[2] In 1945, Cooke volunteered to move from her nursing post at Royal Naval Hospital, Herne Bay, in Sydney, to assist the medical team aboard HMS Formidable.

[2] The embarkation alone took three days, and Cooke spent some of her time assisting in the creation of a body-length plaster case, complete with stretcher poles, to move a man who was suffering from spinal tuberculosis.

"[2] Rev H. Kennen, who was also aboard Formidable, recalled that during the ship's line-crossing ceremony Cooke "did fail to perform the deep and graceful traditional curtsy due, thereby insulting the First Lord of the Admiralty", and was punished "as a point of principle" with "ducking in an improvised pool".

[5] She then served in Chatham, Hong Kong, Malta and Plymouth, before becoming the lead tutor at the Royal Navy training school in 1970, and finally becoming Matron-in-Chief of the QARNNS in 1973.

[2][6] Cooke retired in 1976, and spent the rest of her life caring for her mother and supporting the Royal British Legion for Women, the National Blood Service, and her local church.