Aboard the U.S.S. Slater in Albany, NY

The U.S.S. Slater is one of the many places we visited during our weekend in Albany. The Slater rests in the illustrious Hudson River. It’s a beautiful river, so wide and flat. It is unlike other rivers I’ve seen closer to home. The Hudson is much more impressive and cosmopolitan than the meandering Mohawk River, and bluer and deeper than the earthy Susquehanna River.

It is just a huge, huge river. No wonder Henry Hudson thought he could find the Pacific from here.

The U.S.S. Slater is a museum ship, resting fully in the water. We were given the opportunity to watch a video before crossing the deck to the ship for our tour. We always appreciate a good documentary, so we gladly sat for it.

The U.S.S. Slater is a Destroyer-Escort ship. It is the only Destroyer-Escort ship still afloat on display. The ship is named for a young sailor, Frank Slater, who was killed during World War II during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.

From the official Slater website:

During World War II 563 Destroyer Escorts battled Nazi U-Boats on the North Atlantic protecting convoys of men and material. In the Pacific they stood in line to defend naval task forces from Japanese submarines and Kamikaze air attacks.

Today, only one of these ships remains afloat in the United States, the USS Slater. Moored on the Hudson River in Albany, New York, the USS Slater has undergone an extensive ten-year restoration that has returned the ship to her former glory. The ship is open to the public from April through November with hour-long guided tours, youth group overnight camping, and has become a popular destination for naval reunion groups.

We paid the fees and boarded the Slater for the guided tour. As usual, my kids knew almost as much Read more