While there, she assisted MV Dara, a British freighter in distress. "Laffey" sailed for home in mid-August and arrived at Norfolk on 28 August. "Laffey" set out in September on a vigorous training program designed to blend the crew into an effective fighting team and continued this training until February 1963, when she assumed the duties of service ship for the Norfolk Test and Evaluation Detachment. From October 1963 - June 1964, "Laffey" operated with a hunter-killer group along the eastern seaboard, and on 12 June made a midshipmen cruise to the Mediterranean, arriving in Palma de Mallorca on 23 June. Two days later, the task group departed for a surveillance mission observing Soviet naval forces training in the Mediterranean. "Laffey" visited Mediterranean ports of Naples, Italy; Théoule, France; Rota and Valencia, Spain, returning to Norfolk on 3 September. "Laffey" continued to make regular Mediterranean cruises with the 6th Fleet and participated in numerous operational and training exercises in the Atlantic and Caribbean.