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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

AP-81 / APA-36 Cambria

Flag Hoist/International Radio Call Sign:
November - Juliet - Charlie - Foxtrot
NJCF

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation - Navy Expeditionary Medal (3-Cuba)
Second Row - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (6) - World War II Victory Medal
Third Row - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Lebanon, 1-Cuba) - Philippines Liberation Medal (2)

USS Cambria was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II

Bayfield Class Attack Transport:

Laid down, 1 July 1942, as SS Sea Swallow, a Maritime Commission type (C3-S-A2) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC 271) at Western Pipe and Steel Co., San Francisco, CA.

Launched, 10 November 1942

Assigned to the Navy as Transport (AP-81)

Redesignated Attack Transport (APA-36), 1 February 1943

Acquired by the Navy, 4 May 1943, and placed in partial commission for transit to her conversion yard at New York

Decommissioned at New York

Recommissioned, USS Cambria (APA-36), 10 November 1943, CAPT. C. W. Dean, USCG, in command

During World War II Cambria was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:

**Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns**
Campaign and Dates	Campaign and Dates
Marshall Islands operation Occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, 28 January to 8 February 1944	Leyte operation Leyte landings, Dulag, 20 October 1944
Marianas operation Capture and occupation of Saipan, 15 june to 9 July 1944	Luzon operation Lingayen Gulf landings, 10 January 1945
Tinian capture and occupation 24 July to 1 August 1944	Okinawa Gunto operation Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 1 to 3 April 1945

Decommissioned, 30 June 1949 for lay up in the reserve fleet

Recommissioned, 15 September 1950, with a Navy crew

Decommissioned, circa 1970

Transferred to the Maritime Administration, 13 November 1970, for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group, Lee Hall, VA.

Struck from the Naval Register in 1971

Permanent custody transferred from the US Navy to the Maritime Administration, 1 September 1971

Final Disposition, sold 7 September 1971, to Caribbean Marine Inc., for non-transportation use, scrapped in 1972

Cambria received six battle stars for World War II service

Specifications:
Displacement 8,100 t.(lt), 16,100 t.(fl)
Length 492' 6"
Beam 69' 6"
Draft 26' 6"
Speed 18 kts.
Complement 51 officers, 524 Enlisted
Flag Accommodation 43 Officers, 108 Enlisted
Troop Accommodation 80 Officers, 1,146 Enlisted
Cargo Capacity 200,000 cu. ft. 4,700 t.
Boats

twelve LCVPs

four LCMs (Mk-6)

three LCP(L)s (MK-IV)
Armament

two single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts, one fore and one aft

two single 40mm AA gun mounts

two twin 40mm AA gun mounts

eighteen single 20mm AA gun mounts
Propulsion

one General Electric geared turbine

two Combustion Engineering D-type boilers

one propeller

Design shaft horsepower 8,500

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
117k	Cambria (APA-36) underway, circa 1943, location unknown. US Navy photo.	Michael Marzolla for his father, Lt. Anthony Mario Marzolla USCG, USS Cambria
120k	Cambria (APA-36) underway, date and place unknown. US Navy photo.	Michael Marzolla for his father, Lt. Anthony Mario Marzolla USCG, USS Cambria
85k	Cambria (APA-36) at anchor, date and location unknown. US Navy photo.	Michael Marzolla for his father, Lt. Anthony Mario Marzolla USCG, USS Cambria
64k	Cambria (APA-36) at anchor, date and location unknown. US Navy photo.	Michael Marzolla for his father, Lt. Anthony Mario Marzolla USCG, USS Cambria
92k	Cambria (APA-36) at anchor, date and location unknown. Her camouflage is Measure 32 Design 3D. US Navy photo.	Michael Marzolla for his father, Lt. Anthony Mario Marzolla USCG, USS Cambria
71k	Cambria (APA-36) at anchor off San Pedro, CA., 19 August 1945. US Navy photo.	Michael Marzolla for his father, Lt. Anthony Mario Marzolla USCG, USS Cambria
34k	Cambria (APA-36), at Asinara Sardinia. 1956. Note: Rockwall (APA-230) in the background.	Photo by Larry Bohn
74k	Cambria (APA-36), at Norfolk, July 1964. Also in this photo is a partial view of several of Muliphen (AKA-61)'s LCMs secured to her main deck.	© Richard Leonhardt
93k	Cambria (APA-36), at Naples, July 1967.	© Richard Leonhardt
93k	Cambria (APA-36) at sea, date unknown. U.S. Navy photograph	Ron Young YN3 USN-R Ret. USS Cambria 1962-64
49k	Cambria (APA-36) conducting amphibious exercises, date and location unknown.	Bob Holliday
46k	Cambria (APA-36) conducting amphibious exercises, date and location unknown.	Bob Holliday