From June 1955 until January 1956, "Centaur" was based in home waters and undertook a range of visits and exercises with other carriers of the fleet. After two months spent in Portsmouth from November 1955, she left for the Far East on 10 January 1956, in company with "Albion". Further changes to her air-group saw the Avengers of 814 Squadron replaced by the re-formed 820 Squadron, with six Fairey Gannet AS4s. After passing through the Suez Canal, she visited Aden in February to undertake flying exercises with RAF Venoms based at RAF Khormaksar. This was followed by a visit to India, where the two carriers provided flying demonstrations for the Indian government, who were at that time interested in acquiring an aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy. This eventually resulted in the purchase, the following year, of the incomplete , completed in 1961 to an updated design as . Further exercises were carried out in the Indian Ocean, before heading east to visit Hong Kong and Singapore. She crossed the line for the first time on 26 April "en route" back from Singapore to Devonport via Suez and Malta, arriving on 15 May 1956.