 As early as November, Consolidated B-24 Liberator from the Seventh Air Force stationed in the Ellice Islands had flown bombing missions over Mili and Maloelap.On 3 December 1943, Task Force 50, under Rear Admiral Charles Alan Pownall, including fleet carriers , , , and and light carriers and , launched carrier aircraft against Kwajalein.Four transports and fifty Japanese aircraft were lost, but the attack lacked strategic value.