A visit to the USS Slater (DE-766) in Albany NY

[Subnuts]

So here's what I did this afternoon (actually, I still kind of SMELL like the ship, and should really jump in the shower first, but...whatever). As I've mentioned before, there's a ridiculously large number of maritime museums within two hours of my house, including a few I still haven't been to. After getting turned around a bit in Albany (GPS said we'd arrived at our destination while we were on the bridge over the ship - what was I supposed to do, throw out a rope ladder and climb down), I visited the Slater for the first time.

First, the Wikipedia article for the uninitiated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Slater


And the museum's official website: https://www.ussslater.org/


My first view of the ship after arriving in the parking lot. Our tour guide mentioned at one point that, for insurance reasons, no diesel oil is stored aboard, which explains why she's so far out of the water. Notice how you can see the ship's framework through the hull plating. They didn't call them tin cans for nothing!



Closeup of the stern, with the depth charge racks and the perfectly drinkable Hudson River water on display.




The No. 3 3 in/50 mount, along with ready use racks for the K-guns.




The after superstructure, with more of the streamlined Mark 9 depth charges, a twin 40mm Bofors, life raft, and Mk 51 director for the Bofors just above the life raft.



The middle part of the superstructure looking forward. The portside signal halyards show the ship's radio callsign (which I can't remember), while the starboard flags display the hull number (DE 766). The tubular containers attached to the sides of the gun tubs would contain spare barrels for the Oerlikon guns in wartime.




A slightly better view of the foremast and funnel.



I missed the first couple minutes of the previous tour. Apparently, my guide, Carl, had already taken visitors through the galley, but when I came onboard, he was explaining how the 3-inch guns operated. The ship doesn't offer "self-guided" tours, which is a bit of a bummer, but thankfully Carl was guided talkative, engaged, and answered a lot of visitor's questions. I was already seeing a lot of the great attention to detail inherant in the restoration. Notice the bearing numbers and helmet racks on the inside of the tub, the electrical cables running up the pedestal, and the quality of the paintwork and (almost) total lack of rust on the gun itself.



Closeup of the Hedgehog projectiles. As Carl was easily able to pick one up with one hand, I'm assuming they're all replicas.





A better view of the 3"/50. The device with the shell sticking out of it was used to set the fuzes on AA shells. Once again, barely a speck of rust or dirt to be seen.



Looking at the bow from the No. 1 3" mount. Which they'd give visitors a bit more roaming time, as I would have loved to get a picture of the ship from the very front of the ship.




More to come in a little bit!