Samuel Gompers (AD 37) - Naval Cruise Book

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Deplo ment profile GOMPERSMEN who took the first deployment with her in 1967 were expect- ing a similar cruise this year. The em- phasis on tender utilization, however, re- quired us to remain in the Philippine port of Subic Bay at the vast Naval complex there. In Subic, we rendered a five and one- half month fleet repair support period which saw 432 availabilities given to 237 different ships. 45 of the ships were taken alongside, with five ships outboard to port no unusual sight. 42 different types of ships were rendered availabilities, rang- ing in size from small ocean-going mine- sweepers to the nuclear-powered ENTER- PRISE and six other attack aircraft carriers. The arrival of USS HADDOCK QSS CNJ-6211 and USS BAINBRIDGE QDLG CNJ-251 alongside marked firsts in our nuclear repair work. HADDOCK was the first nuclear-powered fast attack sub- marine ever rendered an availability by a destroyer tender and BAINBRIDGE was our first nuclear-powered surface ship brought alongside. Over 12,500 work requests were pro- cessed through our Repair Office. This represented 197,100 manhours of work devoted to other ships and the expendi- ture of nearly S300,000 in parts and re- pair funds. To support this repair effort, the Supply Department, carrying in its inven- tory more items than are listed in the Sears and Roebuck catalog, issued ma- terial through l5,000 requisitions valued at approximately S700,000. The food ser- vices division served meals to 480,000 personnel who consumed nearly 700 tons offood. While their ships were undergoing the SAMUEL GOMPERS treatment, de- stroyer sailors were being treated in the Medical and Dental Departments. Over 3,000 sailors were examined and treated by the four-dentist clinic and the depart- ment records show over 3,500 fillings were accomplished. On the more painful side, 425 teeth were pulled. Out-patient care was given to over 3,300 patients and 218 men were admitted to our 43-bed hospital and operating room complex. ln port, when destroyers came along- side, they found it necessary in many in- stances to go dead plant , shutting down most of their engineering ma- chinery. Our Engineering Department furnished steam and other services to permit maximum maintenance on the war- weary ships. Over 1,500,000 kilowatt hours of electricity flowed through the cables winding over, around, and between the multi-ship nests. The Weapons Department issued and transferred 103 torpedos to destroyers during the deployment, besides main- taining a high state of proficiency in its security functions. The volume of destroyer sailors and material traveling to and from the beach was fielded by Deck Department boat crewmen who provided continuous boat services, working 19 hour days. Admiral V. G. Lambert, Commander of the Subic Naval Base, commended GOMPERSMEN in a letter: Our best wishes to the crew of GOMPERS for the continuation of such an outstanding record of contributions in so many areas. To the fine crew of GOMPERS, we re- gretfully say, 'Sayonara' and 'Mabuhay' and 'Godspeed'! E TMT3- if ' Q. 1 I

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USS SAMUEL GQMPERS QAD-375 , 1! 1 I WESTPAC 68- 69

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. A ., g tg., 6 t 4' 1 ' -0 if' 'vfl I. .. , gay- ' .adm T f-'M' 'QW' ,iv 'fav ..Av4s4 if , wb 4191 nga! 'wily -iff' If Commissioned on l July, I967, USS SAMUEL GOMPERS QAD-373 is the first ship in the fleet to bear this name, and the first of a new class of destroyer tender. GOMPERS' mission is to repair and support destroyer-type ships, in- cluding destroyer escorts and nuclear- powered guided missile frigates. SAMUEL GOMPERS, at 643 feet in length, 85 feet in width and displacing 20,260 tons at full load, is nearly l00 feet longer, 20 feet wider, and over 5,000 tons heavier than the largest de- stroyer tenders now in service. Her size is second only to the battleship NEW JERSEY in the Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Pacific Fleet. Her mean naviga- tional draft is 22 feet, six inches. and her single screw power plant produces a top speed in excess of 20 knots. She is de- signed to be manned by 3l officers and l025 enlisted men and has extensive ac- commodations for a flag officer and his staff. The two higher pressure boilers comprising the engineering plant are capable of generating enough steam to heat a city of l0,000. The same two boil- ers furnish 20,000 shaft horsepower for propulsion. One boiler is able to furnish the necessary in-port steam require- ments to a normal nest of guided missile destroyer-type ships alongside. GOM- PERS' four ship-service generators are capable of generating 10,000 kilowatts of electrical power, or enough electricity to light a city of 50,000. GOMPERS' two l00,000 gallons per day evaporators can fill the waterneeds of a city of 8,000 GOMPERS' Repair Department is , , , ,tra - ,q6n tM comprised of six Repair Divisions, one of which is charged with the repair of nu- clear-powered propulsion plants. Included within this division is an extensive radioactive chemistry laboratory equip- ped with the latest analytical apparatus. The Electronics Repair shop can repair and calibrate virtually every type of nu- clear reactor instrument, as well as ships' communications. radar, and navi- gation equipment. When one of the destroyers along- side requires major repairs such as the removal of heavy machinery or propel- lors. two 30 ton capacity cranes are located amidships to assist in the job. Two 3' .ttf 1 ton capacity telescopic-boomed traveling cranes are located outboard on each side of the ship which are used for handling stores, small boats, and other material. To support the repair effort and the requirements of other ship's depart- ments, the Supply Department carries an inventory of nearly 70,000 repair parts and material with a value in excess of 2 million dollars. These are stored in 65 storerooms whose total storage capacity could house 70 full-sized automobiles. Virtually every storeroom is serviced by a vertical conveyor, a freight elevator, or a dumbwaiter. The second deck is de- signed to allow the use of fork lift trucks to move material to or from elevators and conveyors. A modern shipboard computer instal- lation is included in the inventory of GOMPERS' facilities. The computer is not only used to keep track of the thou- sands of different items of repair parts, xc.. provisions, materials, and equipage, but is programmed to account for the many categories of funds necessary to operate a ship of this size, to assist the Repair Officer in maintaining workload and ma- terial controls, and to lighten the clerical burden in the areas of personnel adminis- tration and disbursement of pay and al- lowances. After acceptance trials, SAMUEL GOMPERS arrived in her home port of San Diego, California on 6 October l967. She then departed San Diego on l0 No- vember l967 for a shakedown cruise consisting of a six month deployment to the Western Pacific. During repair avail- ability periods in the Japanese ports of Yokosuka and Sasebo, and the Taiwan port of Kaohsiung, SAMUEL GOMPERS ren- dered fleet repair support to one hundred fifty-two ships and related activities of which forty-four were ships assigned alongside availability. The Repair De- partment processed 6,2l5 work requests amounting to vessel repair expenditures of over Sl67,000. Short visits to Hong Kong and Subic Bay, P.l. were included in the deployment. The ship returned to the continental United States on 8 May I968 and later completed a post-shake- down availability in Bremerton, Washing- ton during the summer. GOMPERS then returned to San Diego on 3l July 1968 to serve as flagship for Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Pacific Fleet until this, her second deployment to the Western Pacific. CJ