USS Charrette

The USS Charrette, known today as the Velos, is a historic museum ship anchored in the port of Thessaloniki. Originally built as a Fletcher-class destroyer for the U.S. Navy and commissioned in 1943, the ship saw active service in the Pacific theater during World War II. After the war, it was transferred to Greece in 1959 and incorporated into the Hellenic Navy, where it served until 1991 under the name Velos, which means "arrow." During that time, the ship took part in numerous NATO exercises and played a special role during the political crisis of the 1970s.

A defining moment in the ship's history was the mutiny against the Greek military junta in 1973. Commander Nikolaos Pappas refused an order to return to his homeland and instead dropped anchor off Rome to draw international attention to human rights abuses in Greece. This act of civil disobedience led to the ship later being declared a museum of the struggle against the dictatorship. After it was decommissioned in 1991, the destroyer was restored and first displayed in Athens as a museum ship open to visitors, before being moved to its current location in Thessaloniki in 2019.

Today you can tour the ship on the Thessaloniki waterfront, near the concert hall. It serves as a living memorial to Greece's maritime traditions and democratic development. Visitors can explore the destroyer's historic architecture and learn about its eventful past. The ship is still considered to be in active service, which underscores its symbolic importance for the Greek Navy. Despite some recent storm damage, it remains an important attraction for history buffs and tourists in the city.