Her second patrol (now under the command of Richard G. Voge begun on 21 December, took the submarine to waters off Formosa. On the morning of 27 January 1942, off Halmahera, near Davao, she sighted a , making a daylight submerged attack with four torpedoes, and reporting the target was damaged, for which she got credit. However, the damage could not be assessed since the cruiser's two escorts forced "Sailfish" to dive deep and run silent. Running at , the submarine eluded the destroyers and proceeded south toward Java. She arrived at Tjilatjap on 14 February for refueling and rearming.