Destroyer Escort News

A World War II era submarine sunk during a Cold War training exercise off the shores of Hawaii more than six decades ago has been discovered by a team of ocean explorers utilizing pioneering robotics and methods at the forefront of today's underwater technology.USS Stickleback (SS 415), lost in nearly 11,000 feet of water 62 years ago, was discovered by veteran ocean explorer and Tiburon Subsea CEO Tim Taylor and his "Lost 52 Project" team equipped with a combination of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV)…

The Destroyer Escort Historical Museum has received a $200,000 grant from the Department of Interior, National Park Service (NPS) through the National Maritime Heritage (NMH) grant program, for the repair of USS Slater’s mast and hull.Thirty-four of these grants totaling $2.6 million were awarded in collaboration with the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs). With these funds, organizations and agencies conduct education and preservation…

1800 - USS Constellation engages French frigate La Vengeance in a 5-hour battle during the Quasi War. 1902 - USS Plunger (SS-2), the lead ship of the Plunger-class submarine, launches. She is commissioned Sept. 19, 1903, at the Holland Company yard at New Suffolk, Long Island, N.Y. Ensign Chester W. Nimitz is the submarines final commander when Plunger is decommissioned Nov. 6, 1909 at the Charleston Navy Shipyard. 1942 - USS Enterprise (CV 6) and USS Yorktown (CV 5) make the…

1865 - With 8,000 Union soldiers, Rear Adm. David Porter provides 59 warships and 2,000 Sailors and Marines to take Confederate Fort Fisher, N.C., after a 2-day assault. 1943 - PBY-5A aircraft from (VP-83) sink German submarine U-507 off Brazil, which had sunk 19 and damaged one Allied merchant vessels, including seven that were American. 1945 - Destroyer escort Fleming (DE 32) sinks a Japanese submarine 320 miles north-northeast of Truk. 1964 - Destroyer Manley (DD-940) evacuates 54 Americans and 36 allied nationals after the Zanzibar government is overthrown.

USS Slater, the last Destroyer Escort afloat in America, will soon return to her home berth in Albany, New York. Launched in 1944, Slater served gallantly in both the Battle of the Atlantic and the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. In 1951, Slater was transferred to Greece under the Military Defense Assistance Program. Renamed Aetos (Eagle), she served as an Hellenic Navy training ship for forty years. In 1993, after deactivation, she was brought back to the United States by a group of former Destroyer Escort Sailors.

To answer, USS Slater is at Caddell Dry Dock and Repair in Staten Island. Typically, the ship is open to the public in Albany near the beginning of April. This season, after several years of fundraising, the ship has been taken to drydock for repairs to her hull. It’s been over 20 years since the ship has been in drydock, so this project is due. Drydocking is being funded by private individuals and foundations as no government funding is being used for this project. In fact, the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum…

As the Hudson River begins to melt the Coast Guard buoy tender 'Katherine Walker' heads north towards Albany, N.Y. The Katherine Walker is a 175-foot buoy tender, homeported in Bayonne, N.J. Its major mission includes the servicing of aids to navigation throughout New York Harbor, Western Long Island Sound, the Hudson and East Rivers, as well as other waters along the Connecticut, New York and New Jersey coastlines. During a five-day patrol up the Hudson River, the ship serviced 18 seasonal aids to navigation, the last of 53 buoys that the crew restores every spring.

USS Slater is expected to move to her winter berth in the Port of  Rensselaer. It is estimated that she will pull away from her mooring in Albany at 9:00 a.m. Towing services are being provided by New York  State Marine Highway of Troy with the pilot  provided by Hudson River Pilots’ Association. A lot of people question why SLATER must leave Albany for the winter. The  answer is that until there is a permanent mooring and ice deflection  system at the Albany location, the ship must be moved to prevent damage to the retaining wall. Cost of the permanent mooring and ice deflection  system is currently estimated to be approximately $1.5 million. Once this  system is in place, the ship will remain open in Albany year-round.

Albany  – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced that the U.S. Department of the Interior is set to designate the USS Slater, one of the remaining World War II naval ships and only destroyer escort afloat in the United States, as a National Historic Landmark. Since last year, Senator Gillibrand has urged Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior Ken Salazar and the National Park System (NPS) Advisory Board Landmarks Committee to designate the site as a National Historic Landmark. “This is great news,” said Gillibrand. “Berthed in the Hudson River, the USS Slater is the only World War II-era destroyer escort afloat in the United States. In her letter to U.S.

1882-The Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to discontinue any lifesaving station, transfer apparatus, appoint keepers, etc. 1910-Congress required every passenger ship or other ship carrying 50 persons or more, leaving any port of United States, to be equipped with a radio (powerful enough to transmit to a 100-mile radius) and a qualified operator. 1942- The Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Ernest J. King, ordered the Coast Guard Auxiliary to organize into a anti-submarine patrol force, which becomes known as the "Corsair Fleet" for service along the east coast. The Corsair Fleet was made up primarily of private yachts, crewed by their owners, and converted for ASW use.

