"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 maintenance 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 invasion of Kwajalein. "Alabama", "South Dakota", and the battleship shelled the island of Roi-Namur over the course of 29 and 30 January, targeting defensive positions, airfields, and other facilities. For the remainder of the campaign, she patrolled to the north of Kwajalein to guard against a possible Japanese counterattack that did not materialize.