The Guadalcanal attack would be carried out in at the same time as an Allied offensive in New Guinea under Douglas MacArthur. The goal was to capture the Admiralty Islands and the Bismarck Archipelago, including the major Japanese base at Rabaul. Eventually they would take the Philippines. The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff put Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley in command on 19 June 1942, to direct the attack in the Solomons.