[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.

[9] In 1968, Danae became a Gibraltar guardship and later joined HMY Britannia in South America to perform royal escort duties.

She then undertook another Beira Patrol (a routine duty for the Royal Navy until it was stopped in 1975) and finally returned to Devonport in October 1969, having been deployed for 12 months.

The following year, Danae performed a variety of duties while in the North Atlantic including oil-rig and fishery protection.

She became a member (later flagship) of the NATO Standing Naval Force Atlantic, shadowing the Russian Navy's Ocean 75 exercise.

During the 1970s, Danae was one of the Leander-class frigates used as the fictional "HMS Hero" for the popular TV drama series Warship.

The BBC's children's television programme "Blue Peter" featured Warship being filmed at Plymouth Dockyard on board Danae, with Lesley Judd in 1975.

[12] In January 1982, Danae joined NATO's Standing Naval Force North Atlantic on a six-month assignment[13] and in June that year, in the aftermath of the Falklands War, deployed as part of the escort of the carrier Illustrious when she deployed to the South Atlantic, returning to Devonport in October 1982.

[10][16] Following this modification, the ship returned to the South Atlantic to undertake a Falkland Islands patrol, at a time when that region was still very tense.