Hayter departed Charleston on 1 April 1944 for shakedown training off Bermuda, and subsequently was assigned to an escort division for Atlantic duty.

During the voyages Hayter provided anti-submarine protection and transferred the division doctor to many merchant ships in the convoy needing medical assistance.

Departing Casco Bay on 17 March, Hayter and her escorts proceeded into the north Atlantic for anti-submarine sweeps in the Iceland area.

The group returned to NS Argentia, Newfoundland, on 14 April, and departed four days later for anti-submarine barrier patrol, cruising between escort carriers Bogue (CVE-9) to the south, and Core (CVE-13), to the north.

At Jacksonville, Hayter was placed in the Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs, Florida, decommissioned on 19 March 1946 and was later moved to the Texas group, where she remained until struck on 1 December 1966.

Lieutenant Commander Hayter was serving as damage control officer when New Orleans received a torpedo hit, and as Central Station, his battle post, filled with asphyxiating gas he ordered all men without masks to leave the compartment giving his own to a partially stricken seaman.