In January 1942, "Canberra" and escorted the troopship "Aquitania", leaving Sydney 10 January, carrying reinforcements to Singapore as far as Ratai Bay, Sunda Strait where the reinforcements were transshipped into seven smaller vessels for the final run to Singapore. She was then part of the escort for that convoy, "MS.2A" of six Dutch KPM vessels and one British vessel, to Singapore arriving 24 January. During her return voyage via the Dutch East Indies, the cruiser was assigned to the ANZAC Squadron. A refit occurred in Sydney from February to May 1942, during which "Canberra" became the first Australian warship to be fitted with radar (a Type 241 surface search set, and an A290 air-warning set). The cruiser was present in Sydney Harbour during the Japanese midget submarine attack on 31 May-1 June. Although not damaged, at 04:40, "Canberra" recorded that the Japanese may have fired torpedoes at her. This may have been one of many false alarms throughout the night; however, one of the midget submarines had attempted to fire its torpedoes at a target, but these did not release because of damage sustained during the infiltration. The observer aboard "Canberra" may have seen bubbles from the compressed air released to fire the torpedoes.