she was further damaged on 19 January. On 25 February, she participated in Operation Abstention; together with Hereward and the gunboat , Decoy landed commandos on the island of Kastelorizo, but they were overwhelmed by an Italian counter-attack. Only a few survivors were taken off two days later. The ship participated in Operation Demon, the evacuation of Allied troops from Greece in April, and assisted in the evacuation of troops from Crete to Egypt after the Germans invaded Crete on 22 May (Operation Merkur). That same day she was ordered along with HMS Hero, to steam for the south coast of the island. The next night, 22 May, she evacuated King George II of the Hellenes and his entourage and sailed to Alexandria. She spent most of the rest of the year escorting convoys to Tobruk. On 25 November, she was escorting the battleship when that ship was torpedoed by the . Decoy was damaged in a collision the following month and was under repair at Malta from 20 December to 8 February 1942. After returning to Alexandria, she was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean where she escorted the slow ships of Force B when the Japanese carriers attacked in March–April 1942. The ship remained with the Eastern Fleet until she was ordered home to refit in September. En route, Decoy briefly operated from Freetown, but arrived at Greenock on 29 October, her first visit home since 1934.The ship was refitted at the Palmers shipyard at Hebburn-on-Tyne between 3 November and 12 April 1943. Her armament was modified to accommodate additional depth charges by removing 'Y' gun and her light AA armament was increased by the addition of six Oerlikon guns and two Parachute and Cable projectors. A Type 286 surface-search radar were probably also fitted at this time, but 1944 this had been replaced by a Type 290 system. Before the war's end this was supplemented when her director-control tower and rangefinder above the bridge was replaced by a Type 271 target indication radar. Decoy was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy during the refit on 1 March and was recommissioned on 12 April with the new name of HMCS Kootenay (the ship was gifted to the Canadians on 15 June). After working up, she was assigned to Escort Group C5 for convoy escort duties in the North Atlantic. On 22 May 1943 Kootenay picked