USS Hayler

For fiscal year 1978, Congress authorized the production of two additional Spruance-class destroyers, though they funded only one. These were intended to be built as helicopter destroyers (DDH), provided they would not cost more than a standard Spruance-class. Litton-Ingalls completed sketch design work for DDH-997, which moved the helicopter deck aft, stretching the length of the hangar and displacing the Sea Sparrow launcher to the top of the hangar. The design would have accommodated two SH-3 Sea Kings or four smaller SH-60 Seahawk or SH-2 Seasprite helicopters. While the prospective DDH-997 probably wouldn't have cost much more to build than a standard Spruance-class, the detail design and engineering work required before the ship could be built would have been substantial (similar work for the Kidd-class cost $110.8 million). This raised the cost of the DDH substantially above a standard Spruance-class destroyer. While this additional cost might have been justified if the DDH was going to enter series production, it was difficult to justify for a single ship. Accordingly, the Navy built Hayler to a similar design as the rest of the class, while incorporating some systems from the Ticonderoga Cruiser and Kidd Destroyer designs.

Hayler was laid down on 20 October 1980 by Ingalls Shipbuilding, in Pascagoula, Miss.; launched on 2 March 1982; and commissioned on 5 March 1983.

On 23 October 1988, Hayler was in collision with the West German replenishment tanker Rhön. Hayler was badly damaged aft, and was under repair at Rosyth Dockyard, Scotland, until 20 November.[2]

The ship was assigned escort duties for the USS La Moure County (LST-1194) as it accidentally ran aground near the coast of Caleta Cifuncho Bay, Chile in the pre-dawn hours of 12 September 2000 during a routine amphibious training operation with a sister vessel, the Chilean Valdiva.

Fate

Hayler (DD 997) U.S. Navy EOD rigged ship to sink. Fuel storage drums, bow and starboard mid-ship, destroyed for effect before sinking.

The end of ex-USS Hayler, 13 November 2004.

Hayler was decommissioned 25 August 2003 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Va. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 6 April 2004 and sunk as a target on 13 November 2004, during the 2004 Sink Exercise.

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  USS Hayler on 15 November 1982
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  USS Hayler on 1 July 1986
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  USS Hayler on 29 April 1989
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  USS Hayler on 25 June 1995

• List of destroyers of the United States Navy

 This article incorporates public domain material from USS Hayler (DD-997) Ship's Crest. United States Navy.

• Sturton, Ian (1989). "The Naval Year in Review: F (ii). Major Casualties at Sea From 1 April 1988 to 30 April 1989". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Warship 1989. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 247–249. ISBN 0-85177-530-6.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Hayler (DD-997).

• nvr.navy.mil: USS Hayler