Major operations in the Central Pacific began that November. Radford's next duty was in Operation Galvanic, a campaign into the Gilbert Islands with the objective of capturing Tarawa as well as Makin Island and Apamama Atoll. It would be one of the first times that American carriers would be operating against Japanese land-based air power in force, as U.S. Army troops and U.S. Marines fought the Japanese on the ground. For this mission, Radford's carrier division was designated Task Group 50.2, the Northern Carrier Group, which consisted of , and . He did not agree with this strategy, maintaining until his death that the force should have gone on an offensive to strike Japanese air power instead of being tied to the ground forces. Despite his objections, the force left Pearl Harbor for the Gilbert Islands on 10 November.