Between January and May 1954, it again sailed for atomic weapons tests at Eniwetok, and on 6 July cleared for the Far East. As control ship for "Operation Passage to Freedom", the evacuation of refugees from Communist North Vietnam, "Estes" operated from Haiphong from 18 August to 29 October. Between 6 and 11 February 1955 it aided the evacuation of the Tachen Islands resulting from the Taiwan Strait Crisis.