[6] Two oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers fed steam at 550 pounds per square inch (3,800 kPa) and 850 °F (454 °C) to a pair of double reduction geared steam turbines that in turn drove two propeller shafts, with the machinery rated at 30,000 shaft horsepower (22,000 kW), giving a speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph).

An MRS3 fire control system was carried over the ship's bridge to direct the 4.5-inch guns, while a GWS22 director for Seacat was mounted on the hangar roof.

[10] Duties included participation in the Beira Patrol, which was designed to prevent oil reaching the landlocked Rhodesia via Lorenzo Marques (now Maputo) in the then Portuguese colony of Mozambique.

[10][12] Following work up at Portland in 1971, CLEOPATRA visited the West Indies and USA with HMS ARK ROYAL and RFAs OLMEDA and REGENT.

In February/March 1972, Cleopatra took part in escort duties during the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh's South East Asia tour.

In 1972, on passage from Singapore to undertake Beira Patrol, HMS Cleopatra's helicopter crash landed into the sea.

[15] In 1977, Cleopatra, like many other Leanders, took part in the Fleet Review of the RN in celebration of HM the Queen's Silver Jubilee.

[18] The National Archives records that the Ministry of Defence has a file of details of intelligence collection by Cleopatra in January to March 1978.

The forward Seacat launcher and director was removed, as was the long-range Type 965 radar, allowing the ship's mainmast to be replaced by a smaller mast.

The electronics needed to extract and display the sonar data was installed in the ship's hangar, which meant that Cleopatra was no longer able to operate a helicopter.