Underway from Hvalfjörður, Iceland, on the morning of 9 December 1941, two days after the Japanese attack upon the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, halfway across the globe, "Anderson" reached the Norfolk Navy Yard on 17 December, tarrying only a short time before taking a departure at 0537 on 18 December for Charleston, South Carolina in company with "Hammann", "Mustin", and "Morris", and reaching their destination the following morning. Unloading ammunition the following day, "Anderson" spent the rest of 1941 undergoing repairs and alterations at the Charleston Navy Yard, including the replacement of her .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns with 20 mm antiaircraft guns.