This photo shows the first training ship GOLDEN BEAR for the California Maritime Academy. She was built in 1945 by the Walsh-Kaiser Shipyard in Providence RI as USS MELLENA (AKA 32). She was an undocumented government-owned vessel and had no IMO or Official Number.

She’s one of a group of 64 vessels built by the Maritime Commission during World War II for the Navy’s Amphibious forces. 32 of the vessels were Attack Transports (APA) and were MC Design S4-SE2-BD1. The “S” was for special-purpose, as opposed to designating them as Cargo (C) or Passenger (P). None of these saw service after WWII.

The other 32 were Attack Cargo Ships (AKA), MC Design S4-SE2-BE1. Four, including the one in the photo, were given to Maritime Academies after the War, although all but the GOLDEN BEAR were quickly discarded. Two more went to the Chilean Navy as transports, and the U.S. Navy reactivated four for full Navy careers, two as cable layers and two as survey vessels.

Unsubstantiated folklore is that these ships were built to look like the majestic P2 transports, in hopes of confusing enemy forces on the movements of those high-value targets. Folklore also says this group of ships was designed for only one voyage and to be expended by beaching during an amphibious landing, a strategy that was felt necessary if winning the war were to include an invasion of China. The conventional cargo ships hulls that were in use as APA’s and AKA’s would likely have broken apart during such a beaching, and supposedly these were designed differently.

The California Maritime Academy has had four training ships over the years. The first was named GOLDEN STATE and operated 1928-1947. This ship, the first GOLDEN BEAR, operated 1947-1970 and was scrapped at Los Angeles in 1971. The Second Golden Bear (1972-1995) was an older but more-substantial vessel, originally the passenger/cargo ship DELORLEANS built in 1939. The present GOLDEN BEAR is the former USNS MAURY (T-AGS 39). An interesting coincidence is that the Navy’s previous survey ship MAURY (AGS 16) was an S4, sister to this GOLDEN BEAR.