USS Samuel Gompers AD-37 Destroyer Tender Embroidered Patch

The USS Samuel Gompers (AD-37) was the lead ship of the last class of destroyer tenders the United States Navy would ever commission. Laid down at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and commissioned in 1967, she was built specifically to do the work that keeps a fighting fleet alive: fabricating parts, repairing electronics, overhauling weapons systems, and putting broken ships back in the water. The Navy called ships like her tenders. The men who ran to her in a forward port when something was critically wrong called her a lifeline.

Over nearly three decades of active service, the Gompers deployed across the Pacific Fleet's full operational reach. She supported destroyers and frigates in WestPac, operated in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf during periods of sustained tension, and was forward-deployed to places that did not make the newspapers but absolutely made the deployment schedule. Her repair crews worked around the clock in conditions no shipyard planner ever accounted for, keeping surface combatants on station when the alternative was sending them home. The AD designation meant auxiliary, destroyer — but nothing about the work was auxiliary.

This 4-inch round embroidered patch has a navy blue outer ring with "USS SAMUEL GOMPERS" arched across the top and "AD-37" across the bottom, both in white lettering. The center field is deep red, with a gold ship's wheel forming the background. A silver bald eagle with wings fully spread dominates the upper portion, talons gripping a crossed blue anchor and gold lightning bolt. Below the eagle, a gold scroll banner carries the ship's motto in red letters: SERVICE SUPREME. The gold merrowed border locks the whole design in a tight, clean edge. Iron-on backing, and it can also be sewn on for a permanent mount.

Destroyer tender duty had a reputation. It was not the top of anyone's shore duty wish list, and it was not supposed to be. The Gompers crew understood that their job was to make other ships more capable, not to collect their own battle streamers. That professional culture — grinding, competent, unglamorous, and absolutely essential — lasted the full run of the ship's service life. When she was decommissioned in 1995, she closed out not just her own history but the era of the purpose-built destroyer tender in the United States Navy. There has not been one since.

The patch fits a standard shadow box alongside ship photos, deployment ribbons, and rate insignia from a surface warfare career. It works on a vest at a Tin Can Sailors reunion, on a jacket, or on a hat worn by someone who wants to carry a specific piece of history on his person. For family members trying to piece together what a father or grandfather actually did out there, this patch and the story behind it are a good place to start.