USS Clay (APA-39) was a Bayfield class attack transport which served with the US Navy in World War II . USS Clay was originally laid down as Sea Angel by the Western Pipe and Steel Company on 14 October 1942. The vessel was launched on 23 January 1943 and commissioned into the US Navy as naval transport USS Clay AP-84 on 29 June 1943. The ship then sailed from San Pedro to New York, where she was decommissioned for conversion on 11 August 1943, and recommissioned into service as an attack transport designated APA-39 on 21 December 1943, after which she sailed to Pearl Harbor in preparation for operations against the Japanese.