Destroyer Escort Historical Museum

About Us:
In 1993 the Board of Directors of the Destroyer Escort Sailors Association voted for and established a new organization, the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum (DEHM). DEHM was incorporated as a not-for-profit educational corporation and has been granted a provisional charter by the New York State Department of Education.

The primary mission of the USS SLATER/Destroyer Escort Historical Museum is to utilize the SLATER as an educational platform to teach youth and visitors about contributions of the destroyer escorts in World War II and the postwar Navy. This keeps alive the history, spirit and technology of these vessels and the men and women who built and manned them.

To accomplish this we collect, maintain, display and interpret artifacts and documents relating to the role of the destroyer escorts in the United States Navy during World War II and the postwar years. The primary emphasis is the authentic restoration and display of the destroyer escort USS SLATER DE766 in her 1945 configuration with all the equipment and artifacts she would have carried at that time.

The SLATER is listed in the National Register of National Historic Places. Of over 2,500 national Museum members, locally 120 volunteers are actively engaged with the organization, interpreting the USS SLATER to the public, maintaining the ship and her vintage equipment, and preserving the maintenance techniques of sixty years ago.