The transport Golden City (AP-169) was built by Moore Drydock Company of Oakland, California, under a Maritime Commission contract and commissioned into service in the U.S. Navy on 29 May 1944.
Less than one month after her commissioning, the Golden City arrived in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She took part in the assault on the island of Guam in July 1944, bringing reserves to Marine units fighting on the island. Returning to Pearl Harbor in late summer, the Golden City was active in several amphibious exercises and also took part in preparations for the Philippines invasion. When the Golden City arrived off Leyte on 20 October 1944, the initial landings on the islands had already begun and she hurriedly fed units ashore in order to sustain the intense assault. Two days later, the Golden City set sail on another round trip to pick up new troops and disembark them for the Leyte operations. She accomplished this mission successfully on 18 November 1944.
The Golden City sailed to New Guinea to pick up supplies for the next phase of the landings in the Western Luzon area of Lingayen Gulf. Under the threat of intense kamikaze attacks, the Golden City arrived off Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945 and unloaded her precious cargo of troops. She continued actions in the Luzon campaign by assisting with a smaller invasion in Zambales Province. During this operation, the Golden City, along with other units of her amphibious group, disembarked roughly 30,000 troops in order to successfully block the Japanese escape route from Manila to the Bataan Peninsula.
The Golden City soon returned to Hawaii via Ulithi, Iwo Jima and Eniwetok. She would shuttle between the Pacific and California throughout the remainder of the war, sometimes bringing veterans back home, other times taking fresh troops to the field.
Following the end of hostilities with Japan, the Golden City continued operations in the Pacific. In the fall of 1945, she supported landings of U.S. occupation forces in China. She continued operations in the Pacific until her decommissioning on 10 August 1946. The Golden City continued in commercial service as the Ocean Eva and later the Overseas Eva.