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Baylander (IX-514)

Baylander
US Navy 060825-N-0856O-527 The Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola-based Navy Helicopter Landing Trainer (HLT) IX-514 transports a TH-57 helicopter from NAS Whiting Field.jpg
Baylander while it was stationed at NAS Whiting Field, Florida
History
United States
Name: YFU-79
Owner: United States Navy
Awarded: 1 June 1967
Builder: Pacific Coast Engineering Co, Alameda, California
Yard number: 238
Laid down: 28 December 1967
Launched: 29 May 1968
Acquired: 5 July 1968
United States
Name: Skilak
Namesake: Skilak Lake
Owner: United States Army
Acquired: May-June 1970
Out of service: mid-1980s
United States
Name: Baylander (IX-514)
Owner: United States Navy
Acquired: mid-1980s
In service: 31 March 1986
Struck: 15 December 2011
Status: Museum ship at Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York
General characteristics
Tonnage: 160 DWT
Displacement:
Length: 125 ft (38 m)
Beam: 36 ft (11 m)
Draft: 8 ft (2.4 m)
Installed power: 2 × 450 hp (340 kW) Detroit Diesel 12V-71
Propulsion: 2 × propellers
Speed: 9 knots (10 mph; 17 km/h)
Complement: 2 officer, 10 enlisted
Aviation facilities: Helo deck (no hangar)

Baylander (IX-514), ex-Skilak and ex-YFU-79, was a United States Navy Helicopter Landing Trainer (HLT), billed as the world's smallest aircraft carrier. It served as a practice landing site for helicopter pilots in the United States Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and National Guard.

The ship entered operations with the United States Navy in 1968 as harbor utility craft YFU-79 and served in the Vietnam War; from mid-1970 it served with the United States Army as Skilak. At the end of the war Skilak was withdrawn to Guam. In the mid-1980s it was returned to the Navy and converted to a Helicopter Landing Trainer by Bender Shipbuilding in Mobile, Alabama, entering service on 31 March 1986 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. By August 2006, she had achieved 100,000 accident-free helicopter landings, and by the time of her retirement had surpassed 120,000 landings. After being taken out of service and struck from the Naval Register in 2011,Baylander was sold into private hands instead of being scrapped. In 2014, it was moved to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Marina in New York City and opened as a museum ship. By mid-2016, the vessel had been relocated to the West Harlem Piers on the Hudson River.

Baylander was built as Yard No. 238 by Pacific Coast Engineering Company (PACECO) of Alameda, California. It is 125 feet (38 m) long, has a beam of 36 feet (11 m), and displaces 380 long tons (386 t) at full load. Its helicopter deck was the same size as that of a Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate.


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