The best trip ever...

Boo...Last day. I can't believe how much I've enjoyed this, and how sad I am to leave my new friends. Everyone was just wonderful, nice and funny. I really enjoyed listening to the guy's stories and "tall tales". Sometimes the men were like old women, gossiping about people. Hee hee.

I didn't get to really talk to everyone, but we had at least 3 WWII veterans, many Korean vets; A secret service agent, Many 78+ year olds (that looked more like 60); A buddhist monk who came on board with his robes, but changed into work wear; A business owner; A "Huse"..the great grandson of the man who their ship was named after;a grandson and his grandpa; 2 father/daughter teams and a father with his 2 sons who meet there every year. Some worked very hard, some not so hard.

On Tuesday, (of course my camping luck followed me)..It was rainy and cold. We didn't work too much in the morning since the tarps over us had big holes; the ship slanted, so there were "lakes" everywhere..so no matter where we sat it was wet and cold..

After lunch, the sun came out for a bit, but then the wind picked up. But the other folks chipping paint got a lot of work done. I took lots of breaks, just chilled.

The "official" work day was to start at 6am with revelrie (sp?). But that didn't happen. But everyone was certainly up for coffee and breakfast. Work started around 8, Commenced at noon for lunch; then work again until 5pm (01600 hours). Then it was happy hour until dinner. And there was a movie everynight. (Guess what they were? Yep, war movies)

I'm very blessed to meet all these people. Many of them reminded me of Uncle, and it was a good feeling. I would love to continue to do this, to preserve our history, and of course, for selfish reasons. It was sooo cool living aboard this destroyer for a few days.





Our official work orders. Looks like I was suppossed to paint, but obviously, had to chip the paint before we painted. I'm sure they will paint the deck later this week.





























Brandon working...He came with his dad.




Tami working. She came with her dad from LaCross, WI. 2 day trip on the train.































THE USS HUSE CREW!























Here is the wardroom, or officer's mess. I took this picture, because of the operating room lights above the table. This room also served as the "emergency room" when needed.























"Captain Tami" and "Lt. Gail"...yeah right.







Going into action...







Thanks for sharing my trip with me. And put out a little prayer to all of our vets. This trip really made me apprciate that.

More pictures and some history

Me looking from the outside in to the porthole,

The aft end of the ship (rear)

Big artillery

Big shells for the big artillery.


HISTORY LESSON":
The USS Slater was "laid down" 9 March 1943, lauched 13 February 1944 and Commissioned 1 May 1944.

In 1944 the SLATER headed for Key West where she served as a target ship and as a sonar school ship. From 1944 to 1945 she served escorted convoys to England.
In 1945, the SLATER headed for the Pacific, stopping at Guantanamo Bay and Panama, then set sail to Pearl Harbor. Through the remainder of the year, she escorted convoys to Manila, Japan, Biak, N.E.I. and the Caroline Islands.

She was out of commision after 1947.
In 1951, the SLATER was transferred to the Hellenic Navy under the Truman Doctrine. Renamed Aetos-01, the ship served as a Hellenic Navy Officer Training Vessel until 1991 when Greece donated the ship to the Destroyer Escort Sailors Association. The ship had also been used in a number of movies including "The Guns of Navarone".
Destroyer escort sailors from around the nation donated $275,000 to bring the ship back to the United States. A Russian tugboat brought the vessel back to New York City from Crete on August 27, 1993 . Volunteers the began restoring the ship to her World War II configuration.

In July 1997 the USS Slater permanantly arrived in Albany, NY, on the Hudson River.

