Departing Yokosuka on 30 October, "Carpenter" sailed to Pearl Harbor for an extensive refit. Minor repairs, tactical drills, and crew training occupied the ship until the summer of 1954, when she returned to the Western Pacific. In September, during the Quemoy and Matsu crisis between Communist China and the Nationalists on Formosa, "Carpenter" patrolled the Taiwan Straits for 13 tense days before the crisis passed. The destroyer remained in the region for the next three months, screening "Boxer", conducting various hunter-killer ASW exercises, and patrolling the Formosa Straits. In January 1955, in line with the mutual defense treaty between Taiwan and the United States, "Carpenter" helped convoy Nationalist forces as they evacuated the Tachen Islands.