The Hyak was built by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, California in 1966, at a cost of $6.5 million. It was launched and christened by Nancy Evans, wife of Governor Daniel J. Evans, on December 17, 1966. The vessel traveled north along the Pacific Coast in June 1967, but was delayed by a severe storm near San Francisco, California broke a temporary breakwater. She arrived in Seattle on July 4, several days later than scheduled, and was moved to the Todd Shipyards for repairs. The word Hyak is chinook jargon for "speedy". The ferry was not able to enter service after arrival because of an ongoing labor dispute with the local chapter of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots. The union argued that the wage agreement it signed with Washington State Ferries did not cover new, larger vessels like the Hyak. The dispute reached the King County Superior Court, where a judge signed an injunction ordering the ferry to be manned on its first run on July 19. The Hyak entered service that afternoon, and was assigned to the Seattle–Bremerton route, cutting the crossing time from 65 minutes to 45. The next day, the ferry made its first scheduled run and nearly rammed Pier 52 in Seattle after an engine failure. Unlike her sisters, the Hyak has not had her cabin refurbished. In June 2015, the Hyak was replaced by the in the third sailing spot in the San Juans. It was moved to the Seattle–Bremerton route for the remainder of its life, but returned to the San Juan route several times to replace vessels undergoing maintenance. The Hyak primarily served as a standby vessel for the rest of the fleet and was considered for experimental conversion to use hybrid diesel-electric generators until the plan was scrapped in 2015. The retirement of the Hyak, originally anticipated for the arrival of, was delayed into 2019 after replaced it as a relief vessel. The Hyak had a $37 million maintenance backlog that was left unaddressed by the state legislature, which allocated $2 million in supplemental funds to operate the ferry until June 2019. The supplemental funds were not extended in the 2019–21 transportation budget, signaling the vessel's retirement. On June 30, 2019, the Hyak made its final run on the Seattle–Bremerton route; the vessel's retirement caused schedule modifications on several routes to accommodate the downsized fleet. The Hyak will be stripped of its usable equipment and prepared for sale as surplus property.
Incidents
On April 14, 1986, the Hyak ran aground in Anacortes, Washington after a navigational error made by the crew, placing the ferry in shallow water above a reef. Only one injury was reported of the 250 people on board, but the ferry sustained damage that cost $250,000 to repair. On September 13, 2013, the Hyak collided with a private sailboat between Orcas and Shaw islands. No one was injured. The sailboat, however, was damaged and sank about 20 minutes after the accident.