1820-Landing parties from the cutters Louisiana and Alabama destroyed a pirate base on Breton Island. 1908- Congress authorized the creation of the Office of Captain-Commandant and Engineer in Chief. Additionally, commanding officers of vessels were authorized to administer oaths of allegiance and other oaths for service requirements in Alaska. 1944-The Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort USS Joyce, along with her sister ship USSPeterson and a Navy DE sank the German submarine U-550 off New York after the U-boat torpedoed a tanker that was part of a convoy the warships were escorting to England. 1947-The French-owned Liberty ship Grandcamp exploded while loading ammonium nitrate at Texas City, Texas in one of the worst peace-time accidents ever to occur in a U.S. port.

1928-On 9 March 1928 a pulling surfboat with nine men aboard, under the command of Boatswain's Mate First Class William Cashman, got underway from the Manomet Life-Saving to go to the rescue of the steamer Robert E. Lee. The Lee had grounded on Mary Ann Rocks in a heavy gale. While returning to the station the surfboat capsized due to extremely heavy seas, spilling all nine men into the water. Six were rescued but "Captain" Cashman, Surfman Frank W. Griswold, and Surfman Edward R. Stark perished in the line of duty in the freezing water. During the on-going search and rescue operations all 236 passengers and crew from the Robert E. Lee were saved. 1944- The U-225 torpedoed and sank the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort USS Leopold(DE-319) off Iceland.

1882-The Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to discontinue any lifesaving station, transfer apparatus, appoint keepers, etc. 1910-Congress required every passenger ship or other ship carrying 50 persons or more, leaving any port of United States, to be equipped with a radio (powerful enough to transmit to a 100-mile radius) and a qualified operator. 1942- The Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Ernest J. King, ordered the Coast Guard Auxiliary to organize into a anti-submarine patrol force, which becomes known as the "Corsair Fleet" for service along the east coast. The Corsair Fleet was made up primarily of private yachts, crewed by their owners, and converted for ASW use.

1882-The Treasury Department reported that the crew of the cutter Oliver Wolcott deserted their ship.  No reason was given for this mass desertion. 1885-The Navy transferred the USS Bear to the Revenue Cutter Service.  The Bear became one of the most famous cutters to sail under the Revenue Cutter & Coast Guard ensigns. 1944- An acoustic torpedo fired by the U-371 hit and destroyed the stern of the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort USS Menges while she was escorting a convoy in the Mediterranean, killing thirty-one of her crew. [see 4 May 1944 entry]  The Menges was later repaired and returned to service.  She assisted in the sinking of the U-866 on 19 March 1945. (Source: USCG Historian’s Office)

1943-  British Steamer Svend Foyne was a victim of an iceberg collision off the southern tip of Greenland. One hundred forty-five persons were rescued by the Coast Guard and others. International Ice Patrol was suspended during this period (1942-1945). 1945-The first all-Coast Guard hunter-killer group ever established during the war searched for a reported German U-boat near Sable Island. The group was made up of  the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escorts USS Lowe, Menges, Mosley, and Pride, and was under the overall command of CDR R. H. French, USCG. He flew his pennant from the Pride. Off Sable Island the warships located, attacked and sank the U-866 with the loss of all hands.

1944- The U-225 torpedoed and sank the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort USS Leopold (DE-319) off Iceland. The attack was one of the first times the Germans used a newly developed acoustic torpedo successfully. All 13 officers and 148 (out of 186) enlisted men on board were killed. The 28 survivors were rescued by the USS Joyce (DE-317), another Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort. 1946- The Coast Guard-manned LST-767 was damaged in a hurricane near Okinawa. She was later declared a total loss and was decommissioned. 1966- CGC Point White, on duty with Coast Guard Squadron One, Division 13, in Vietnam, captured a Vietcong junk after a running firefight. Point White was in Vietnam only a month when she started conducting patrols on a VC-controlled area of the Soi Rap River.

The Navy's newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, USS Truxtun (DDG 103), was commissioned Saturday, April 25, during a ceremony at Naval Weapons Station Charleston, S.C. The process of commissioning a Navy ship takes many years of trials and training and to finally reach this milestone is very important said Cmdr. Timothy Weber, commanding officer, USS Truxton. Designated DDG 103, the destroyer honors Commodore Thomas Truxtun (1755-1822) who embarked upon a seafaring career at age 12. When the U.S.

The former Chief of the Royal Australian Navy, Vice Admiral (Rtd) David Shackleton AO, has joined Australian shipbuilder Austal as an advisor. Austal Executive Chairman Mr John Rothwell AO said Vice Admiral Shackleton will provide general strategic advice to Austal on Australian and international naval and defence industry opportunities including those expected to arise from the Australian Government’s recently announced A$10 billion naval shipbuilding program. “Vice Admiral Shackleton’s extensive knowledge and experience and contacts in relation to the Australian and foreign navies will significantly help Austal’s strategy to build on our defense shipbuilding success to date,” Mr Rothwell said. Vice Admiral Shackleton was Chief of Navy from July 1999 to July 2002.