On 20 November 1941, "Kinu" was flagship of Rear Admiral Setsuzo Yoshitomi's SubRon 4, based at Iwakuni, Yamaguchi, with SubDiv 18's , , and the , and SubDiv 19's "I-56", , and . She was based at Hainan and was engaged in covering landings of Japanese forces in the invasion of British Malaya at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor.