The Charles Point Council of the National Maritime Historical Society
presents the 2015 Richard Belliveau Seminar

USS Slater: History and Restoration of
the Last World War II Destroyer Escort Afloat in the US
with Destroyer Escort Historical Museum Executive Director Timothy C. Rizzuto

Wednesday, 24 June 2015 – Hendrick Hudson Free Library
185 Kings Ferry Road, Montrose, NY 10548
Refreshments at 6:00 PM. Presentation begins at 6:30 PM.

A total of 563 destroyer escorts, designed by Gibbs & Cox and inspired by the British HUNT class destroyer, were built for use during World War II. These ships escorted merchant marine convoys, navy supply vessels and troop transports, warding off enemy submarine and aircraft attacks. They also went on missions to seek out and destroy enemy submarines, and manned picket stations on the outer perimeter of fleet and landing operations to engage kamikazes and to warn inner perimeter vessels of their approach.

USS Slater (DE 766) is the last destroyer escort afloat. Commissioned in 1944, Slater served in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. She was transferred to Greece in 1951 as part of the Military Defense Assistance Program, where she served forty years. The American group Destroyer Escort Sailors Association raised the funds to return her to the United States, and created the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum to manage her. She has undergone a complete restoration in the intervening years, carried out with careful attention to detail and accuracy.

Tim Rizzuto, executive director of the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum, will tell us all about the destroyer escort program and Slater‘s journey to become the last representative of her kind, telling the destroyer escorts’ story to future generations.

The public is invited. Please contact the National Maritime Historical Society at 914-737-7878, ext. 0, or email nmhs@seahistory.org if you plan to attend. A $5 to $10 donation is appreciated.