02/03/2012 - Heavy Seas

This last week I received an email with an interesting video titled Destroyer Duty. The video of the stormy ocean was spectacular. While it did contain a Destroyer/Frigate, it appeared to be a knock off of professionally made video production.  After a little research I discovered that it was a segment in  Ωceans – a French (Galatée) film produced in partnership with the Census of Marine Life and the Sloan Foundation. Oceans was released in 2010.  The full clip  concerning the storm is available on You Tube.

The embedded video above shows one of the segements of the film being made. The ship in the video is the French frigate Latouche-Tréville (D646) on March 10, 2008. The frigate is substantially larger than the USS Slater but it looks quite small relative to the ocean. According to news reports the waves pictured were 14 - 17.8 meters (over 40').

01/17/2012 - Salute to the Navy (1943)

The Internet Archive contains plenty of great films from the WWII era. This one is a salute to the USS Navy. In the end it briefly profiles the USS San Francisco and the Battle (where Frank Slater was killed).  According to the Archive the film dates from 1941, but that's impossible since many of the events it discusses occurred in 1942.

While the film does not profile Destroyer Escorts (since it was probably made in 1942), it does contain segements that profile the guns used by DEs (20mm, 40mm, 1.1 and 5"38, but no 3"50). It also contains a lightline transfer of mail to a 4-piper destroyer.

12/16/2012 - Victory Garden

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Linda led a small contingent of DE Docents to Sheridan Academy to give presentations on the World War II home front.  The central theme was victory gardens.


Jack Madden and Linda Wruck (USS SLATER Education Coordinator) were the key note speakers. Jack is a WWII Navy Vet and DE Docent "par excellence". They did a great job. Gardening is not my cup of tea, nor is it my area of expertise. That said, I was glad to help and enjoyed the experience.


Note - One thing we need to add to the presentation is a few rolls of paper towels and a dust bin/brush combination.  These things can get a little messy.

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• USS SLATER - Nora's Garden 
• USS SLATER - Museum in a Bag Program
• WWII Book on Planting a Victory Garden (Dept of Agriculture Pub 483, 1942) 
• Wikipedia - Victory Gardens 
• Boston's Fenway Victory Garden 
• Canadian Broadcast Short Film on Victory Gardens (1943) 
• Victory Garden Film (Internet Archive)
• Victory Gardens Handbook (Pennsylvania State Council of Defense, 1944 E-Book) 
• Prelinger Archives (Internet Archive, WWII Film Libary)