Tarakan Island
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, "Umikaze" was assigned to Destroyer Division 24 of Destroyer Squadron 4 of the IJN 2nd Fleet together with her sister ships , , and , and had sortied from Palau as part of the Philippine invasion force, covering landings at Legaspi and Lamon Bay. From January 1942, "Umikaze" participated in operations in the Netherlands East Indies, including the invasion of Tarakan Island, and landings at Balikpapan and Makassar. After participating in the invasion of eastern Java, "Umikaze" was engaged in convoy duty, and thus escaped combat during the Battle of the Java Sea.