USS Robinson (DD-562) - Philippines Campaign

Philippines Campaign

Robinson cleared Seeadler Harbor on the 12th, and headed for the Philippine Islands. On 17 October 1944, she joined the Dinagat Attack Group. With light cruisers Denver (CL-58) and Columbia (CL-56), and three other destroyers, Robinson supported the Dinagat Attack Group and set course for Dinagat and the three smaller islands, Calicoan, Suluan, and Homonhon, which divided the two entrances to Leyte Gulf and were suspected of harboring enemy search radar. To put these enemy warning stations out of action, the attack group arrived off the islands at daybreak of 17 October. Cruiser Denver had the honor of firing the opening gun for the liberation of Leyte at 08:00 and Company D of the 6th Rangers was landed on Suluan Island some 20 minutes later—the first Americans to "return" to the Philippines. Robinson escorted the Ranger unit to Dinagat Island where they made an unopposed landing. She then covered minesweepers in Leyte Gulf until their retirement on the morning of 19 October. Her guns raked the invasion beaches ahead of the troops landing on Leyte, 20 October 1944, and she delivered illumination fire over the eastern shore of Leyte throughout the night. On 22 October, she rescued a downed American fighter pilot. On 24 October Robinson destroyed enemy installations on the slope of Catmon Hill, Leyte.

At 17:10 on 24 October, Robinson was relieved from fire support duties and joined a screen for five cruisers on the left flank of the northern entrance to Surigao Strait. The destroyers were divided into three attack sections and severely mauled the attacking Japanese. By early morning 25 October, the enemy was limping off in retreat, having lost two battleships, two destroyers and a cruiser. Robinson made rendezvous with the destroyers of section 3 to the north of Hibuson Island after her torpedo attack, and vainly attempted to rescue the many Japanese survivors who refused all efforts to save them. At 07:58, 25 October, Robinson joined other destroyers and cruisers in anticipation of meeting enemy surface and air units retiring from the fierce action with the escort carriers off the east coast of Samar. She cruised east of Leyte until 29 October to cover shipping in and near Leyte Gulf. She assisted in fighting off enemy air raids and escorted the bomb-damaged Killen (DD-593) to her anchorage in San Pedro Bay on 1 November. She was temporarily detached from the task group on 4 November for picket duty in Surigao Strait and rejoined the bombardment group on 13 November as it set course for Manus. She teamed with Bryant (DD-665) to shoot down an enemy plane which approached the formation on the 16th, and entered Seeadler Harbor on the 21st.

Robinson stood out of Seeadler Harbor on 28 November for Leyte Gulf where on 1 December she was detached from Destroyer Division 112 (DesDiv 112) of Destroyer Squadron 56 (DesRon 56) and reported to Destroyer Squadron 22 for duty. The next day she got underway in the screen of battleships and cruisers for Kossol Passage, where she teamed with 14 other destroyers in the screen of six escort carriers, seven cruisers, and three battleships, acting as distant cover for troop convoys bound for the assault on Mindoro, Philippine Islands. She assisted in driving off enemy aircraft as she guarded the escort carriers from 13 to 15 December. The troops hit the beach at Mindoro on the 15th and Robinson returned to Seeadler Harbor with the task group on the 23d.

On 31 December Robinson and the five other destroyers of DesRon 22 sailed from Seeadler Harbor in the screen for Transport Group "Able" of the Lingayen Attack Force, carrying the 27th Infantry Division for the initial landings at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, in the Philippines. Robinson screened northwest of the transport area on the morning of 9 January 1945 as the first waves of amphibious assault troops landed. She anchored in the transport area that night and survived a pre-dawn attack by a Japanese suicide boat. The underwater explosions temporarily put her sonar equipment out of commission but did no other serious damage. At daybreak, Robinson's gunners fought off a diving kamikaze suicide plane and knocked it down in a spinning ball of flame. At dusk she opened fire on another suicide plane diving at a highspeed transport. That enemy missed its target and crashed into the sea. Robinson returned to Leyte Gulf with the empty transports on the 15th.

She got underway from San Pedro Bay on 18 January to escort the attack transport Comet (APA-166) to Humboldt Bay, Hollandia, New Guinea, and returned on 3 February escorting Wright (AG-79). After installation of fighter-director radio equipment, she cleared port with Harmon (DE-678) and Greenwood (DE-679) in the screen for amphibious command ship Blue Ridge (AGC-2) and three transports; and headed for Lingayen Gulf where she performed patrol duty. She returned to San Pedro Bay with the empty troopship on 26 February, and sailed the next day with Bancroft (DD-598), escorting Rear Adm. Forrest B. Royal's amphibious command ship, Rocky Mount (AGC-3) which reached Mangarin Bay, Mindoro, on 1 March. That same day, Robinson put to sea in the screen for Task Group 78.1 (TG 78.1). The American ships arrived off the Zamboanga Peninsula of Mindanao early in the morning of 10 March, and Robinson took station off Coldera Point as troops stormed ashore under the cover of a rocket barrage. During the night, she teamed with McCalla (DD-488) for gunfire support, knocking out an enemy gun emplacement and hitting enemy pillboxes inland. On the 16th, she bombarded Isabela City, Basilan Island, creating a diversion while Army troops landed at Kulibato Point to the east. Assisted by spotting aircraft, she shelled a wharf and the area of suspected enemy underground trenches. On the evening of 18 March, she responded to the request of shore fire-control parties by blasting a Japanese troop concentration of about 150 men in the Gumularang River Valley of Basilan Island, giving support to American Army and guerilla troops. She anchored off the Santa Cruz Bank from 20 to 24 March.

Robinson joined Task Group 78.2 at Mangarin Bay on 10 April 1945 and sailed 4 days later. She rescued two Marine aviators from the sea on the 16th. The next day, the task group entered Polloc Harbor of Mindanao and Army troops were landed for the assault against the Malabang-Parang-Catobato area of Mindanao. Robinson returned to Mangarin Bay with the empty shipping on 24 April and sailed the next day escorting a convoy carrying reinforcements to Polloc Harbor. She cleared that port on 28 April escorting oiler Winooski (AO-38) via Tawi Tawi, Sulu Archipelago, Philippine Islands, to Muara Batagao, Tarakan, Borneo. She reached her destination on 2 May, the day after the initial assault on Tarakan, and bombarded an enemy-defended ridge north of the airfield and a supply road junction. She got underway from Tarakan Island on 8 May, escorting amphibious ships to the Netherlands East Indies, arriving at Morotai 2 days later.