 "Oahu" remained as station ship at ports below Hankow, returning to the latter city to refit and give liberty to her crew until late in November 1941 and then, under orders of Commander, Asiatic Fleet departed Shanghai for the Philippines as signs of approaching war with Japan became clearer.Following a long and difficult voyage across the South China Sea, the gunboat, never designed for open sea operations, arrived at Manila Bay in the week before the attack on Pearl Harbor.When war began, the warship operated in and around Manila Bay and Cavite Navy Yard on inshore patrol and in support of U.S.-Filipino forces on Bataan until after the fall of that peninsula 8 April 1942, and then continued to operate about the island fortress of Corregidor until sunk by enemy gunfire on 5 May.