After escorting the carrier to Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Takoradi, Ghana, in January 1941, "Encounter" rejoined Force H in time to participate in Operation Picket at the end of the month. This was an unsuccessful night torpedo attack by eight of "Ark Royal"s Fairey Swordfish on the Tirso Dam in Sardinia. The British ships returned to Gibraltar on 4 February and began preparing for Operation Grog, a naval bombardment of Genoa, that was successfully carried out five days later. The ship was then transferred to the South Atlantic for escort duties for a time before departing to join the Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria on 14 April. While refitting in a drydock in Malta, "Encounter" was damaged by blast and splinters when a bomb detonated on the floor of the dock during an air raid on 29 April. Another bomb struck the ship's forecastle the next day and blew a hole in the hull. She was hit by another bomb on 16 May that blew another hole in the hull and disabled her boilers and cruising turbines when water flooded in through the hull. Repairs took until July to complete, in time for the ship to participate in Operation Substance, during which she escorted six empty freighters from Malta to Gibraltar, 23–26 July. A few days later, she escorted reinforcements to Malta during Operation Style. On 22 August, Force H, escorted by "Encounter" and four other destroyers, sailed to attack the airfield at Tempio Pausania, Sardinia, as a diversion for as she laid a minefield off Livorno, Italy.