USS Bolivar ( APA - 34 ) USS " Bolivar " ( APA - 34 ) was a in the United States Navy during World War II . She was named for Bolivar County , Mississippi . " Bolivar " was laid down on 13 May 1942 at San Francisco , California , by the Western Pipe and Steel Company under a Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 269 ) ; launched as SS " Sea Angel " on 7 September 1942 ; sponsored by Mrs . Robert W . Ethen ; originally designated a transport , AP - 79 ; reclassified APA - 34 on 1 February 1943 ; transferred to the Navy on 15 March 1943 ; commissioned that same day , as " Bolivar " , Lieutenant Commander R . E . Perry in command ; moved to Hoboken , New Jersey ; decommissioned there on 23 April ; converted to an attack transport by Todd Shipbuilding Company ; and recommissioned on 1 September , Capt . Joseph A . Gainard in command . Operational history . On 12 September , " Bolivar " departed Hoboken and steamed to Norfolk , Virginia where she loaded boats and embarked troops for a month of training . The ship then returned north to take on a consignment of coffee and canned beef at Brooklyn for delivery to the West Coast . After joining a convoy off Norfolk on 13 October , " Bolivar " headed through the Panama Canal for San Pedro , California , where she arrived on 1 November . On 14 November , " Bolivar " and five other attack transports began a two months of training off San Clemente Island and Camp Pendleton . At the conclusion of the training , she embarked elements of the 3rd Marines and rehearsed the many phases of amphibious landings from loading and unloading troops and equipment , to various small boat landings and antiaircraft drills . On 20 December , " Bolivar " became flagship for the Commander , Transport Division ( TransDiv ) 28 . Kwajalein Atoll . On 13 January 1944 , " Bolivar " steamed out of San Diego , California with TransDiv 28 bound for Hawaii and arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 21st . Her Hawaiian visit proved very brief because she got underway again the next day to take part in the invasion of the Marshall Islands . On 31 January , at the disembarkation area on the lee side of Kwajalein Atoll , " Bolivar " transferred elements of the 23d Marines that she carried to LST s . The troops would be conveyed the following morning to the beaches of Roi for the main assault . In a little more than 26 hours , the Northern Attack Force under Rear Admiral Richard L . Conolly secured the northern part of Kwajalein Atoll , and " Bolivar " departed the lagoon on 8 February for Pearl Harbor . The attack transport spent the month of March training with the 2nd Marine Division for the assault on Saipan , and spent April and May in Pearl Harbor . Saipan . On 30 May , " Bolivar " steamed out of Pearl Harbor with units of the 16th Marines embarked as part of Transport Group " Able " bound for Saipan in the Mariana Islands . TransDiv 28 stood off the beaches of Charan Kanoa early on 15 June , and " Bolivar ' s " first boats hit the beaches at 0844 . The nine ships of TransDiv 18 and TransDiv 19 lost only 10 LCVP ' s and 4 LCM ' s during the landing . " Bolivar " remained in her transport area several miles offshore for three days disembarking troops and unloading equipment . On the 18th , she and the other auxiliaries received orders to head for a safe area east of Saipan where they remained until the Battle of the Philippine Sea was won on 20 June . She then returned to her transport area , embarked 295 casualties , and set sail for Pearl Harbor with her division . Guam . At Pearl Harbor , " Bolivar " embarked a unit of the 306th Regimental Combat Team ( RCT ) of the Army ' s 77th Infantry Division and got underway for Guam on 9 July . She reached Guam on 22 July , the day after the landings , and remained there for a week disembarking reinforcement troops and unloading their equipment . She then headed back to Hawaii , arriving at Pearl Harbor on 10 August . After embarking a battalion of the Army ' s 383d Regiment , " Bolivar " rehearsed landing maneuvers at Maui , ostensibly for the invasion of Yap Island . The attack transport left Pearl Harbor on 15 September but , one day out of port , received orders cancelling the Yap campaign and directing " Bolivar " to Manus in the Admiralty Islands . Leyte . Admiral Thomas C . Kinkaid ' s 7th Fleet was based at Manus where the invasion of Leyte was planned and staged . On 14 October , " Bolivar " stood out of Seeadler Harbor as part of Transport Group " Baker " of the Southern Attack Force headed for Leyte . At mid - morning on 20 October , " Bolivar " began disembarking troops from an anchorage in Leyte Gulf off Dulag . The attack transport did not get her full cargo unloaded by sunset , so she remained at anchor under a thick smokescreen . " Bolivar " completed her unloading the next day and , with her