USS President Adams (AP-38) was a President Jackson-class transport of the United States Navy. Newport News built her. She was launched on 31 January 1941 and commissioned on 19 November 1941.
She entered service as a transport, a ship meant to carry troops and land them. The hull number AP-38 was the designation she wore through her first year in commission.
In August 1942 she took part in the landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi. She served in Transport Division D with Crescent City, President Hayes, and Alhena, and the division stood off the landings.
From 7 to 9 August 1942 she landed Marines in the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area. Frank H. Dean was in command on 7 August, the day those landings opened.
On 1 February 1943 the Navy reclassified her APA-19. She was still in service in July 1945, and she survived.