NAUTICAL VOCABULARY FOR US LAND-LUBBERS

Aft- Toward or at the stern (back or) the ship
Battery- The armament (guns) on a warship.
Berthing Compartments- Rooms containing bunks for enlisted sailors. They slept three high on canvas bunks with mattresses.
Bow- The pointed front part of a ship.
Convoy- A large group of ships traveling together in a tight group for mutual protection from submarine and aircraft attack.
Depth Charge- A powerful bomb, detonated by water pressure, used to attack submarines.
Galley- The kitchen, where cooks prepared food for the crew.
Gangway- Walkway used to enter and leave a ship.
Hatch- Any opening in the deck of a ship.
Hedgehog- An ahead-firing weapon that launched twenty-four contact-detonated bombs at a submerged submarine.
Knot- A nautical mile per hour; used to measure speed.
Landlubber- Any non-sailor; what you may be called if you refer to the USS SLATER as a boat.
Port- The left-hand side of the ship as you face the bow.
Projectile- A heavy missile, such as the bullets fired from the SLATER’s guns.
Propeller- A revolving shaft with blades for driving a ship through the water. On ships with more than one propeller, each rotates in a different direction to maintain balance.
Quarterdeck- The area of the ship where the gangway comes aboard.
Signal Flags- A method of sending messages using different colored flags hung from the mast to represent letters of the alphabet.
Starboard- The right-hand side of the ship as you face the bow.
Stern- The rear end of a ship.
Wardroom- The officers’ dining room and lounge. On small ships, the wardroom doubled as the operating room when needed. You can see the surgical lights about the table on the Slater!
Whaleboat- A wooden boat hung alongside a large ship. It is used for rescue operations and for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore transfers.

I really am working...

So I got my eyes and ears covered, my head covered and my face. I tried to keep the iron bits from flying into my mouth, but I'm still tasting iron 3 hours later.

We worked for about 6 hours, until the rain got too bad; and the leaking tarps were worse than the rain. We looked around and about 1/2 the crew was sitting on the deck talking, so we packed it up. The ship showers aren't too bad. Better than what they really had on board...the turn on water, turn off water. soap up. turn on water and rinse. I guess they even had a guy time the showers.. thankfully we did not have to deal with that.

Let the work begin...

Joe and George in the galley.

You line up for food, then walk down the "stairs" to the mess hall.

Here's some of my paint chipping handi-work.

First view of the USS Slater

Here is the view as I drove up after 12 hours of driving in the rain...I almost missed her. It's underneath a freeway overpass.

Enjoying a beverage near the USS Slater




The "crew" was waiting for me. Most of the guys served on the USS Huse. There are 3 of us "ladies" who get to stay in the officer quarters. If you were an enlisted man, you get your choice of bottom, middle or top bunk down below.

Above is "my" room. The one and only plug for the laptop is in the middle of the hallway.

Here is the officer' s mess hall. We will be eating in the "enlisted men's mess hall" which is picnic tables. I haven't seen it yet..but I do know that it's now 10pm and our cook for the week is still in the kitchen. I'm not sure if he's still planning our menu or making it "just so" so he knows where everything is in the morning.

There is a working bathroom and showers on the ship. I'll need it to clean off all the grey paint....

A parting shot,.,These are the helmets hanging on deck.

We can go out on the deck all night long if we'd like. Some of the men are "on watch" all night long, since the ship is not locked, just the gates to the parking lot.

I'm hope I sleep well in my bunk...

Friday Night

Hello to Mrs. Steele's Class and to Leah!

I am very excited to start my journey (and a little nervous)
My uncle used to work on this ship and he loved doing this. He passed away several years ago and I always said I would visit his Pride and joy. But figured if I'm driving for 8+ hours, I might as well stay awhile. So the ship Superintentent, Tim Rizzo, (?) said, C'mon in April! We have a whole crew coming. You can stay on the ship, eat on the ship, and work on the ship :-)

So hopefully I will be meeting a whole bunch of new friends and learning something other then scraping paint. I hope to at least learn some history while I'm there!

Packed my bags...

Leaving Sat afternoon.
Just need to pack the work gloves and hopefully sunscreen, but looks like rain...

Leave for Albany

http://www.ussslater.org/

The journey begins as I have to pack "work clothes" which I believe for me means "paint scraping/painting clothes"....

Going with the USS HUSE team.