squadron , threaded her way through the aircraft defense smoke cover and headed south for Hollandia , New Guinea , carrying casualties to the Army hospital there . " Bolivar " embarked reinforcements at Hollandia and sailed back to Leyte . She arrived on 18 November , and a kamikaze attack began almost as soon as she anchored . The attack transport witnessed one hit on , anchored about half a mile away , but " Bolivar " escaped attack . She quickly disembarked her troops , unloaded her cargo , and got underway the same day for Cape Torokina , Bougainville , where she took a battalion of the 37th Division on board . Luzon . The attack transport rehearsed landings of Huan Gulf , New Guinea , in preparation for the amphibious assault on Luzon at Lingayen . " Bolivar " headed for Lingayen Gulf on 31 December as part of Task Force ( TF ) 79 . The transports arrived at their designated anchorages in lower Lingayen Gulf by 0700 on 9 January 1945 , despite heavy enemy air attacks which crashed the aircraft carrier and narrowly missed the Australian ship in column to port of " Bolivar " . At 0900 , " Bolivar ' s " boats moved toward the beaches with the first assault wave . After unloading cargo and troops in a scant eight hours , the transport took on board badly wounded crewmen from the battleship which had been hit by a kamikaze on 6 January . Cargo holds empty , the first echelon of transports , including " Bolivar " , left Lingayen Gulf at dusk through the smoke screen and the continuing air attacks . At Leyte , " Bolivar " transferred the wounded to the Dutch hospital ship HMNS " Maetsuycher " . She remained at Leyte until 19 January , when she weighed anchor and got underway for Ulithi . There , she took on fuel and provisions in preparation for embarking more troops . Iwo Jima . On 6 February , " Bolivar " set out for Guam with a squadron of transports to embark elements of the 21st Marines . The convoy left Guam on 16 February and set course for the next stepping stone to Japan – Iwo Jima . The initial assault troops landed on 19 February , but " Bolivar " stood by off Iwo Jima holding her embarked troops in reserve . Finally , on the 21st , she commenced disembarkation , but high winds and other difficulties delayed the landing ' s completion until the 24th . " Bolivar " remained offshore receiving wounded soldiers for almost two weeks . On 3 March , one of her own crewmembers was killed and two others were wounded when a shell from an enemy shore battery exploded close aboard . Several night air attacks developed during her two - week stay , but " Bolivar " suffered no damage . The attack transport left Iwo Jima on 6 March carrying 450 casualties to Saipan , where they were disembarked on 10 March . She left immediately for Nouméa , New Caledonia , where she arrived on 23 March . Okinawa . The Army ' s 81st Infantry Division — billeted there as reserve for the Okinawa invasion — embarked in " Bolivar " , and she got underway on 9 April for landing rehearsals on the New Caledonian coast . After three days of maneuvers , the ship returned to Nouméa where she stood ready to answer the call for reinforcements at Okinawa . That word never came and , on 3 May , " Bolivar " left for Leyte , where she anchored on 16 May and disembarked her troops two days later . After transferring her excess boats and provisions to other units , the attack transport set sail on 26 May for Apra Harbor , Guam . There she embarked 450 soldiers wounded at Okinawa and set course for Hawaii , an intermediate stop on the voyage back to the United States . She picked up 100 sailors at Pearl Harbor and arrived at Seattle , Washington , on 17 June . After transferring the casualties and other passengers and unloading ammunition , " Bolivar " made the short overnight run to Portland , Oregon , where she began a general overhaul at Kaiser Shipbuilding Corporation ' s Swan Island yard on the 18th . Operation Magic Carpet . The war ended before the attack transport completed overhaul but , on 2 September , she put to sea as part of the Operation Magic Carpet fleet returning veterans from the Philippines , Marshall , Admiralty , and Caroline Islands . Returning to San Francisco on 29 January 1946 , " Bolivar " discharged her passengers and proceeded to the New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn , New York , via the Panama Canal Zone and Norfolk , Virginia . Decommissioning and after . On 29 April 1946 , " Bolivar " was decommissioned , and her name was struck from the Navy List on 19 July 1946 . The transport was returned to the Maritime Commission on 12 September 1946 . The ship was initially leased by American President Lines , Ltd . , and subsequently by several other companies , before disappearing from mercantile records in 1973 . " Bolivar " received five battle star s for her service during World War II .