 On the first of the five, from 4 January until 19 March, the oiler visited the Solomon Islands, in addition to New Caledonia and Espiritu Santo.On 15 February, just after she had gotten underway for Guadalcanal, one of her escorts reported and attacked a submarine contact.Late that afternoon, Japanese torpedo bombers dove on the convoy in singles and pairs; but the Allied ships maneuvered radically and put up a hail of anti-aircraft fire.