Pollack (commanded by Stanley P. Moseley, Class of 1925), and departed Pearl Harbor 13 December and were off the coast of Honshū, Japan, a few hours before midnight 31 December, the first American warships to reach Japanese waters in World War II.
Pollack got underway from Pearl Harbor 18 February to intercept enemy cargo ships carrying war material to Nagasaki by way of the Formosa Channel.