"Benham" began her first overseas Atlantic deployment the next spring, sailing on a European goodwill cruise on 22 April 1952. In company with , the warship visited ports in Newfoundland, Iceland, Ireland, England, Sweden, Germany, Libya, and Italy before returning home on 16 September. Following six months of antisubmarine exercises and type training out of Newport, she got underway for a second Mediterranean deployment on 17 April 1953. This cruise, which lasted for five months, took her to Italy, France, Turkey, and Greece. Returning to the east coast on 3 September, she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for a four-month modernization overhaul. Upon leaving the shipyard in January 1954, she spent the next five months conducting training exercises along the east coast in preparation for a world cruise.