Ultimately, the ship proceeded to Reykjavík, Iceland, where she would encounter the most severe weather she would see in her career. One particular day, 15 January 1942, was memorable. She set her special sea, anchor and steaming watches and put out both anchors with 120 fathoms (219 m) of chain on the starboard and 60 fathoms (110 m) to port, with her main engines turning over and steam up on all boilers. The winds were clocked at , with occasional gusts of 95, forcing the tender to drag anchor. The gale lasted until 19 January, and caused heavy damage among the ship's patrol planes. The ship nearly collided with the heavy cruiser on one occasion, and was in danger of fouling several other ships during that time. Her starboard anchor was fouled once, and she lost the port anchor. She ultimately left Reykjavík on 19 January, steaming initially at greatly reduced speed because of the tempest, shaping course for Argentia, where she would embark passengers for transportation to Norfolk.