For the next nine years, "Stickell" served the Atlantic Fleet as a radar destroyer. Between 1954 and 1958, she went through two complete training cycles, including yard overhauls, Mediterranean deployments, refresher training, and NATO and Atlantic Fleet exercises. She received the latest in electronic equipment during her 1958 overhaul; and, soon thereafter, she was outfitted with an experimental data processing and weapons analysis system. In 1961, she earned the Atlantic Fleet Destroyer force Antiair Warfare Trophy. Her seven-month Mediterranean cruise in 1962 was highlighted by an excursion into the Black Sea. In the fall of 1962, "Stickell" participated in the Cuban Quarantine and showed great efficiency by departing Norfolk on very short notice to assume her station.