Built as yard number 609[1] at Alexander Stephen and Sons, and originally intended to be named Dogstar, she was launched on 27 July 1950.

After a career which saw her involved in the Korean War and conflicts in Malaya, Cyprus, Suez and Aden, she was listed for disposal in 1969, and was used for target practice in the Forth.

On 19 July 1956 she brought Faisal II of Iraq across the Channel to Dover for a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom.

In 1958 she conducted her first refit, losing her after torpedo tubes in the process and by July 1959 she was back in the Mediterranean – Able Seaman James Simpson of Defender is buried at Kalkara Naval Cemetery in Malta.

The day before Christmas Eve in 1966, the ship sailed from Bermuda she was deployed to St Vincent in the Caribbean as a precaution during a period of anticipated political unrest.