Press Release
November 11, 1998
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Joe Picchi
(518) 486-1868
THE USS SLATER, HAS BEEN RESTORED AND PLACED ON THE STATE AND NATIONAL REGISTERS
(Albany, New York, Nov. 11, 1998...) State Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro announced today that one of the few remaining destroyer escorts, the USS Slater, has been restored and placed on the State and National Registers through $90,000 in Clean Air/Clean Water Bond Act funds provided by Governor Pataki.
"This restored battleship is being operated as a floating museum, memorial and tourist attraction," said Commissioner Castro. "What better time to celebrate this historic occasion than on Veterans Day."
J. Winthrop Aldrich, deputy commissioner for historic preservation for the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, will participate in Veterans Day ceremonies today aboard the USS Slater.
Mr Aldrich will present a National Register certificate to Tim Rizzuto, the ship's superintendent, at ceremonies at 1:30 p.m. aboard the destroyer escort at Albany's Snow dock. Ceremonies at the ship, located near the Dutch Apple Cruises, will follow a Veterans Day parade in downtown Albany.
"This destroyer escort and its crew served so bravely in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during those nightmarish years of our global war," said Mr. Aldrich. "It can now be viewed as a World War II time capsule, thanks to the Destroyer Escort Historical Foundation's efforts in acquiring the ship and transporting it to the United States for restoration."
Foundation volunteers from New York City and Albany have literally saved the ship from rusting into oblivion. Tim Rizzuto was later hired as the ship's chief curator. He has obtained assistance from the Port of Albany, the Division of Military and Naval Affairs, the city of Albany and the state Department of Transportation for public tours of the ship from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Through the efforts of the State Parks' historic preservation division, the ship was promptly listed on the State Register on March 20 and the National Register on May 7.
The USS Slater was commissioned in 1944 and saw action in five Atlantic convoys. In 1945, the USS Slater was transferred to the Pacific Theater and was involved in military action in the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan. The ship was decommissioned in 1947 and transferred to the Greek Navy in 1951.
After another 40 years as a war ship, the Greek Navy agreed in 1991 to make the USS Slater a gift to the Destroyer Escort Historical Foundation. A massive fund-raising effort ensued, and the ship was finally transported to New York City in 1993. The USS Slater came to Albany in 1997.