 She returned to the west coast early in the fall but departed San Francisco on 19 October, bound for the Gilbert Islands and "Operation Galvanic".As a unit of Task Group (TG) 54.9, 5th Fleet, "William C. Miller" screened the ships of the Tarawa garrison group and patrolled in area "Longsuit" off the invasion beaches into early December.She then guarded the entrance to the lagoon at Tarawa through the middle of the month before departing the Gilberts on Christmas Eve, bound for the Hawaiian Islands.