USS Samuel Gompers (AD 37) on 24 November 1968. Her single 5-inch gun mount was removed in 1977.
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Class: SAMUEL GOMPERS (AD 37)
Design: SCB Project Nos. 244, 700.65, 700.66, and 700.69
Displacement (tons): 13,458 light, 20,132 full (AD 37)
Dimensions (feet): 645' oa, 620' wl x 85' e/wl x 28' max nav.
Armament: 1-5"/38; (37: 1976, 38: by 1979) 4-20mmS; (37: by 1995) 4-20mm light mg
Accommodations: 136 officers, 1,671 enlisted (AD 37)
Speed (kts.): 20 (18 sustained)
Propulsion (HP): 20,000
Machinery: Steam turbines, 2 boilers (600psi), 1 screw
Construction:
| AD | Name | Ord | Builder | Keel | Launch | Comm |
| 37 | SAMUEL GOMPERS | 31 Oct 1963 | NSY Puget Sound | 9 Jul 1964 | 14 May 1966 | 1 Jul 1967 |
| 38 | PUGET SOUND | 29 Dec 1964 | NSY Puget Sound | 15 Feb 1965 | 16 Sep 1966 | 27 Apr 1968 |
| 39 | unnamed | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 40 | unnamed | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Disposition:
| AS | Name | T | Decomm | Strike | Disposal | Fate | MA Sale/Depart |
| 37 | SAMUEL GOMPERS | 27 Oct 1995 | 7 Apr 1999 | 22 Jul 2003 | Target | -- | |
| 38 | PUGET SOUND | 27 Jan 1996 | 13 Dec 2007 | 11 Jan 2008 | Navy sale | -- | |
| 39 | unnamed | -- | -- | 11 Dec 1965 | Canc | -- | |
| 40 | unnamed | -- | -- | 27 Mar 1969 | Canc | -- |
Class Notes:
This class was designed soon after the AS 33 class (SCB Project no. 238, FY 1963), whose approved characteristics were promulgated on 5 January 1962, and shared many of the features of that design. Approved characteristics for a Destroyer Tender (AD), SCB Project No. 244 (FY 1964), were promulgated on 16 October 1962 and updated as SCB Project No. 700.65 on 24 October 1963, as SCB Project No. 700.66 on 1 April 1965, and as SCB Project No. 700.69 on 28 November 1968.
AD 37-38 and their later near-sisters, AD 41-44, were decommissioned in 1994-1996 after the Navy abandoned the use of forward deployable tenders to support operating forces.
Ship Notes:
| AD | Name | MA | Notes |
| 37 | SAMUEL GOMPERS | FY 1964. Sank on 22 Jul 2003 just after midnight after hits by 16 Harpoon missiles and other ordnance and aircraft bombs. | |
| 38 | PUGET SOUND | FY 1965. Dismantlement completed 3 Mar 2009, Brownsville, TX. | |
| 39 | unnamed | FY 1966. Deferred. | |
| 40 | unnamed | FY 1969. Repeat of the FY65 ship, cancelled to cover overruns in FY 1969 and 1970. Also in FY 1973, authorized to be built but never awarded and authorization cancelled 1 Apr 1974. |
Page Notes:
Compiled: 22 Jul 2021
© Stephen S. Roberts, 2021