In June Rotoiti exercised with the Mediterranean Fleet and in July took passage with Tutira to Auckland, via Aden and Singapore, arriving in August to join the 11th Frigate Squadron for patrols and visits in the South-Western Pacific.

On 7 October Rotoiti sailed from Auckland to Sasebo, calling at Darwin and Hong Kong, and arriving in Japan on 5 November to relieve Pukaki.

Rotoiti's deployment off the west coast of Korea continued into the next year with maintenance and leave periods spent at Kure, Japan.

The shore party, which included Royal Marines from HMS Ceylon landed, but came under fire and 19-year-old Able Seaman Robert Edward Marchioni was killed.

[1] On 25 October while en route from Kure to Hong Kong she received a distress message from the British merchant ship SS Hupeh which had been boarded by pirates in the Yangtze River estuary.

The pirates threatened reprisals if Hupeh were boarded, but agreed to leave the ship if they were granted safe passage to a nearby island.

[1] In February 1957 Rotoiti was recommissioned to support the "Operation Grapple" nuclear weapon trials at Christmas Island, arriving there on 31 March.

[1] An extended refit took place from August, to the same standard as the modernised Royal Navy Loch-class frigates, including updated UHF radio and electronic warfare equipment.

She arrived at Expedition Headquarters at Lyttelton on 8 October, then sailed into the Southern Ocean with 31 trainee seamen ratings aboard, to carry out meteorological and oceanographic studies, finally returning to Auckland on 12 December.