In 1977, the destroyer was assigned to escort the royal yacht HMY Britannia during Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's visit to Australia.

The Royal Australian Navy initially ordered four Daring-class destroyers, which were to be named after the ships of the "Scrap Iron Flotilla" of World War II.

[5] Her propulsion system consisted of two Foster Wheeler boilers, feeding two English Electric geared turbines, which provided 54,000 horsepower (40,000 kW) to two propeller shafts.

[4] After competing work-up trials and entering active service, Vampire underwent training exercises with ships of the RAN and Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) until early 1960.

[12] Following the refit, Vampire operated in Australian waters, including participation in the training exercise Tuckerbox in August, then returned to the Far East in September.

[14] The destroyer was in Hong Kong for Christmas, then in January 1962, visited Nha Trang and Saigon in South Vietnam with HMAS Quickmatch.

[13] the first months of 1962, the ship participated in training exercises in the South China Sea and the Bay of Bengal, before returning to Australia on 7 April.

[13] Vampire participated in Exercise Tuckerbox II during August and September, and was present at Fremantle, Western Australia during November for the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth.

[13] After post-refit trials, Vampire sailed for her fourth Far East deployment in June, and was involved in Exercise Litgas shortly after reaching the region.

[13] From October until January 1965, the ship was involved in the Commonwealth response to the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation; carrying out patrols around the Malay Peninsula to interdict vessels smuggling troops into Malaysia.

[13] After a short period of leave and self-maintenance, Vampire sailed again for the Far East in April, exercising with the French frigate Doudart de Lagree en route from Manus Island to Manila.

[11][13] In late April, Vampire was temporarily withdrawn from Strategic Reserve service to escort Sydney on her third Vietnam voyage: the destroyer returned to Hong Kong on 9 May.

[13] On 10 June 1966, Vampire collided with the Danish merchant ship Emilie Maersk on the Chao Phraya River; the destroyer received only minor damage, and was repaired in Singapore.

[13] This primarily consisted of using her radar to detect approaching vessels and coordinate interception efforts, although Vampire was called on to provide fire support for Commonwealth land forces on two occasions.

[20] The destroyer provided assistance to the grounded freighter Mata Thevi in February, and from April until May, accompanied Sydney on the latter's fifth and sixth troop transport voyages.

[20][21] During the voyage back to Australia in late August and early September, Vampire made port visits in Indonesia; the first RAN ship to do so after the Confrontation's end.

[20] The destroyer visited Indonesia again in September, then served as review ship during a ceremonial fleet entry into Sydney Harbour: for this role, several weapons, including one of the three 4.5-inch turrets, were temporarily removed.

[20] On 16 April 1970, Vampire joined a fleet of 45 naval ships from 13 nations to perform a ceremonial entry into Sydney Harbour as part of the first Australian Bicentenary, celebrating the discovery and claiming of the east coast of Australia by James Cook.

[10] The superstructure was rebuilt, with the primary aim to enclose the open bridge area, along with modernisation of the ship's galleys and installation of more air conditioning.

[11] During her fifth deployment, which ended with her return to Sydney on 18 February 1976, Vampire joined training exercises with United States Navy ships in the China Sea, and visited sixteen ports in six countries for diplomatic and goodwill purposes.

[8] During the visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to Australia in March 1977, Vampire was assigned as the escort to HMY Britannia.

[8] On 13 May, Vampire and Jervis Bay were ordered to the Solomon Islands to observe the splashdown of China's first intercontinental ballistic missile test-firing.

[30] The ICBM landed north-west of Fiji, and was observed by both the two Australian ships and a fleet of 18 warships from the People's Liberation Army Navy.

[30] On 6 November 1980, the two ships joined the patrol boats Aware and Ardent to perform a ceremonial entry into Darwin as part of the city's Navy Week.