In February 1956, "Willis A. Lee"—reclassified as a frigate in 1955—sailed southward to the Dominican Republic, where she represented the United States in American Day festivities at Ciudad Trujillo, the capital city of that West Indian nation. She was driven onto rocks at Jamestown, Rhode Island, in a storm on 18 March 1956. The frigate then spent considerable time at the Boston Naval Shipyard on Boston, Massachusetts, before resuming active operations. In November 1956, while participating in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercises, "Willis A. Lee" assisted the distressed fishing vessel, "Agda", off Montauk Point, Long Island, fighting and extinguishing a blazing oil fire and thus saving several lives.