completion of these operations, she unloaded the remainder of her cargo and fueled various small craft of the Royal Australian Navy. On 4 January 1945, during Venus’ stay at Morotai, Japanese aircraft conducted a bombing raid on the nearby land base, but the planes were driven off by antiaircraft fire and night fighters. Six days later, Venus, her holds empty, sailed with five other ships to Hollandia, where she took on board passengers. While proceeding thence to Australia, she encountered heavy gales but arrived safely at Brisbane on 23 January. The ship underwent repairs soon after she arrived while concurrently loading equipment of the 109th Fleet Hospital unit and of the 544th Construction Battalion (CB or "Seabees") for transport to the Philippines. She departed Brisbane on 4 February, proceeded via Manus and Hollandia, and joined a convoy off the Dutch New Guinea coast. The Allied ships arrived at Guiuan Roadstead off Samar on 27 February. Part of the Seabee unit soon went ashore to begin building the hospital, while the remainder stayed on board to unload equipment and stores. Eventually, as more Seabees could be accommodated ashore, the job of unloading passed on to Venus’ crew. Despite the lack of barges and experienced stevedores, Venus succeeded in unloading all equipment and supplies earmarked for the hospital unit before she joined a southbound convoy on 8 April, got underway for the Admiralties, and arrived at Manus one week later. Proceeding thence to Emirau, Venus loaded the remnants of the 77th Construction Battalion and their equipment, accomplishing this on 25 April before getting underway for Brisbane to load more of the 77th Battalion's equipment. Besides the full load of cargo, Venus also accommodated 600 passengers, and additional galley and bunking facilities were set up on deck beneath makeshift shelters to take care of these men. The cargo vessel then headed north for the Philippines, via Milne Bay, and arrived at Manila on 13 June to commence offloading and to disembark her passengers. Five days later, the ship shifted to a berth alongside a sunken Japanese cargo ship. With the erstwhile enemy freighter serving as a dock, Venus offloaded the remainder of her cargo — experiencing two air raid alerts during her stay at Manila — and completed these operations by 30 June. She then pressed southward for the Admiralties and loaded of bombs for transport to Bougainville in the Solomons. The installation