In January 1942, "Maya" was assigned to patrols from Palau, covering operations in the southern Philippines. In February, she provided distant cover for the Bombing of Darwin, Australia. From the end of February, she based at Staring-baai in the Celebes, and was involved in operations to hunt down and destroy shipping attempting to escape from the Dutch East Indies. On 2 March, "Maya"’s floatplanes spotted , and "Maya" with the destroyers and closed on the old destroyer/minelayer and expended 1270 rounds of ammunition on her before she finally sank. Survivors were picked up by captured small steamer "Bintoehan", and later transferred to "Maya". Later the same night, "Maya" and "Atago" also sank the destroyer . On 3 March, "Maya" was present at the sinking of the gunboat south of Java.