"Bunker Hill" departed Pearl Harbor on 19 October en route to the Southwest Pacific. The carrier's air group participated in the air raid on the major Imperial Japanese Navy base at Rabaul, along with and on 11 November 1943. During the mission the carriers' fighters (VF-18) escorted bombers to Rabaul, and CV-17 was reunited with VF-17, then land-based at Ondonga Airfield in the Solomon Islands. The tailhooks were reinstalled on the squadron's Corsairs, enabling them to land and refuel on their former ship while providing air cover to the task force as its own planes were escorting the raid on Rabaul. On 14 November the carrier set a course for the Gilbert Islands to cover the invasion and occupation of Tarawa.