"Houston" and "Peary" departed later that day to rejoin combat forces at Tjilatjap. Shortly after departure, "Peary" broke off to chase a suspected submarine, and expended so much fuel in doing so that the destroyer returned to Darwin instead of continuing with "Houston". "Houston" thus escaped the Japanese attack on Darwin on 19 February, in which "Peary", "Meigs" and "Mauna Loa" were among the ships sunk and "Portmar" was forced to beach.