Swiftsure was at this time the flagship of the British Pacific Cruiser Squadron and was selected by Admiral Cecil Harcourt to hoist his flag for the Japanese surrender.

In a photo from April 1960 of Swiftsure at Chatham dockyard,[7] shows the three turrets reinstalled and the reconstruction partially complete suggesting the rebuilt hull had sufficient strength.

The 40mm L/70 AA rearmament of Swiftsure appears to have been abandoned because it required a 0.5 million pound conversion to AC power and because the 1957 Defence Review led to the final cancellation of ordered single and twin 40mm L70 mounts for the RN in favour of then as yet unproven Greenlight (later Seacat) missile.

The option of fitting the new 3-inch twin 70 mm turrets in centreline, 'A', 'B', 'X' and 'Y' positions was possible, but converting the ship from DC power to AC for the new guns, added at least another half million pounds to the cost.

A storm of opposition in the press and Parliament to the rising cost and slow completion of the cruisers Lion and Blake led to the premature sale of the operational refitted cruisers HMS Ceylon and Newfoundland to Peru, the stopping and non restarting of Swiftsures reconstruction and an abortive attempt to commission HMS Lion for service a year earlier than scheduled thru shortcuts to the reconstruction and modernisation of its engineering rooms, and a large order for proximity fused 40 mm L70s cancelled.

To finance the immensely expensive completion of the two incomplete Tigers and nip in the bud the intense opposition to 'obsolete cruisers' and new gunnery perceived as faulty, work on Swiftsure's refit stopped.

The Admiralty considered Swiftsure one of its few modern and modernised cruiser hulls and even considered completely flat decking the cruiser to carry 10–12 helicopters, estimated to cost a prohibitive £7 million pounds and other more limited conversions removing the Y 6-inch turret and retaining just the forward Mk 23 turret,[6] but she was eventually sold, arriving at the Inverkeithing yard of Thos.

Her three 6-inch triple turrets had been removed to reduce top weight for the largely empty hull for the tow from Chatham to the east coast of Scotland.