Built by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock, Scotland, she was launched in October 1942 and commissioned in August 1943.

During the Battle of Sept-Îles, Rocket encountered German torpedo boats in the English Channel in October 1943, an action in which the cruiser Charybdis and destroyer Limbourne were lost.

On 29 November 1943 Rocket and HMS Tumult depth-charged and sank the German submarine U-86 east of the Azores in position 40°52′N 018°54′W / 40.867°N 18.900°W / 40.867; -18.900 (U-86).

[2] Arriving in the Indian Ocean in January 1944, Rocket participated in the shelling of Sabang (25 July 1944) and of the Andaman Islands (February and March 1945).

Between July 1949 and 1951 she was converted at Devonport Dockyard into a Type 15 fast anti-submarine frigate, with the new pennant number F193.