"Tabard" was commissioned after the end of the Second World War, initially being sent for Mediterranean duties. In March 1949, she was one of a number of ships to take part in Operation Two Step, a training exercise which combined the bulk of the Home Fleet with the Mediterranean Fleet to make up the biggest concentration of British ships since Operation Torch in November 1942. On 17 January 1950, along with carrying Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, she escorted carrying Admiral Sir Arthur Power to meet with Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia for talks at Jeddah. While being refitted in Malta during June 1950, she was damaged by electrical cables being installed by a disgruntled workman. Reports in the British media arose a little over a month later, mistakenly attributing the damage to . On 18 December 1950, she rescued Roi Wilson, later captain of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, after he and his observer James Hawker had downed their Fairey Firefly.