On 19 July 1956 she brought Faisal II of Iraq across the Channel to Dover for a three day state visit to the United Kingdom. Later the same year she served as escort to the Royal Yacht at Stockholm and Copenhagen and around the Baltic Sea. The ship was diverted to the Mediterranean and proceeded to Suez, where she took part in the hostilities. In 1958 she conducted her first refit, losing her after torpedo tubes in the process and by July 1959 she was back in the Mediterranean - Able Seaman James Simpson of "Defender" is buried at Kalkara Naval Cemetery in Malta.