New CO For Halyburton

Guest speaker was Capt. David Robertson, Commander, Destroyer Squadron 14.

Byrne, a native of Pacifica, Calif., graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science.

During his first sea duty assignment, he served as the Gunnery officer and Main Propulsion assistant on board USS Cook (FF 1083) in San Diego, California. He then served as the Anti-Submarine Warfare officer on board USS Lake Champlain (CG 57).

Byrne's first shore tour moved him to Guam where he served as a Flag Lieutenant and aide to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Marianas.

His department head tour included a homeport shift from San Diego to Yokosuka, Japan, in USS Vincennes (CG 49) where he served as Weapons officer and Combat Systems officer.

Cmdr. Herbert Hadley

During his second round of shore duty, Byrne relocated to Washington, D.C. and served in the Office of the Director of Surface Warfare and then served in the Office of the Director of Warfare Integration.

After his executive officer tour in USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), Byrne reported to the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and earned a Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy.

Hadley assumed command of USS Halyburton Sept. 15, 2003. After completing its Selective Restricted Availability, Hadley took it out to sea for the first time in December of 2003 right before entering the Inter-Deployment Readiness Cycle.

After completing a highly successful Initial Assessment and Underway Demonstration, Hadley led his crew through three extremely successful Tailored Ship Training Assessments and the Final Evaluation Problem to complete the training cycle. The hard work and dedication that Halyburton's crew gave forth resulted in being recognized as the 2004 Battle ''E'' recipient for Destroyer Squadron 14.

To showcase Halyburton, Hadley led the crew to New York City to join 11 additional ships of the line for Fleet Week 2004. Just one month later, Halyburton steamed to Mobile, Ala., for the Fourth of July Festival where the ship was the guest of the Mobile Chapter of the Navy League.

Under Hadley's command, Halyburton recently completed a triumphant counter narco-terrorism operations deployment in direct support of Operations Caper Focus and Caribbean Shield, where it seized 4.9 metric tons of cocaine with a street value of $158 million. While deployed, Halyburton was featured as an exclusive story in ALL HANDS magazine detailing its mission while on patrol in the Eastern Pacific.

For his follow on duty assignment, Hadley will serve as the Surface Operations Officer for Commander, Carrier Strike Group 12 in Norfolk, Va.