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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Patch at left contributed by Tom Lanagan

Helicopter Landing Trainer (HLT)
Baylander (IX-514)
ex
 YFU-79 (1968 - 1970)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Hotel - Lima - Tango
 NHLT
YFU-79 Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Unit Commendation (2-NSA DaNang) - National Defense Service Medal
Bottom Row - Vietnam Service Medal (1) - Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation (2-NSA DaNang) - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Helicopter Landing Trainer (HLT):
  • Laid down, 28 December 1967, at Pacific Coast Engineering Co., Alameda, CA.
  • Launched, 29 May 1968
  • Acquired by the US Navy in 1968 and placed in service as YFU-79
  • Assigned to 3rd Boat Group, Lighterage Division, NSA DaNang during her Vietnam service
  • Transferred to the US Army 329th Heavy Boat Co. at Da Nang, South Vietnam circa May-June 1970
  • Evacuated to Guam circa 1974-75
  • Returned to US Navy control circa mid-1980s
  • Converted to a landing ship for training helicopter pilots at Bender Shipyard, Mobile AL. in 1986
  • Placed in service, 31 March 1986 as Miscellaneous Unclassified IX-514, homeported at NAS Pensacola, FL.
  • Placed out of service and struck from the Naval Register, 15 December 2011
  • YFU-79 earned one campaign star for Vietnam War service
  • Sold, 13 September 2012, for Commercial Service, homeported at West Piers, 125th St. Harlem, New York City
  • By mid-2016, ex-Baylander had been relocated to the West Harlem Piers on the Hudson River.
  • As of July, 2020, ex-Baylander (YFU-79) Specifications:
    Displacement220 t.(lt)
    Length 125'
    Beam 36'
    Draft 6'
    Speed 9 kts. (max)
    Complement 1 CPO, 11 enlisted
    Armament 3-50.cal machine guns
    (IX-514) Specifications:
    Displacement497.8 t.(fl)
    Length 125'
    Beam 36'
    Draft 4.66'
    Speed 9 kts. (max)
    Complement 1 officer, 22 enlisted
    Propulsion 2 Detroit Diesel 471 Series, 115Kw 185A generators, twin shafts
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    YFU-79
    YFU-79
    094651523    		 53k YFU-79 underway probably while assigned to service in Vietnam, date and location unknown. Tommy Trampp
    YFU-79 76k YFU-79 with a load of retrograde Army and Marine equipment at Tan My (just down river from Hue) late in 1969, I-CORPS Vietnam. YFU-79 would haul this type of cargo back to DaNang and usually pick up ammo to deliver back up north. Photo by Thomas Lanagan YFU-79
    YFU-79 72k YFU-79 loading ammo in the DaNang anchorage, September 1969. Photo by Thomas Lanagan YFU-79
    YFU-79 104k YFU-79 going into Tan My (entrance to Perfume River for a run up to Hue in South Vietnam. Note the grenade blast off the starboard bow, September 1969. Photo by Thomas Lanagan YFU-79
    YFU-79 97k YFU-79 delivering ammunition on a river run to Dong Ha, which was about 10 miles south of the DMZ and about a dozen miles inland, September 1969. Photo by Thomas Lanagan YFU-79
    YFU-79 36k YFU-79 loading M-60 tanks at Dong Ha, Vietnam, November 1969. Photo by Thomas Lanagan YFU-79
    YFU-79 73k YFU-79 off-loading M113s APCs (armored personnel carriers) of unites of the US Army 5th Mechanized Brigade at Dong Ha, Vietnam, November 1969. Thomas Lanagan YFU-79
    Baylander (IX-514)
    IX-514 44k Baylander (IX-514) underway, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Boston Det, web site
    IX-514 74k Baylander (IX-514) underway, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 .
    IX-514 56k Baylander (IX-514) underway, date and place unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 .
    IX-514 56k Baylander (IX-514_ moored pierside at NAS Pensacola with YP-696 and YP-702 moored astern of her.
    US Navy photo    		 .
    IX-514
    094651426    		 149k A Landing Signal Enlisted man (LSE) directs a Training Wing 5 (TAW-5) Bell TH-57 Sea Ranger helicopter as it comes in to land aboard Baylander (IX-514), date unknown. The trainer, a converted harbor utility craft, was based at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, on 1 July 1990.
    Photo courtesy of Art Giberson (OPA-NARA II-2016/01/21). Photo ID: 330-CFD-DN-SN-90-11952. This image was originally posted to Flickr by Photograph Curator at https://flickr.com/photos/127906254@N06/24520623705    		 Robert Hurst
    IX-514
    094651427    		 190k Navy flight school student Bryan Weatherup piloting a Bell TH-57C Sea Ranger landing on the NETC trainer ship Baylander (IX-514) in Pensacola Bay in November 2003.
