On 5 December 1941 Tolley was given command of the sailing schooner Lanikai, which had been acquired by the Navy from a private owner, and given orders to sail in waters off the Philippines and report any sightings of Japanese warships.
Late in 1944, Tolley returned to the Pacific when he was assigned as the navigator of the battleship USS North Carolina where he participated in combat action at Leyte Gulf and off Luzon during the liberation of the Philippines.