On 7 December 1941, "Gamble" had returned from offshore patrol, when her peaceful routine was broken by the first of the Japanese carrier-based planes which attacked American ships in the harbor. "Gamble"s gunners joined the fire of other warships and saw one enemy plane fall into the water on her port beam. After the attack she took antisubmarine patrol station in the screen of the aircraft carrier , and later guarded the approaches to Pearl Harbor. In mid-February 1942, she headed south in the escort for a convoy to Pago Pago, Samoa, then joined in laying a protective minefield off Tutuila. At the end of March the two minelayers shifted to the Fiji Islands, to lay a minefield in Nadi waters from 7–14 April. Returning to Pearl Harbor for heavier armament, "Gamble" helped safeguard convoys to Midway during the time of that crucial and historic battle, then headed south with and to lay a defensive minefield off the entrance to Second Channel, Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides Islands.