"Swift Tide")[1] was the fifth vessel to be commissioned in the 19-vessel Kagerō-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late-1930s under the Circle Three Supplementary Naval Expansion Program (Maru San Keikaku).

[3] Hayashio, built at the Uraga Dock Company, was laid down on 30 June 1938, launched on 19 April 1939 and commissioned on 31 August 1940.

On 24 November 1942, while on a transport run to Lae, Hayashio was attacked by USAAF bombers (one of which, a B-17F with c/n 41-24521, claimed a direct hit to her forward turret's port side) and caught fire.

Attempts to quench the fires stopped after the magazine exploded, and Cdr Kiyoshi Kaneda gave the order to abandon ship.

After removing the survivors, she was scuttled by a torpedo launched by the destroyer Shiratsuyu, in Guna Bay, Huon Gulf (07°0′S 147°30′E / 7.000°S 147.500°E / -7.000; 147.500).