the ship remained in german waters for the rest of the year after completing her refit. she was sent to brest in february 1942 to escort the battleships and , as well as "prinz eugen" through the english channel back to germany (operation cerberus). during the voyage, "ihn" twice engaged british mtbs and shot down two fairey swordfish torpedo bombers. shortly afterwards, the ship joined four other destroyers in escorting "prinz eugen" and the heavy cruiser to trondheim, norway. heavy weather forced "ihn" and two other destroyers to return to port before reaching trondheim and "prinz eugen" was badly damaged by a british submarine after their separation.