 Complete the following phrase:  Alabama and five other fast battleships bombarded Nauru on 8 December, which the Japanese used as a source of phosphate. The destroyer , which had been hit by Japanese artillery fire, came alongside Alabama and transferred three wounded men to the battleship. The ships then escorted the carriers and back to Efate, which they reached on 12 December. Alabama got underway on 5 January 1944 for Pearl Harbor, arriving on 12 January for maintece that included replacing one of her propellers. She arrived in Funafuti in the Ellice Islands on 21 January, where she joined the fleet for the next operation in the campaign. She was assigned to Task Group TG 58.2, which sortied on 25 January to begin Operation Flintlock, the 