After another overhaul at Norfolk and a fourth reserve training cruise — this one to the West Indies between 24 February and 14 April 1950 — "Benner" embarked on her first Mediterranean deployment on 2 May. The destroyer visited Lisbon, Portugal; the island of Elba; and Naples, Italy; before steaming to La Spezia on 21 June. Following the North Korean invasion of South Korea on the 25th, "Benner" put to sea in case hostilities broke out in Europe. She operated in the eastern Mediterranean for the next three months — visiting such ports as Istanbul, Turkey; Beirut, Lebanon; and Argostoli, Greece — before coming home to Newport on 10 October.