"Duchess" was initially assigned to the British Home Fleet in January 1953. During January, the ship was involved in training exercises with other Home Fleet units. On 26 January, while alongside in Portland Harbour, a furnace explosion and oil fire in A boiler room killed a stoker and severely burned three others. Although able to sail that afternoon, it took a further ten days of dockyard work to repair the damage. During February and March, "Duchess" and other ships of the Home Fleet sailed to Gibraltar for exercises. Most of April was taken up with self-maintenance, and May was spent on further training. At the end of May, "Duchess", , and sailed to London, where they participated in the opening celebrations of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. After a brief visit to the Isle of Wight, "Duchess" sailed to Spithead for the Coronation Fleet Review, which occurred on 15 June. After the review, "Duchess", "Swiftsure", and visited east coast ports before sailing to Invergordon for fleet exercises. During the exercises, "Duchess" was plane guard for the carrier . "Duchess" returned to Portsmouth in July, underwent six weeks of maintenance, then sailed on 1 September to rejoin "Eagle" and other ships for exercises in the Denmark Strait. The exercise ended on 3 October, and after transporting personnel of 812 Naval Air Squadron to Loch Goyle, "Duchess" joined "Eagle" while the latter undertook flying training. On 6 October, a helicopter crashed while attempting to deliver mail to the destroyer: "Duchess" seaboat was able to rescue one of the two flight crew, while the other sank with the helicopter. "Duchess" continued to accompany "Eagle" until 24 October, when she detached to return to Portsmouth. The rest of 1953, along with most of January 1954, was spent in refit.