Six days later, she again put to sea. Moving east, she patrolled initially off Meinderts Reef, off the northeast coast of Java; then headed north to round the eastern end of Madoera Island en route to Bawean Island. On 26 February, she shelled Japanese facilities at Sangkapura; then patrolled between Bawean and the western approach to Soerabaja. On 28 February, she picked up 58 survivors from destroyer , sunk the day before at the Battle of the Java Sea; and, on 1 March, transferred the British sailors to a surface ship in Madoera Strait. She then resumed her hunt for Japanese shipping which had put the enemy ashore at Batavia, Indramajoe, and Rembang, the latter the last large oil center in the Netherlands East Indies and only from Soerabaja. On the morning of 2 March, S-38 fired four torpedoes at a Japanese light cruiser and two at a destroyer, believing he damaged the cruiser, perhaps sank it,. In fact, the torpedoes had missed light cruiser Kinu. S-38 then waited on the bottom as destroyers searched for her. In mid-afternoon, she moved out of the immediate area. That evening, she unsuccessfully attacked another enemy warship and, although damaged, survived another hunt by hiding beneath a halocline. On 3 March, she was ordered to western Australia.S-38 transited the whirlpool and rapids area at the lower end of Lombok Strait on 5 March. On 13 March she arrived at Fremantle; and, at the end of the month, proceeded to Brisbane to join other Asiatic Fleet S-boats in forming the nucleus of TF 42 and to prepare for operations in the New Guinea-Bismarck Archipelago-Solomon Islands area. During March and April, enemy air raids against Port Moresby intensified in preparation to move into Papua from northeast New Guinea. On 28 April, S-38 cleared Moreton Bay and headed north to patrol the Papuan coast. In mid-May, she shifted to Jomard Passage, where she remained, unable to communicate with Brisbane, until the night of 18 May. She then set a course for the Queensland coast. On 20 May, she passed debris believed to be a result of the Battle of the Coral Sea, and that night she successfully transmitted a message to Brisbane. On 24 May, she returned to Moreton Bay. A month-long repair and test period followed during which cells damaged in the battery explosion on her first war patrol were finally replaced. On 24 June,