    Photo courtesy Bryanwxup. Free to readers of Wikicommons and any linked website.    		 Robert Hurst
    IX-514 283k Baylander (IX-514) in Pensacola Bay, 25 August 2006, as a TH-57 training helicopter from Helicopter Training Squadron Eight at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field, flown by student pilot Navy LTjg David Dostal and instructor Navy LT. Teresa Ferry lands on the Navy Helicopter Landing Trainer (HLT), marking the 100,000th consecutive accident-free landing aboard Baylander.
    US Navy photo # 060825-N-5328N-745 by Gary Nichols.    		 Bill Gonyo
    IX-514 199k Baylander (IX-514) in Pensacola Bay, 25 August 2006, as a TH-57 training helicopter from Helicopter Training Squadron Eight at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field, flown by student pilot Navy LTjg David Dostal and instructor Navy LT. Teresa Ferry lands on the Navy Helicopter Landing Trainer (HLT), marking the 100,000th consecutive accident-free landing aboard Baylander.
    US Navy photo # 060825-N-7750K-239 by Megan Kohr.    		 Robert Hurst
    IX-514 218k Baylander (IX-514) in Pensacola Bay, 25 August 2006, as a TH-57 training helicopter from Helicopter Training Squadron Eight at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field, flown by student pilot Navy LTjg. David Dostal and instructor Navy LT. Teresa Ferry lands on the Navy Helicopter Landing Trainer (HLT), marking the 100,000th consecutive accident-free landing aboard Baylander.
    US Navy photo # 060825-N-5328N-761 by Gary Nichols.    		 Lee Wahler
    IX-514 224k Baylander (IX-514) in Pensacola Bay, 25 August 2006, transports a TH-57 helicopter from Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field. The helicopter, which is crewed by student pilot Navy LTjg. David Dostal and instructor Navy LT. Teresa Ferry recently made the 100,000th consecutive accident-free landing aboard the Baylander.
    US Navy photo # 060825-N-0856O-527 by Michael O'Connor.    		 Robert Hurst
    IX-514 242k Sailors assigned to Naval Air Station Pensacola, 3 June 2009, render honors to the Spanish Navy training ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano from the Helicopter Landing Trainer Baylander (IX-514) as Elcano makes her way to the Port of Pensacola. Elcano is visiting Pensacola as part of the city's 450th anniversary.
    US Navy photo # 090603-N-0738H-003 by Michael O'Connor.    		 Robert Hurst
    IX-514 169k Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Sellars, commander of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, observes five UH-60M helicopters from the Massachusetts National Guard conduct flight-deck landing qualifications aboard the Helicopter Landing Trainer Baylander (IX-514) as part of a training evolution prior to their overseas deployment.
    US Navy photo # 090917-D-0856O-001 by Michael O'Connor.    		 Robert Hurst
    Commercial Service
    IX-514 352k MV Baylander (IX-514) at the at the West Harlem Piers, Harlem, New York, City., July 2014. Photo by Scott Koen
    IX-514 128k MV Baylander (IX-514) on the East River, July 2014, New York, City., date unknown. Photo by Scott Koen
    IX-514
    094651424    		 83k MV Baylander (IX-514) moored at Brooklyn Navy Yard, serving as a home to 2,000 pigeons that were part of a living art demonstration by artist Duke Riley called Fly By Night held at the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard in the Spring of 2016.
    Photo by Jake Silby    		 Tommy Trampp
    IX-514
    094651420    		 722k “You can always tell by the fold. I was at the flea and saw it, I asked 'Do you know what that is?' He said yes, its my sisters husbands, he died previously and she just went into a nursing home, he was selling some items for her to help out. I upped his Price a bit and told him to tell her that this flag will fly on a former US Navy ship. And now, in time for Memorial Day, it flies atop the mast of Baylander (IX-514), former YFU-79, A Vietnam vet.”
    Baylander IX-514 Museum    		 Chin Yu Chu
    IX-514
    094651421    		 597k
    IX-514
    094651422    		 80k MV Baylander (IX-514) moored in her berth at the West Harlem Piers at 125th Street, New York City, N.Y.
    Foodtribe.con.    		 Tommy Trampp
    IX-514
    094651425    		 175k MV Baylander (IX-514) moored on a mostly sunny day in her berth at the West Harlem Piers at 125th Street, New York City, N.Y., 25 April 2021.
    Photo by Jim Henderson    		 Robert Hurst
    There is no history available for IX-514 at NavSource
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. DeVaughn, Gregory, USN1995 - ?
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Baylander Facebook Page
    "The Saga of the YFU-79 and the U-Boat Sailors of I-Corp."
    Harlem+Bespoke - First Look at Baylander Steel Beach

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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 5 April 2024