LETTERS two vessels. Although the submarine Cavalla is fairly well known around these parts, the existence of USS Stewart may be
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the best-kept secret among all naval museum ships. As you noted, USS Stewart is indeed being maintained (and restored) at Seawolf Park in Galveston, Texas. Those of us involved are grateful to Lt. Dan Keough, USNR (Ret.) and Sea History for bringing this fact to the attention of your readers. USS Stewart, an Edsall-Class Destroyer Escort, was "dry-berthed" alongside USS Cavalla in the early 1970s. A series of unfortunate events left her exposed to Mother Nature, and both she and her submarine companion were nearly lost to posterity. A few years ago, a determined gro up of submarine veterans mounted a heroic effort to save Cavalla. They succeeded beyond anyone's wildest hopes, and, in saving their submarine, they also saved USS Stewart. Because of these veterans, it can honestly be said that there are two, not just one, WWII DE's left in the US. The group that saved Cavalla wisely formed a 50l(c)3 corporation, The Cavalla Historical Foundation (CHF), and a new agreement was entered into with the Navy, giving joint custody of the DE and the submarine to CHF and the Galveston Parks Board. USS Cavalla is today nearly 90% restored and shows very well. CHF's foc us has now shifted to USS Stewart and much has been done to make her a presentable museum ship. Much of her interior has already been restored, and, thanks to a large donation from a submarine veteran, Stewarts exterior has just been sandblasted and repainted, from stem to stern and from waterline to masthead- all done in accord with EPA regulations, which govern the handling of lead-based paints. Sadly, for a number of reasons, the existence of the DE-238 has remained unknown to most DE veterans. We are grateful that Sea History saw fir to print Lr. Keough's letter. It has given us an opportunity to respond and perhaps give USS Stewart some long-overdue recognition. I served as a deck officer aboard USS Damon M. Cummings, DE-643 , during WWII. I now serve on CHF's board of directors, and, at present, am the only Destroyer Escort veteran on the board.
We are actively soliciting support from the DE community and would welcome their hands and talents in completing the restoration of the Stewart. Destroyer Escorts-all 563 of themmade an extraordinary contribution during the Second World War by helping to destroy the German submarine blockade and by providing protection to the convoys, which were vital to the supply of men and materials to far-Bung battle areas. Along with the wonderful folks working with USS Slater (DE-766) in Albany, NY,
we in Galveston are proud of our effort to preserve one of the last two examples of these rough little ships. R. F. HOFFMAN Kemah, Texas American Ship Trust After reading Peter Stanford's essay on establishing an American Ship Trust, I was reminded of an idea I had some years ago that might fit into the idea of getting the public interested in a national citizenbased force for saving historical vessels. Shortly after Walter Rybka left the barque Elissa and the Texas Seaport Museum, I noticed that interest in the Elissa volunteer program dropped off I thought about what we could do to increase interest in the ship again and came up with the idea of a progressive restoration program of a tug that could be used in conjunction with the Elissa program. The program would have the tug restored little by little in small ports along the Gulf Coast and, when completed, have her berthed at the Texas Seaport Museum. She would be used to take Elissa out and at other times be on display at the ports that helped restore her. This method of restoration would do exactly what you alluded to in your article-get the public personally involved in SEA HISTORY 118, SPRING 2007