From mid-November through the first week of December 1943, "Aylwin" screened carriers "Sangamon" and "Suwannee" during the operations to capture the Gilbert Islands. Detached on 8 December, she joined in escorting to Pearl Harbor where they arrived on the 14th. She then helped to screen that battleship along with "Tennessee" and "Colorado" to San Francisco which they reached four days before Christmas.