On 31 January, Force H departed Gibraltar to carry out Operation Picket, 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. At the end of March, together with the light cruiser and three other destroyers, the ship attempted to intercept a Vichy French convoy that included the freighter , supposedly laden with of rubber, which had already been unloaded. "Fearless" was ordered to board and capture "Bangkok", but she was thwarted by gunfire from a coast-defence battery off the port of Nemours, Algeria. A few days later, "Fearless" and four other destroyers escorted "Sheffield", the battlecruiser , and "Ark Royal" in Operation Winch, which delivered 12 Hurricane fighters to Malta.