USS Monrovia ( APA - 31 ) USS " Monrovia " ( AP - 64 ) was a " Crescent City " class attack transport of the United States Navy , built from a C - 3 Delta commercial freighter design , and was named for the Birthplace of President James Monroe , located in Westmoreland County , Va . " Monrovia " ( AP 64 ) was laid down as MC hull 152 by Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard , Sparrows Point , Maryland , 1942 - 03 - 26 ; launched 1942 - 09 - 19 ; sponsored by Mrs . John M . Carmody ; and commissioned 1 December 1942 - 12 - 01 , Capt . C . D . Leffler in command . Reclassified APA 31 ( Attack Transport ) on 1943 - 02 - 01 , " Monrovia " conducted shakedown and amphibious training exercises in Chesapeake Bay through the winter months of 1943 . World War II Atlantic Service . On 10 May , she departed Norfolk , with Army passengers , for the Mediterranean and her first assault assignment . After hurried conversion to accommodate equipment needed by a flagship , accomplished in 2 weeks by at Mers el Kebir , she took on Army nurses as passengers for transport to Algiers . There , on 1943 - 06 - 20 , Vice Admiral Hewitt and his staff came on board , and were joined 10 days later by Lt . Gen . George S . Patton , Jr . On 6 July , she departed for Sicily where she served as the command ship of the Western Task Force for Operation " Husky " . Arriving off the assault area on the 10th , she suffered slight damage to her engine room on the 11th when a Stuka loosed bombs which straddled the vessel with two near misses . After repairs at Algiers , she returned to the United States with Italian POW s , mooring at Portsmouth , Virginia , 4 August . World War II Pacific Service . Reassigned later in the month , the attack transport took on Marines and headed for the Pacific . On 9 October she arrived at Wellington , New Zealand , departing , on the 27th , for Efate , the staging area for the Tarawa assault . By 20 November she stood off that atoll as flagship of TransDiv 18 . Afterward , with casualties , elements of the remaining units of the 2nd Marine Division , and several POWs , she returned to Hawaii . During December and January 1944 , she conducted training exercises in the Hawaiian area with Marine and Army personnel . On 22 January she sailed for her third amphibious operation , Kwajalein , participating in the assault there on the 31st , and returning casualties and POWs to Pearl Harbor in February . She then sailed on to San Diego , arriving 17 February for availability and 2 months of training off southern California . Underway for the combat area again in June , she participated in the assault on Saipan , again landing personnel of the 2nd Marine Division , in spite of reefs , mortar fire , and aerial resistance . After the Battle of the Philippine Sea , she once more transported casualties and POWs to Hawaii , whence she sailed , 9 July , for Guam with units of the 77th Infantry Division . Arriving on the 22nd , she remained in the assault area for 7 days before returning , with casualties , to Pearl Harbor for a brief availability . In September , with 96th Infantry Division troops embarked , the transport sailed west again , arriving at Manus , the staging area for the upcoming Philippine offensive , 3 October . By dawn , 20 October , she was off Leyte . Unloaded by 1800 , on the 21st , she got underway in time to clear the gulf before the arrival of Japanese naval units en route from the Sulu Sea . Heading southeast , she steamed to New Guinea , whence she lifted elements of the 11th Airborne Division to Leyte . She then sailed to New Britain , took on units of the 40th Infantry Division and returned to Manus to stage for the assault on Luzon . Departing 31 December , she encountered aerial resistance in Lingayen Gulf , 1945 - 01 - 09 , and , on the 10th , enabled a Japanese suicide swimmer to join his ancestors before departing for Leyte to take on 1st Cavalry Division troops for transport to the Luzon beaches . " Monrovia " then returned to the Solomons , took on units of the 6th Marine Division , and , as flagship , TransDiv 36 , conducted amphibious exercises in preparation for Operation " Iceberg " , the invasion of Okinawa . From the Solomons , she proceeded to Ulithi to join other ships assigned to TF 53 , the northern attack force , and headed for the Hagushi beaches . By dusk on 1 April , she had landed all her marines , but , because of nightly retirements , did not complete discharging her cargo until the 5th . She then steamed eastward , arriving at Portland , Oregon , on the 28th for overhaul . " Monrovia " returned to the western Pacific after the Japanese surrender and immediately commenced transporting occupation troops and supplies to China and Japan , returning to the United States with battle weary veterans . She continued to transit the Pacific , between the west coast and Japan , as a cargo and personnel carrier until the spring of 1946 , when she was ordered to the east coast for inactivation . On 1946 - 07 - 31 , she reported to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet , at Norfolk , decommissioning there 1947 - 02 - 26 . Cold War Service . Following the outbreak of hostilities in Korea , " Monrovia " was recalled to active service . Recommissioned 1950 - 11 - 30 , she joined the Atlantic Fleet ’ s Amphibious Forces the following spring , 1951 , to train for fall operations off Greenland . On 27 December , she departed Norfolk , Virginia for the first of her annual deployments to the Mediterranean , which continued , with few interruptions , until 1967 . Assigned to PhibRon 8 , she carried fleet marines while deployed with the 6th Fleet and conducted amphibious exercises with them while operating along the east coast and in the Caribbean . The maintenance of a defensive readiness throughout this period enabled her to react positively during the many intervening crises such as occurred at Beirut , Lebanon , July 1958 ; Cuba , October , 1962 ; and the Panama Canal Zone , January 1964 . In 1968 , " Monrovia " was again ordered deactivated . Decommissioned 31 October , she was struck from the Naval Register the following day and was sold for scrap . Awards . " Monrovia " earned seven battle stars during World War II .