 "Tappahannock" arrived at San Pedro on 11 December and then moved to San Diego, where she remained through the end of the year.Getting underway again on 2 January 1943, the oiler operated briefly out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, before returning south to San Pedro and San Francisco en route back to the South Pacific.By early spring, "Tappahannock" was in the Guadalcanal area, as American forces sought to consolidate their hold on the bitterly contested Solomons.