"Encounter" required a refit upon her arrival and was thus unavailable when Force Z sortied on 8 December on their ill-fated attempt to intercept the Japanese invasion convoys. Four days later, the ship escorted a convoy from Singapore to the Sunda Strait. She remained based at Singapore until 20 January 1942 when she was transferred to the 7th DF of the China Force. Under the command of ABDACOM, the force was tasked with escorting convoys to and from Singapore and the Dutch East Indies. "Encounter" continued to escort convoys until late February.