From 21 February to 2 March 1944 she replenished destroyers to the east of New Ireland as they battered the Bismarck Barrier with bombardments on Kavieng and Rabaul. Captain Arleigh Burke, Commander of the "Little Beavers" (DesRon 23) and later Chief of Naval Operations, commended "Kankakee" as the "most efficient tanker we have met." And while on a similar mission on 22 to 30 March, she refueled carriers of a task force as they sailed to launch destructive air strikes on 30 March to 1 April against the enemy-held Palau, Yap, and Woleai Islands in the Western Carolines. Loaded with fuel oil and gasoline, she next refueled escort ships engaged in the Saipan landings. On 14 July she returned to San Diego for a short upkeep.