The cruiser reentered Pearl Harbor with the "Lexington" force on 13 December, but she returned to sea on the 16th to rendezvous with and screen a convoy, the oiler and the seaplane tender – the abortive Wake Island relief expedition. When that island fell to the Japanese on 23 December, however, the force was recalled. "Astoria" remained at sea until the afternoon of 29 December, when she arrived back at Oahu. When "Astoria" was moored in Pearl Harbor, she had about 40 sailors from the battleship transferred to her ranks. They were survivors of 7 December, when "California" was sunk at Berth F4 on Battleship Row.