Before having the engine work complete at Pearl Harbor, the cruiser convoyed troops to Palmyra Atoll and Johnston Atoll operating on only three of her four engines; she then returned to San Francisco on 13 January 1942 for engineering repairs and installation of new search radar and 20 mm guns. She sailed on 12 February, commanding the escort for a troop convoy to Brisbane; from Australia she screened a convoy to Nouméa, and returned to Pearl Harbor to join Task Force 11 (TF 11).