USS Mellena (AKA-32)
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Mellena |
| Builder: | Walsh-Kaiser Company, Providence, Rhode Island |
| Laid down: | 25 September 1944 |
| Launched: | 11 December 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 20 January 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 11 June 1946 |
| Struck: | 3 July 1946 |
| Fate: | Transferred to the California Maritime Academy and commissioned as TS Golden Bear in 1946. Decommissioned in 1971 and sold for scrap. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Artemis-class attack cargo ship |
| Type: | S4–SE2–BE1 |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 426 ft (130 m) |
| Beam: | 58 ft (18 m) |
| Draft: | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Complement: | 303 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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USS Mellena (AKA-32) was an Artemis-class attack cargo ship named after the minor planet 869 Mellena, which in turn was named after Werner von Melle, mayor of Hamburg. She served as a commissioned ship for 16 months.
Mellena (AKA-32) was laid down under Maritime Commission contract by Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc., Providence, R.I., 25 September 1944; launched 11 December 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Paul P. Neal; acquired by the Navy 20 January 1945; and commissioned the same day, Lt. Comdr. B. C. Modin in command.
After shakedown out of Norfolk, Va., Mellena carried cargo via Guantanamo Bay and Panama to Pearl Harbor where she arrived in mid–March. She trained in Hawaiian waters until 8 April; and following a cargo run to San Francisco and back continued amphibious support training exercises until sailing for the Philippines 13 June. She reached Guiuan, Samar, 28 June. During the closing weeks of fighting in the western Pacific, she made cargo runs to the Palaus, the Admiralties, and the Marianas, and at the cessation of hostilities she was anchored at Iwo Jima. After transporting Seabees to Saipan, she returned to Leyte Gulf 28 August to carry occupation troops to Japan.
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