sailed for New Caledonia. On 23 December, she received orders to rendezvous with the Liberty ship , and to escort that ship into Nouméa. The warship reached the rendezvous point on Christmas Eve Day and began a fruitless two-day search for Walter Colton. Early in the evening of 25 December, she gave up the search and entered Nouméa alone. Four days later, Waters returned to sea and, on 30 December 1943, joined the screen of a Guadalcanal-bound convoy. En route back to the Solomons, Waters received orders detaching her from the convoy and instructions to rendezvous with and see that ship safely to Auckland, New Zealand. She made the rendezvous that same day, 5 January 1944, escorted her to her destination, and came about to return to Nouméa. Waters arrived in Nouméa on 9 January and, a week later, entered drydock for three days. On 20 January, the day after she left the dock, the fast transport headed back to the Solomons and, two days later, arrived in Purvis Bay. 1944 After a brief excursion as target ship for TF 38 on 24 and 25 January, she moved to Guadalcanal on 28 January and embarked a reconnaissance party for the initial raid on the Green Islands, a small pair north of Buka and Bougainville. She departed Guadalcanal the same day and headed up the Slot. En route, she stopped at Vella Lavella on 29 January to embark a further 112 troops, all members of the 30th Battalion, New Zealand Commando Force. That evening, the fast transport and the embarked raiders rehearsed the landing at Vella Lavella. The next morning, she started out on the last leg of the journey. The landing force reached the Green Islands around 2400 that night, and the commandos landed, unopposed, on Nissan, the larger of the two islands. At 0120 on 31 January, Waters received word that the landing had succeeded. Later that evening, she moved in toward the Nissan transport area to recover the reconnaissance party which had completed its mission. She completed reembarkation before dawn on 1 February and steamed back down the Slot. Later that day, she and Hudson parted company with the rest of the task group to return the New Zealanders to Vella Lavella. Afterward, she continued on toward Guadalcanal, where she arrived on 2 February. After offloading her remaining passengers at Guadalcanal, Waters returned to Purvis Bay for an