 1944

Bayonne, New Jersey

26 September - 2 October 1944

Portland, Maine

3-6 October 1944

Brooklyn, New York - Report for Convoy Duty

17-20 October 1944

Liverpool, England - Convoy Duty

21 October 1944

Milfordhaven, Wales - Convoy Duty

2-14 November 1944

Brooklyn, New York - Convoy Duty

14-19 NOvember 1944

Portland, Maine

20-24 November 1944

New York, New York - Convoy Duty

5-9 December 1944

Glasgow, Scotland (Greencock) - Convoy Duty

22 DECEMBER 1944 - 2 January 1945

Bayonne, New Jersey - Convoy Duty

4-8 January 1945

Portland, Maine

8-10 January 1945

Boston, Massachusetts - Convoy Duty

22-28 January 1945

Cardiff, Wales - Convoy Duty

28-29 January 1945

Milfordhaven, Wales - Convoy Duty

9-20 February 1945

Brooklyn, New York - Yard Availability

21-24 February 1945

Block Island, Long Island, New York

25-27 February 1945

Brooklyn, New York - Convoy

10-14 march 1945

Cardiff, Wales - Convoy Duty

26 May - 8 April 1945

Brooklyn, New York - Convoy Duty

9-12 April 1945

Portland, Maine

13-15 April 1945

Brooklyn, New York - Convoy Duty

28 April - 4 May 1945

Cardiff, Wales - Convoy Duty

15 May - 8 June 1945

Brooklyn, New York - Yard Availability

12 June 1945

Culebra Island, Virgin Islands

14-24 June 1945

Guantanamo, Cuba

27-28 June 1945

Coco Solo, Panama

6-10 July 1945

San Diego, California

17 July - 6 August 1945

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

13-25 August 1945

Eniwetok, Marshall Islands

31 August - 1 September 1945

Leyte, Philippine Islands

3-5 September 1945

Manila, Philippine Islands

12-13 September 1945

Tokyo Bay, Yokohama, Japan

21-26 September 1945

Manila, Philippines Islands - LSM Convoy

27-29 September 1945

Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands - Convoy Duty

4-5 OCtober 1945

Okinawa, Japan

11-16 October 1945

Otaru, Japan - Convoy Duty

4 November 1945

Crossed the Equator

5-8 November 1945

Biak Island, New Guinea

10-11 November 1945

Palau Island, Caroline Islands

19-20 November 1945

Yokohama, Japan

3-5 December 1945

Manila, Philippine Islands

7-12 December 1945

Samar Island, Philippine Islands

14-15 December 1945

Subic Bay, Philippine Islands

16 December 1945

Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands

18 December 1945

Casiguran, Philippine Islands

19-21 December 1945

Legaspi, Philippine Islands

22 December 1945 - January 1946

Subic Bay, Philippine Islands

January 1946

Manila, Philippine Islands

30-31 January 1946

Samar, Philippine Islands

13-17 February 1946

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

23 February - 10 March 1946

Long Beach, California

18-20 March 1946

Coco Solo, Panama

26 March 1946

Norfolk, Virginia

27 March - 25 April 1946

Preparation for Decommissioning

27 April 1946

Green Cove Springs, Florida

22 June 1946

Decommissioned

1 March 1951

Transferred to Royal Hellenic Navy in Greece

7 March 1951

Struck from Navy Register

27 August 1993

Arrival to Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York City

27 October 1997

Arrival to Albany, New York

March - July 2014

First trip to drydock for repairs

July - August 2020

Second trip to drydock for repairs.

SLATER was fitted with her 1945 Dazzle Camouflage in 2014.

Fireboat JOHN J. HARVEY tied up along side SLATER in 2018.

USS SLATER DE-766 - Sea Trials - 29 May - 25 June 1944.

August 1944 - SLATER executing a “Williamson Turn”

Dazzle Camouflage for North Atlantic Convoy Duty

North Atlantic Convoy Duty, 1945 - Photo by Clifton W. Woltz

USS SLATER on North Atlantic Convoy Duty, 1945 - Photo by Clifton W. Woltz

Buoy transfer from SLATER to KIRKPATRICK DE-318 in N. Atlantic. Photo by Clifton W. Woltz

Ship’s Dance & V-E Day Celebration, New York - 29 May 1945