"Phoenix" then operated off the West Coast and was later based at Pearl Harbor. On 7 December 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor she was anchored north east of Ford Island near . Observers on board "Phoenix" sighted the rising sun of Japan on planes coming in low over Ford Island and a few seconds later the ship's guns took them under fire. "Phoenix" escaped the disaster unharmed and shortly after noon was underway to join the cruisers and and several destroyers in an impromptu task force searching, unsuccessfully, for the enemy aircraft carriers.