In the US Navy, AVG-36 was named Bolinas for a bay in Marin County, Calif. It is located just north of the Golden Gate Bridge (NS0303606).

Transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease, she was renamed Begum, which is the title of a woman of high rank (e.g., a Queen or royal princess) in countries such as India or Pakistan.

(Map courtesy of Google Maps Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History, by Norman Friedman..)

The design was suggested by the ship's officers and depicts an Indian cobra ready to strike, in gold, on a blue field.

Starboard side view of HMS Begum (D38) off Greenock, Scotland, 6 February 1944.

Imperial War Museums, Admiralty Official Collection, by Beadell, S.J. (Lt), Photo No. © IWM (A 21737).

Captain J. E. Broome, DSC, RN, commaning officer of HMS Begum (D38), stands on the bridge of his ship at Greenock, Scotland, on 23 February 1944. Photo taken by an unknown Royal Navy official photographer. Image from the collections of the Imperial War Museums, photo # A21926.

SS Raki, ex-HMS Begum, ex-USS Bolinas (CVE-36), of the Nederland Line circa 1964. Note the prominent fairlead at the top of the stem. Photo and text from Merchant Ships of World War II: A Post War Album, by Victor Young.