USS Bolivar (APA-34)
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| History | |
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| Builder: | Western Pipe & Steel |
| Laid down: | 13 May 1942 |
| Launched: | 7 September 1942 |
| Christened: | Sea Angel |
| Commissioned: | 15 March 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 29 April 1946 |
| Renamed: | USS Bolivar, President Van Buren, President Harding, Thailand Bear, Santa Monica. |
| Struck: | 19 July 1946 |
| Fate: | Disappeared from mercantile records in 1973. |
| Notes: | Delivered 5 December 1921 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Bayfield-class attack transport |
| Displacement: | 11,760 tons |
| Length: | 492 ft (150 m) |
| Beam: | 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) |
| Draught: | 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) |
| Speed: | 18.4 kts |
| Complement: | 769 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 2 x 5 in (130 mm)/38 guns, 8 x 40 mm guns |
USS Bolivar (APA-34) was a Bayfield-class attack transport 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.
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.
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