Thus, from 1985–1987, Brave had a number of civilian military contractors' personnel embarked and Commander Coyote, the Seawolf trials mascot, became a familiar figure on board.

It was not until the autumn of 1987 that she undertook Basic Operational Sea Training at Portland and joined the fleet as a fully worked-up unit and she became leader of the 9th Frigate Squadron.

[2] Her programme from 1986 to 1987 included visits to Lowestoft, Gibraltar, Funchal, Madeira, Porto, London – alongside HMS Belfast in December 1986, Newcastle upon Tyne, Alicante and Torquay.

In 1989 the ship was deployed to SE Asia and participated in exercises in the Gulf of Thailand with the navies of Australia (HMAS Darwin FFG04), Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Whilst there she acted as the flagship for the Senior Naval Officer Middle East (SNOMI) commander of the sea-based task force.