Southwest Area Fleet
From 10 March, "Harukaze" and Destroyer Division 5 were assigned to the Southwest Area Fleet and escorted troop convoy from Singapore to Penang, Rangoon, French Indochina, Rabaul and New Guinea. On 16 November, "Harukaze" hit a mine at Surabaya, which completed severed her bow. Repairs at Surabaya took until May 1943, but "Harukaze" was still deemed not combat-worthy, and returned to Kure Naval Arsenal in Japan on 27 May 1943. After repairs were completed on 25 August, "Harukaze" departed Kure as escort for a convoy to Palau, and continued to escort shipping around Palau to the end of the year.