USS Willoughby (AGP-9) - The Borneo Campaign

The Borneo Campaign

Relieved by motor torpedo boat tender USS Mobjack (AGP-7) at Puerto Princessa on 30 April 1945, Willoughby weighed anchor and sailed for Samar, arriving at PT Base 17 on 2 May 1945. She spent the next eight days steaming to various points in Leyte Gulf, taking on stores in preparation for the expected invasion of Brunei Bay in British North Borneo.

Willoughby returned to Mangarin Bay in company with five merchant ships and two destroyer escorts and then spent the period from 13 May 1945 to 4 June 1945 off Mindoro, tending MTBRons 13 and 16, preparing for the North Borneo operation to come. The tender got underway on 5 June 1945 and on 6 June 1945 arrived at Puerto Princessa, where the PT boats refueled and underwent minor repairs.

Willoughby weighed anchor on 7 June 1945 and headed for Brunei Bay, rendezvousing in Balabac Strait on 8 June 1945 with the Brunei assault force, and continued in company with those warships for the remainder of the voyage toward her objective. Meanwhile, on 9 June 1945, four of her PT boats -- USS PT-78, USS PT-81, USS PT-82, and USS PT-84—patrolled the invasion area.

On 10 June 1945, the Australian 9th Division moved ashore at Brunei Bay and pushed inland. Willoughby arrived at Brunei Bay that day and went to general quarters at 0615 hours in preparation for the assault phase of the strikes on Labuan Island, Muara Island, and Polompong Point. Shortly thereafter, a lone Japanese plane attacked the formation to which Willoughby was attached and dropped two bombs which splashed into the water without causing any damage.

Willoughby tended MTBRons 13 and 16 in Brunei Bay until August 1945. Early in June, the ship experienced several air raid alerts, and three enemy planes actually entered the area on 14 June 1945. In the meantime, ashore, the Australians were encountering heavy resistance from the Japanese on Labuan Island. The PT boats supporting the campaign destroyed a 60-foot (18.25 m) sailing vessel and six barges during the first phase of the landings and then ran out of targets afloat. They then machine-gunned and mortared Japanese positions, and at times conducted joint strikes with Royal Australian Air Force planes at Jesselton, Miri, and Kudat, three Japanese-held oil centers on North Borneo.

During her time at Brunei Bay, Willoughby shifted her anchorage on 10 July 1945, moving to a spot off Muara Island, the site of the newly established PT boat base. She remained there for the rest of the war. She lay at Muara Island on 15 August 1945 when word reached her that the Japanese had decided to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Simultaneously, offensive operations by MTBRons 13 and 16 ceased.

Willoughby earned three battle stars for her World War II service