In 1953
Defender took part in the
Fleet Review to celebrate the
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. She had commissioned for the
Far East during 1953 and 1954 and operated with
US Navy in Japanese waters during October 1953, taking part in the Korean War. In 1954 she located the wreck of the
battleship in position . Taking part in the
Malay Emergency,
Defender carried out a coastal bombardment on the
Johor coast, following which she steamed up the
Johor River for reminding any hostile watchers of the Royal Navy presence. At some time between 1955 and 1958 she took part in operations against the terrorist organisation
EOKA in
Cyprus. 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. Later the same year she served as escort to
the Royal Yacht at
Stockholm and
Copenhagen and around the
Baltic Sea. The ship was diverted to the
Mediterranean and proceeded to
Suez, where she took part in the hostilities. 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. From 1963 to 1965
Defender was refitted for the second and last time, losing the forward torpedo tubes and gaining the Type 903
fire-control radar. HMS Defender was alongside in Barbados 30 November 1966 for the Independence ceremony.The Duke & Duchess of Kent represented the Queen. 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. The next year she was east of Suez again, providing
anti-submarine cover for the
task force withdrawal from
Aden, and then remaining in the Far East until 1969. ==Decommissioning and disposal==